Temperature guages, there's too many!!

slo65 said:
...less collateral damage ? but my boys are down there :(
Dude, I just spit soda all over the keyboard. Let me ask you this: would you rather have your interior stained by motor oil or see yourself get injured? For most of us, it is the latter. :rlaugh:

yeah, just keep an eye on it. some folks have nylon or copper line that lasts forever, and some guys have war stories. Maybe you could wear a sports cup while you drive. :D
 
CManT1914 said:
Well I went ahead and ordered the gauges. I went with the Sport-Comp electric temperature and OP gauges, PN's 3337 and 3327. I'm gonna mount them on the a-pillar. Any tips on installing them?

Good choices.

As for tips -- they are pretty straightforward if you have done any automotive wiring before. Off the top of my head, I would say to take your time and ensure all of your connections are good so you get good readings. I would also suggest daisy chaining them -- connect your grounds, powers, and lights together so that you only have to run one of each of those wires instead of two.

The directions thta come with them are pretty generic, but they get the job done. We can help with the rest if you run into trouble. :nice:
 
89MustangGX said:
Good choices.

As for tips -- they are pretty straightforward if you have done any automotive wiring before. Off the top of my head, I would say to take your time and ensure all of your connections are good so you get good readings. I would also suggest daisy chaining them -- connect your grounds, powers, and lights together so that you only have to run one of each of those wires instead of two.

The directions thta come with them are pretty generic, but they get the job done. We can help with the rest if you run into trouble. :nice:
Yea i totally agree with you with the daisy chaining.....also i tapped my power, and lights from the a/c controls which helped a LOT in terms of finding the appropriate line to tap into.....i found it easier than even tapping into the light switch.....for a groud i'd suggest putting a screw in one of the holes behind the gauge cluster (which you will needa remove) and putting the ground on that.....good luck with the install and if you need anything PM me cause i just did mine which are the exact same as yours about 3 months ago.......and im warning you now that the oil pressure sender is a bitch and a half to get out....you need a special socekt you can get from autozone or pepboys or w/e...good luck :nice:
 
HISSIN50 said:
Dude, I just spit soda all over the keyboard. Let me ask you this: would you rather have your interior stained by motor oil or see yourself get injured? For most of us, it is the latter. :rlaugh:

yeah, just keep an eye on it. some folks have nylon or copper line that lasts forever, and some guys have war stories. Maybe you could wear a sports cup while you drive. :D

my interior is already dirty the carpet at least :nonono: , so its the copper that's making that noise? i thought it was my cheap sunpro gauge :rlaugh:
 
HISSIN50 said:
congrats (again). :)
any specific aspect you are not sure of with the install? I could go on and on. :)

Okay here's some questions:

1) How do I mount the gauges to the a-pillar pod? They slide in and fit real snug, but there's gotta be more to it than that. :shrug: They came with a u-shaped mounting bracket, but it doesn't fit in the pod at all that I can see.

2) Where do I mount the oil pressure sending unit?

3) Kinda dumb, but the gauges came with two sleeves that appear to fit over the lightbulb. They look like miniature condoms, lol. One is green, and the other red. Are they for changing the lighting of the gauge or what?
 
CManT1914 said:
Okay here's some questions:

1) How do I mount the gauges to the a-pillar pod? They slide in and fit real snug, but there's gotta be more to it than that. :shrug: They came with a u-shaped mounting bracket, but it doesn't fit in the pod at all that I can see.

2) Where do I mount the oil pressure sending unit?

3) Kinda dumb, but the gauges came with two sleeves that appear to fit over the lightbulb. They look like miniature condoms, lol. One is green, and the other red. Are they for changing the lighting of the gauge or what?

1) They are just a friction fit -- no hardware necessary.

2) It will need to either replace the stock sending unit (in front of the oil filter) or you will have to devise a way of using both at the same time.

3) Yes -- just for changing the colors of the light.
 
yep, Adam hit those questions well. :nice:

i also used a friction fit on both pillar pods. i even had to dremel the triple pod for the SN a bit to get the gauges to fit the way i wanted. no biggie.

for the OP gauge, if you want to retain the stocker: I used a 1/4" NPT to 1/8" NPT adapter. into that goes a 2" double male 1/8" extension. a 1/8" female tee fitting goes onto the extension. into the 90* bend of the tee, i put a 3" extension and the aftermarket sender. on the other output from the Tee, i installed a 90* bend and installed the stock sender.

The size of the senders will determine how you plumb this up all up (my aftermarket elec sender is a bit large).

I thought I had saved a thread with Andy's brass pics, but I cant find it right now. he might chime in later or you can search his posts for the pics.

you can get all the brass at the home store. keep posting questions. :)

good luck.
 
All right, well I started on them yesterday but ran out of time to work on them. Found out the gauges were friction mounted after I posted, lol. I got all the preliminary wiring done (coming from the gauges) and got the gauges mounted on the a-pillar. I just don't have them hooked up to anything yet. I did go ahead and daisy-chain the grounds, ignition, and lightbulb wires together.

Quick question, on the temp. sending unit, how far does it need to thread into the waterneck? I have it in about halfway, (wrapped in teflon tape) and it is extremely tight already. Does it need to go further in? I was afraid of damaging the unit and so I stopped trying to tighten it down further.I still got 1/4" sticking out. :shrug:

Another question, where exactly do I wire the gauge lights to? I heard they need to be wired to the headlight switch. If so, will I need to take the instrument cluster bezel off (or whatever it's called)?

I think that's it for now. I'm anxious to get these hooked up, since I have a crapload of wire just chilling on my floorboard by my feet, lol.
 
All right, one more question (hey you asked for it! lol) Instead of fighting with adapters and extensions and chit to get both sending units (oil pressure) in the same area (by the oil filter), can I just run a braided line (or copper) to somewhere else in the engine bay and then have a tee-fitting with both units hooked up there, say on the shock tower or somewhere convenient like that?
 
Most of us have "rigged" up something at the sending unit location.....Would be kinda nice to run a feed line somewhere where there's more real estate I guess...would be easier to fab it up as there's not alot of work space down there...
You'll have to lenghten the wiring for the stock sender...I would think maybe a pressure dif from the lenght/dia of hose you use to the new adapter location could make a diff in readings???
Tell use how you make out....
 
CManT1914 said:
Another question, where exactly do I wire the gauge lights to? I heard they need to be wired to the headlight switch. If so, will I need to take the instrument cluster bezel off (or whatever it's called)?
.

I brought mine under the dash, and under the center, by te shifter and use the wire that lights up the ashtray :rlaugh: Seems like a lot of work, but I didnt know "exactly" where to hook it up, so I just tapped into there, which allows the dimmer to work. IM sure someone here can give you an EXACT wire to use.

RC
 
Chris, dont sweat how far the sender threads in (you would like to have the end of the probe even with the top of the inside of the waterneck so you dont have an alcove of coolant going to the sender, yet the sender is not interfering with the flow of coolant). I tossed the stock sender in the t-stat housing and used the stock location for my new gauge so i did not care that much about how far the sender threaded in (you are smart to worry more about how tight it is vs how far it threads in).

a guy on the Corral (Think it was there) ran a braided line with AN fittings to the coil bracket and put his sender (for OP) there - looked a little Rube Goldbergish to me.

I think you have an electric OP gauge (if not, you can use a Fox hex tube which is cut down and tapped for a pipe thread compression fitting - like Shane did on his cobra and many fox guys have done).

RC hit the lighting info. I got dimmed lighting from the headlight switch since it was so close to my pillar.

good luck bud.