Gauge Advice | 1991 LJ78

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Reedys

Reedys

Joined
Jul 27, 2025
Threads
10
Messages
81
Location
QLD, Australia
Hey guys,

Hope you’re having a great weekend, I’m looking to get REDARC gauges for my 1991 lj78.

Just wondering which is best for this car, its fairly stock at the moment will eventually tune.

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Only have room for 2 gauges, not sure if I should get the EGT that monitors beyond 800°C or just to get the one that stood at 800°C

Thanks guys
 
800ºC should be plenty, that is 1472ºF, for the health of your engine you shouldn't ever see temps near that high. Those prices though! :oops:
 
AirheadNut said:
800ºC should be plenty, that is 1472ºF, for the health of your engine you shouldn't ever see temps near that high. Those prices though! :oops:
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Thank you!

Yeah the pricing is quite gross, however, I was initially prepared to buy an autometer gauge which was similar priced for the EGT gauge alone.

Hopefully I don’t come to regret this decision haha
 
Reedys said:
Thank you!

Yeah the pricing is quite gross, however, I was initially prepared to buy an autometer gauge which was similar priced for the EGT gauge alone.

Hopefully I don’t come to regret this decision haha
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I run Red Arc boost / EGT’s & oil pressure /water temp combos. Very satisfied with them.
 
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I’m partial to SPA from Merlin Motorsport out of England. SPA may have just rebranded to “RaceTech” though. Although, I’m a Yank, I prefer to read temps in Celsius and Boost in PSI. All boils down to preference, I suppose. I also prefer green backlighting.

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Dprio34 said:
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I’m partial to SPA from Merlin Motorsport out of England. SPA may have just rebranded to “RaceTech” though. Although, I’m a Yank, I prefer to read temps in Celsius and Boost in PSI. All boils down to preference, I suppose. I also prefer green backlighting.

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Nice work, that looks clean, I did consider placing my gauges in the same spot but wasn’t sure if I’d regret hacking away at the oem part haha

Perhaps in the future, we’ll see haha
 
@Reedys , you really don’t have to hack anything apart. Altimeter & Inclometer pull out & apart easy enough. These are the expensive items that you pack away as a curio for future generations. If you don’t want to do that, you can buy the OEM housing / casing separately, if you prefer that route. All the wires for gauges to probes pull through existing stock holes / openings on the dash. Nothing to hack apart at all. Hun fun!
 
A couple examples of ones I've done. On the first one I removed the altimeter/thermometer unit completely and made an aluminum bracket to go in its place, totally reversible.
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The second I retained the thermometer but removed the altimeter and cut a hole in the plastic inner housing to fit my digital Auber gauge, then made a new face plate from plexiglass and printed a sticker that mimicked the original design. At some point I'd like to redo the sticker to have a clear substrate so the thermometer window isn't cloudy, but it works ok for now.
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AirheadNut said:
A couple examples of ones I've done. On the first one I removed the altimeter/thermometer unit completely and made an aluminum bracket to go in its place, totally reversible.
View attachment 3997855

The second I retained the thermometer but removed the altimeter and cut a hole in the plastic inner housing to fit my digital Auber gauge, then made a new face plate from plexiglass and printed a sticker that mimicked the original design. At some point I'd like to redo the sticker to have a clear substrate so the thermometer window isn't cloudy, but it works ok for now.
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Very cool, both look great man, well done.

See how I go, I may end up swapping to something like this down the track.

Thanks!
 
Dprio34 said:
@Reedys , you really don’t have to hack anything apart. Altimeter & Inclometer pull out & apart easy enough. These are the expensive items that you pack away as a curio for future generations. If you don’t want to do that, you can buy the OEM housing / casing separately, if you prefer that route. All the wires for gauges to probes pull through existing stock holes / openings on the dash. Nothing to hack apart at all. Hun fun!
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Thank you, yeah was more concerned about ruining a perfectly good OEM part for the sake of gauges.

Good idea to go ahead and purchase the part and convert that one! 😄
 
@MushyPeez , Toyota actually calls the case / Housing a “Hood Sub-Assy, Meter” , who knew.

55403-90K00-03 for Gray

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@MushyPeez , You have to make your own face and drill/ cut the holes for the specific diameter of the gauges you buy. Both REDARC, SPA / RaceTech, are 52mm so buy the appropriate hole saw to cut the ABS or whatever material you decide to use for the facing. There is a bit of variation on diameters other brand gauges, so caution there.
 
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Just thought I'd update here;

Ended up buying a pod off Ebay that needed only a little work to make fit and fitted those REDARC gauges to it.

These photos make the top gauge difficult to see, however, in person it's not as bad as it seems, only slightly less angled towards me.

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