i know this maybe a stupid question but i was wondering if there is a way to hook up a electric water temp and oil pressure gauge and still have your stock gauges working as well. to see how different they are and how far the stock gauges are off at times. thanks in advance for your replys
Patrick is partially correct. One can use a Tee fitting on the OP gauge to mount two senders.
For temp, one can get a thermostat housing with a boss to mount a sender.
Both guages of any sort (both oil pressure gauges, for example) need to be treated as separate.
One cannot run two gauges off one sender, nor can different (aftermarket vs stock) gauges be mounted to the same sender but at different times (for testing, etc). The sender is calibrated for the specific gauge, and even if both gauges were calibrated the same, running two gauges off one sender cuts the signal in half (gauge reads half of what it should).
SO each gauge needs its own sender and the sender has to be for that particular gauge (it is late and I am tired so I know that was recursive).
For temp, one can get a thermostat housing with a boss to mount a sender.
never seen one of these...where can i get one ..i have a tee fitting that i can run the oil pressure off of. also on electric gauges where do you tap in for a power source for them.
First of all, there are no STUPID questions (it's not the questions that are stupid )
Anyway:
1.
Discount Auto parts has a replacement thermostat housing/water neck....it's steel, and a DIRECT bolt on. It has a large threaded hole in the top to put another sender for a WT gauge (I put the stock one here and moved the autometer one to the stock location.
2.
Tee Fittings can be found in the plumbing section of home depot. You can connect the fittings to the stock location, then branch off both the Autometer and stock ones.
3.
If the gauges are going to be located near each other in the car (A-pillar or clock pod) you can use ONE wire for the power supply and ONE wire for the ground, and tap into them with BOTH gauges. Each meter will have its OWN sending unit wire connected to it and the sender (as said above)
thanks guys ..i am about to build this new motor and i want some gauges that are actually worth something. also what do you guys think of the auto meter phantom gauges. thats what i was looking at getting
I too was like you once, and had gotten tired of looking at the piece of crap factory gauges that really only tell me how fast a needle can move back and forth. So I bought some Autometer gauges. Sport-comp water temperature and oil pressure, both electric. The water temperature was a breeze to install. I went to the local parts store (Advanced Auto Parts, or O'Reilly's or whatever you have) and bought a new waterneck with a hole drilled for the sending unit. All aftermarket waternecks should come with this. The oil pressure gauge however has been the bain of my existence for too long.
To hook the sending unit for the oil pressure gauge up, you'll need to remove the stock sending unit from the block, it is located in front of the oil filter. If you want to run both gauges, the easiest way to do it, is to buy an 8" 3AN steel braided line from summit or somewhere. These are commonly used as nitrous lines. Get one 3AN to 1/8" npt all male adapter, and one #AN to 1/4" all male adapter from summit, an 1/8" all female tee-fitting (parts store), and a 1/4" female to 1/8" male reducer (parts store). Run the nitrous line from the block (3AN to 1/4" fitting), into the tee-fitting (3AN to 1/8" fitting), using the adapters from summit. On one end of the tee, put the factory sending unit (might have to buy a new one, as the factory one usually breaks when you're taking it off), anyway, put the factory unit on the tee using the 1/4" to 1/8" reducer. On the other end, put the AM sending unit into the tee, and then all that's left is the wiring. Make sure to attach a ground wire to the autometer sending unit as it might not work without it. Be sure to get all your lines and fittings real tight, otherwise they are going to leak bad. I used teflon tape, and that s h i t doesn't work at all. I'm gonna redo it all with RTV or something that I know will seal it up. Good luck, let us know if you need anymore info. You can PM me if you want, I have been messing with my gauges for 3 weeks now, and they are FINALLY WORKING!! lol
thanks guys ..i am about to build this new motor and i want some gauges that are actually worth something. also what do you guys think of the auto meter phantom gauges. thats what i was looking at getting