Gauges??? October 11, 2005, 10:55:19 PM I am trying to figure out which gauges to get. I want voltmeter, temp., and oil in the small size that will fit in the cubby in my dash. I was thinking of doing the cluster swap for the non digital speedo and tach. I was thinking about getting the Autogage atm-2327 from summit. Or maybe the summit brand gauges. Are these ok gauges to get or am I being too cheap on this? What about the sending units for the temp and oil, will I have to buy new ones to go with the new gauges? Quote Selected
Gauges??? Reply #1 – October 12, 2005, 02:29:51 PM Couldn't really tell you about the gauges as far as quality goes...but, Autogage do seem to be pretty decent (after all, they are made by Autometer). I have an Autogage tach in my car and I like it a lot.And about the senders, most of those "triple kits" have an electric water temp gauge and a mechanical oil pressure gauge. The water temp gauge will come with a new sender, but the oil pressure gauge will have capillary tubing that you'll have to hook up yourself. Quote Selected
Gauges??? Reply #2 – October 12, 2005, 05:13:36 PM I got the 1.5" electrical gauges and they have been fine for 3+ years. Much better than the POS OE gauges. Quote Selected
Gauges??? Reply #3 – October 17, 2005, 01:08:41 PM So it's the 1.5" that fits in that cubby. Good to know. I am a little confused about the oil capillary tubing. Currently the engine has a sending unit with a one wire connector that snaps on. Why would it be switching to the tubing? Quote Selected
Gauges??? Reply #4 – October 17, 2005, 08:29:33 PM I have the all electrical gauge kit. I do not know the number. Was about 50 bucks 3 years ago. There is no capillary tubing to run. I did not want to go that way (too many potential issues). The kit came with new senders to replace the OE oil and water senders. Basically You need key on power and ground to all gauges. I hooked mine in parallel. Then you run a feed wire from the oil and water gauges to the appropriate new sender. That was all it took. I think its a bad idea to have a mechanical oil gauge as there are too many leak issues, plus you should isolate the oil from entering the passenger compartment. I think its easier to run just a wire to each gauge that to have to feed the oil capillary or the thick head for the mechanical water sender too. Quote Selected
Gauges??? Reply #5 – October 18, 2005, 01:41:26 PM I have the same set of Autogages(in the same position)... There are electric and mechanical versions, with the electrics being preferable. Only thing I see wrong is they(autogage) don't offer a fuel gage to match these gages. If they did, mine would be in the cluster as they would fit perfectly. Quote Selected
Gauges??? Reply #6 – October 18, 2005, 04:21:24 PM Quote from: TurboCoupe50Only thing I see wrong is they(autogage) don't offer a fuel gage to match these gages. If they did, mine would be in the cluster as they would fit perfectly.agreed Quote Selected
Gauges??? Reply #7 – October 18, 2005, 07:11:11 PM Thanks guys. That's exactly what I needed to know. Quote Selected
Gauges??? Reply #8 – October 18, 2005, 07:31:24 PM Sounds like you've already made up your mind, but in the interest of fleshing out the topic a little bit, I'll throw in my :2c::I got the set of triple 1.5" Sunpro gauges for my T-bird.. and they're garbage. Can't tell ya the accuracy of oil pressure and water temperature, (they seem OK) but the voltmeter reads a full volt too low. Even my larger Sunpro voltmeter in my Mark reads half a volt low. In both cases I've run wires right to the battery and given them decent grounds. Not to mention the vacuum gauge I got for my Mark responds very slowly and in a jerky manner. (like it'll hesitate for a second and then jump to the new reading) I doubt I'll be getting Sunpro gauges again after these. Quote Selected
Gauges??? Reply #9 – October 19, 2005, 12:47:16 PM Do you think that is due to the brand? What would you buy the next time? Quote Selected
Gauges??? Reply #10 – October 19, 2005, 06:59:05 PM If I could find VDO gauges that I liked the look of, I might try those. Otherwise it'll probably be the cheaper AutoMeters.On a side note: I once pieced together my "dream" gauge setup for a project car, and it came out to about $1000.. and was all AutoMeter Cobalt gauges.. six of them, plus tach and speedo.And yes, I think it's the brand.. Sunpros are cheap gauges. You get what you pay for. At the time, I had no other choice.. but now I'm working, so we'll see what happens. Quote Selected
Gauges??? Reply #11 – October 21, 2005, 01:49:50 PM Cool, thanks alot for the input. I need to get this gauges in soon because right now I don't know anything about my oil pressure. That's why Im not driving it very much right now and it's killing me. That thing is awesome with that 5.0 HO in it. Thanks again, Jason. Quote Selected
Gauges??? Reply #12 – October 21, 2005, 04:18:15 PM Sunpros are pretty much junk. I had a sunpro tach last year that I put in my car, it looked pretty decent...put it in my car and hooked it up...lasted a whole week. It had a lifetime warranty, but you had to have a receipt and I had bought it off ebay almost a year earlier so I was f'ed. At least I didn't pay very much for it.I've had my autogage tach for almost 2 years and it's worked without a hitch.Bird351- I have two white-face VDO gauges in my pillar pod (boost & electric water temp). They're nice, and I like em at night because they light up better than my autometers. The problem with VDO gauges is that there isn't much of a selection, and you have to buy the senders separately (mechanical gauges don't even come with tubing to hook them up with).And it sure is easy to spend a lot on gauges...just the three I got for my center console were over $100. Quote Selected
Gauges??? Reply #13 – October 21, 2005, 09:00:10 PM This is the one that I got for the Cad-T-Bird. It's designed to fit where the radio goes but I got it to go in above the radio using left over parts from a K-mart radio install kit and a bit of creativity.It's mounted but not hooked up yet so I can't tell you how it works. It does come with the sending units.TEDhttp://store.summitracing.com/default.asp?Ntt=digital+guadges&Ntk=KeywordSearch&DDS=1&searchinresults=false&N=0&target=egnsearch.asp&x=26&y=6 Quote Selected
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