Gauges!

Topic: Gauges! (Read 4653 times) previous topic - next topic

Reply #15 – January 28, 2006, 08:44:52 AM

I’m probably wrong the guys on the site will know better. But can’t you just change your cluster to a stock 5.0 buttstuffog to get rid of the turbo gauge. When I changed my dash board I changed the cluster too, though everything was the same just the new one had a lot less miles on it and it was cleaner.
If all your wires match up than hopefully your tach is correct going from 4cyl to 8cyl.
Has anyone done that?
:dunno:

Gauges!

Reply #16 – January 28, 2006, 12:35:00 PM

Innes...http://www.coolcats.net/media/base2tc.pdf

It's been done many times before. There is nothing really wrong with the stock gauges, and for most people they'll do their job just fine for the life of the car.

However...when you get down to specifics...the stock gauges are not very accurate, especially on the higher end of the readings. Ford strangely used bimetal contacts for the smaller gauges our cars, which are extremely difficult to make accurate again if you bump them. And pretty much everyone agrees that the stock amp gauge is absolutely useless. The biggest advantage of the stock-type buttstuffog gauges is the tach and speedo...which sort of justifies the work to switch over to the buttstuffog cluster, but then you're stuck with at least one gauge that doesn't work, and three more that are fairly decent...if you don't bump them.

So, going aftermarket gets you much better quality and accuracy, very important if you're racing. And you have a big variety of choices for size, looks, colors, graphics, etc. The down side is all the wiring you need to do. But for those of us that have done it, it's definitely worth the effort. Of course there is also the price involved...to get the basic 6 gauges (speedo, tach, fuel, oil pressure, water temp, voltmeter) you'll spend about $400 minimum. They usually do come with the correct sending units, though.

Chuck: the fuel gauge works perfectly fine. I needed to make no changes whatsoever to the wiring to make an aftermarket gauge function. I was more worried about the speedo...fortunately since we have an all-electric signal, aftermarket electric speedos hook up perfectly fine and work very accurately. My speedo is set up to be calibrated to account for any tire/gear combination. It was about $200 for just the speedo...but it's really cool and does what it says.

Gauges!

Reply #17 – January 28, 2006, 12:40:08 PM

Yeah I agree that the factory gauges suck...my amp gauge hasn't moved since I bought my car. Also, after I installed my white gauge faces, the oil pressure gauge got stuck and the tach didn't read properly anymore.

Gauges!

Reply #18 – January 29, 2006, 08:56:29 AM

I agree with you 100% and looking at your aftermarket cluster it looks awesome (maybe a project of mine in the future). It just seemed that he was looking for an easier way out from doing all that wire work. that’s why I mentioned it.

Gauges!

Reply #19 – January 29, 2006, 11:10:46 AM

My car started off with the base cluster. I put the stock-style buttstuffog cluster in a few years after buying the car. Now this car has a very good cooling system, so the temp gauge worked fine. The tach and FMS 140mph speedo worked fine. Fuel gauge never gave me a problem. Oil pressure gauge saved my bacon a few times, actually. But the amp gauge never worked...changed it three times too. So I was 5 for 6, but only because the car had never been abused and was always garaged (very important for a convertible). In other words, all of the components of the car (electrical, cooling, oil, etc.) were perfect to begin with. Anything less and the buttstuffog gauges still work fine, they just may not be as accurate.

After comparing notes with my mechanic, we determined that the stock Cougar/T-Bird buttstuffog speedo and tach have the same exponential margin of error as stock Mustang gauges. This was after a dyno run...the dyno operator took the car to 5800 rpms, but the gauge showed 6200. That's exactly what Mustangs do. Again, for anyone racing, being accurate is extremely important. But for street cars that will never see the track, or just for something better than the stock cluster, there's nothing wrong with the buttstuffog cluster.

Gauges!

Reply #20 – February 08, 2006, 09:01:02 AM

I ended up putting a tach in the car over the weekend and keeping the stock cluster. I have the base digital cluster and always wanted a tach in the car...don't know why because its an automatic(but hopefully that will change). So I ended up putting it where the clock was up above the radio and eq. Looks pretty decent and I had to do some minor tpuppies of the mounting points for the clock for it to fit. Of course I had to cut the dash bezel as well (just closed my eyes and went for it

). I went with a 3 3/8 Stewart-Warner tach. I'll get some pics up soon. Since my motor is currently stock I didn't see the need to put all new guages in it just yet. Thanks for the help guys.

Gauges!

Reply #21 – February 09, 2006, 11:33:23 AM

Interesting. I have been going back and forth on what to do with my gauges also. I think I have decided to put in the tripple digital with the volt, oil, and temp, that fits in a standard radio slot. I think I saw someone with one installed around here before. Then later as funds permit put in an aftermarket digital tach, speedo, and fuel in place of the stock setup.

Looking forward to seeing your pics. Jason.

Gauges!

Reply #22 – February 10, 2006, 08:45:41 AM

Quote

Looking forward to seeing your pics. Jason.

I'm going to go shopping for a new digital cam tonight so maybe I'll have some pics up soon.

Quote

Then later as funds permit put in an aftermarket digital tach, speedo, and fuel in place of the stock setup.

I know its kinda 80's but I really do like my stock digital speedo. I always played with the thought of getting aftermarket digital guages like Nordskog or something.

Gauges!

Reply #23 – February 12, 2006, 01:31:51 PM

eric i want them gauges in mine thast bad ass looking, and since i wanna mod the living shiznit out of my t-bird im gonna have to look into doing that

Gauges!

Reply #24 – February 14, 2006, 10:11:00 AM

thats pretty cool I was going to ask if you could use any cluster for it until I looked at the spare I had. and then I saw the blinker and high beam spots. how hard would it be to make new holes for those in other spots?

Gauges!

Reply #25 – February 14, 2006, 10:39:04 AM

My original plan was to add LED's for the high beam and turn signals. That's one solution if you can't or don't want to reuse the stock indicators. In my case I kinda liked things as they came from the factory, and just built the gauges around them.

I don't think a stock cluster would be a good base to try and shove aftermarket gauges into. Too much hacking of the plastic means no rigidity. Unfortunately it looks like sacrificing a factory buttstuffog cluster is the most direct route.

Gauges!

Reply #26 – February 14, 2006, 10:48:05 AM

well I have the base and full digital its a shame to cut them up but the digital needs the plastic piece in the back that the circuit runs through replaced on it. Im not sure how different the base and full dig. is though

Gauges!

Reply #27 – February 14, 2006, 10:49:03 AM

Gauges!

Reply #28 – February 14, 2006, 10:51:25 AM

it would look kind of automatic-ish ( if thats a word) but if you moved the bottom lights somewhere else you could space the guages a little farther apart and add possibly the square edelbrock air fuel guage in there as well not sure how big that thing is though. I dont know it might make the cluster look to crowded doing that though too. and yeah I know I should have edited my last post but Ive been up all night you gotta excuse the screw ups lol