Instrument Cluster

They are 4 instrument clusters housings used in the 70-77 Maverick. They can be grouped into 3 different categories; Early Production ‘70-‘73, Mid Production ’74-‘75 and Late Production ‘76-‘77. It is possible some late ’75 will have the ‘76 production cluster. There are 3 unique printed circuit boards, one for each of the different categories.

CLUSTER HOUSING BACKPLATES

Early – Part#D0DZ-10848-A
Early – Part #D1DZ-10848-A (no different than the D0)
Mid Yrs. – Part #D4DZ-10848-A (made of same material as earlier cluster back plates)
Later Yrs. – Part #D5DZ-10848-A (made of the white material that crumbles due to heat and age)

The back on the early cluster has a larger harness plug/ receptacle consisting of 13 wires plus 1 single wire taped to the harness feeding the Charging/Alt light bulb that attached to the cluster back plate. The mid (D4) & late (D5) cluster back plates used a smaller harness plug/receptacle containing 14 wires. Another unique difference between the early and mid/late production cluster back plates are the location pins for the circuit board to mount. The early cluster has one of the locating pins about a quarter inch from the top right of the harness receptacle. The mid/late year production cluster has this locating pin about a half inch from the opening. The only difference between the mid and late cluster that I notice is the difference in the material the cluster is made from and a small casting change around the instruments lights. Both early and mid are the same color plastic and the late is made of something that can’t stand the test of time. This white color plastic will crumble when you handle it.

CLUSTER RECEPTACLE PLUGS

1970-1973 used the longer plug with 13 wires. 74-77 plug was shorter and had 14 wires.

FUEL GAUGE

The text font on the fuel gauge and speedometer changed in ’75 from tall skinny letters/numbers to short fat letters/numbers.

WARNING LIGHTS

70-73 had white text on the indictor on the front side of the lens except for the SEATBELT indicator was black text on the back side of the lens at the 6:00 position. The 74 had black text on the inside of the lens and have the SEATBELT and ALT warning lamp in a different location than the previous year. Starting in ’75, the OIL and TEMP warning light was replaced with an ENGINE light. The ENGINE light replaced the OIL light and the TEMP light was omitted from the warning light array. The ’75 lens also has LO FUEL ECON light. I have seen lenses without any wording at the 6:00 position. This lens do not have SEATBELT like the 70 lens. Notice the brushed aluminum trim on the 70-74 and lettering on the front of the ‘75 lens stating "Unleaded Gasoline Only" on the faceplate.

SPEEDOMETER

The ’70 speedometer is the same as the ’71-‘74 but has a red line between 70 and 120 mph. Speedometer also changed in ’75 from 120 mph to 100 mph. In ’77 another change from 100 mph to 85 mph. Notice the brushed aluminum trim on the ‘70-‘74.

70 Speedometer	71-74 Speedometer

75-76 Speedometer	77 Speedometer