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Gauge help!

73redblaze

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Aptos ca
So I'm installing new gauges in my truck. I'm putting in volts, oil / water temp/ oil pressure, speedo and fuel gauge. I got the speedo and fuel in but here are my questions. Where does the oil pressure connect? Can I tie the voltometer in to any hot wire or is there a specific location. And should I use the temp gauge for water or oil (it does both) and where do I tie in each? Iv done some searching on YouTube but no luck. It's a Chevy 350 carb in a 84 jimmy. Thanks in advance
 
Oil pressure gauge needs a tube to feed it oil from the engine's oil pressure port to operate..you'll have to either remove the stock sending unit,or put a tee fitting in the engine so it can be retained if desired (so the idiot light still will work),or just run the mechanical gauge alone..the location on the engine varies depending on the year and engine,most are located next to the firewall behind the distributor,your 350 will have it there--it kind of sucks to get at!..
The proper fittings can be had at just about any parts store or hardware store..
I prefer using copper 1/8" tubing,but nylon is what comes with most gauge kits..you can get brass adapters to allow the use of 3/16" brake tubing too if you prefer,if you use metal tubing,wind some spring coils in it to allow for flexing and vibration..compression fittings with ferrules and copper or nylon tube are the easiest way to plumb one up..

A volt meter needs a 12V hot wire and a ground wire to work---the hot wire should be fused and controlled by the ignition switch,so it wont be a drain on the battery while parked...there is usually several empty spots in the fuse box that only get powered when the key is on,use a test lamp to see that its only hot with the key "on" or "run" position..

I would say a water temp gauge is much more important than oil temparature,you can put the sending unit in the spot the stock sender went,it should be on the drivers side cylinder head ,right at the front,between the #1 spark plug and #3...
 
Thanks for the help, I will run a water temp, il take a picture if I can't fing it. Also no problem with the voltometer. I don't have the idiot light anymore so I want to plug it into the stock pressure port, where could one ignoramus fine such port?
 
Found the water temp, it's to dark now to find the oil pressure but thank you for the help! Il post pics when done
 
So my fuel gauge isn't working correctly. It reads half tank even though it had just a inch or so of fuel in the bottom. The fuel cell has two posts on the sending unit. The middle one is threaded with nuts and washers on it and the other is a slip on coupler type connector which I believe to be the ground. So I ran a hot to the pos a ground to the neg and a wire from the gauge to the sending unit. Here's the weird part, the gauge says half tank even with no ground. Which leads me to believe the sending unit is acting as a ground since the tank is metal and bolted to the frame... The gauge also shows half if there is no ground to the sending unit again because I think it's acting as its own ground. So i think when its readying half its acting as a voltometer showing the power passing through it. Any suggestions?
 
If its an aftermarket fuel cell,it has to have a sending unit calibrated for a GM gas gauge,which I think is from 0 to 90 ohms....yours might be one for a Ford or Mopar or some other aftermarket gauge (Stewart-Warner,etc)..

This diagnosis procedure tells you how to test the gauge by using some resistors you can buy cheap at radio shack (like 5 bucks)...

http://forum.73-87chevytrucks.com/smforum/index.php?topic=25339.0
 
It's a aftermarket sunpro gauge so I'm really not sure. Il look into that
 
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