Mechanical or Electric???? (1 Viewer)

[Poser]

I have installed my Autometer sender in the rear section of the cylinder head, close to the stock location.


If you go electrical for the water temp, I do not know why you could not use one of those ports on the thermostat housing.


Good luck!


-Steve

 

[65swb45]

Ed, if you use an 'idiot' light with a 20psi setting, it's gonna burn out the bulb real fast!;p Hot idle on most F engines is well below that.

The 't' idea is definitely doable; I run one on my 68, with the stock sender on one side and the capillary tube on the other. There have been times where the SW mechanical guage will show as much as a 20# fluctuation without any change registering on the factory guage, which is EXACTLY why I installed it.

AFA the coolant goes, I elected to use a 1/2 galvanized pipe fitting on the factory sender to T a mechanical water temp in alongside the factory electrical one. Kept the plumbing/wiring to a minimum. Had good luck with a cheapy Sunpro 270 sweep guage.

 

[FJ40Jim]

Ed,
Depending on the year of cylinder head, it may already have two sender ports, one for temp gauge sender and one for emission control temp sender. IIRC, 61031 and higher only has one port. If you have a 61030 or a late F head, it should have 2 ports.

 

[Sparky_Mark]

It's my opinion that the reson that most do not think that the electrical gages are reliable is because the connection to the gage is not sealed from the environment. They are just raw terminals pushed onto a blade. Over time, oxidation increases the resistance and throws the reading off, or worse. In our vehicles, the wiring is old as well so this compounds the problem.

Side note. I had a friend call me for help because their vehicle would not start (it was 25 years old). It only took me about a minute to figure out that the connection to the starter solenoid (same bare terminal interface as the oil and temp sensors) was corrupt. It slid it off, then back on again, and it started fine.

I ran new wiring in my vehicle when I rebuilt it, and I "sealed" the connection to the sensor with RTV. I'm confident that I will not have any issues. I also cleaned up the connection at the back of the cluster as well.

So my vote is for electric, but I'm biased because I do automotive wiring / electronics for a living.

 

[nat]

I put electric gauges, electric tach (duh) and an electronic programable speedo in my rig. The gauges are from Classic Instruments and of great quality and accuracy. My oil pressure reads exactly what it should at various engine RPMs. They were a little pricey, but I had a bunch of styles to choose from.

 

[andrewfarmer]

My second thought was to install an "idiot" light with a sensor for 20psi minimum. I really don't care what the oil pressure is, just that there is some.
Who has installed "idiot" lights? Who's did you use? I suppose any would work, maybe Summit?

Thanks,

Ed

I did this.
I run a 'T' at the oil filter, with an electrical sender and a VDO adjustable oil pressure switch - currently set to 18psi so it stays off at hot idle.
I also run an electrical sender from the port at the end of the oil gallery to another gauge.
So I can monitor 'max' and 'min' pressures in the motor. Main reason for this was I had changed the oiling and wanted to ensure it worked properly!

 

[Degnol]

All good ideas, thanks a bunch!


Jim Chenoweth, yes there is an extra port on the head that is currently plugged, I'll use that for the temp. Most likely more accurate than the T-stat housing. At least both senders would be reading from the same enviorns.
If I go mechanical on the oil pressure, I think I will use thew braided SS line.

Thanks again ,all. Good info.


Andrew, I like the idea of the adjustable sender, like Mark sez, don't want to burn out the bulb!



Ed

 

[sandcruiser]

There are kevlar lines for mechanical guages.... eguage.com
http://www.egauges.com/vdo_agrp.asp?SName=Tubing

Spendy at over $50, but probably pretty stable and long-lasting.

 

[Degnol]

Thanks Sandcruiser. My kid is in Costa Rica right now. He's at Monte Verde in the cloud forest. Says it is the most beautiful place he has ever seen (the whole country, that is).

Ed


Oh, I went mechanical on the gauges, the black "Z" style and picked up a vacuum, too. Autometer. My old ribbed dash was chopped up with a sawzall for a stereo. Rather than replace the ribs, I cut out what remained of them and welded in a flat piece of 14ga steel. I think I have room to mount all three gauges in the dash. Oh, I took out the ashtray, too.

 

[Full_Throttle]

I vote Electrical. I have seen too many nylon hoses crack, snap, or melt due to poor installation. IF you do go mech., then use copper and do a darn good job of protecting the lines. I think the electrical is the way to go for ease of installation. Also, I would think that if the electric gauges were THAT un-reliable, we would see something different in the newer cars. I am not trying to knock the mechanicals, just my 2 cents

 

[Biscuit]

I'm rocking a mechanical and it has saved me a lot of grief not having to figure a sending unit into troubleshooting.

I also run the T splitter...one side is to the copper line for the guage and the other side is to a pressure switch that controls power to the fuel pump.