Guage pod install (gonna do it right, this time)

[CALL AAA]

Good morning/afternoon/evening. (Circle one)
I just removed my old guage pod and I am in the middle of installing another one. I did a kind of crappy job with the install the first time, and I want to do better this time. The guages are volts, oil press and coolant temp.
I have 3 questions:

1) Fred Hurder mentioned (in a post a long time ago) that he had his stock temp guage as well as the aftermarket guage hooked up. How do you do that? Do you get a fitting and screw 2 sensors into it?

For the next two questions, please be specific. I am wire diagram-stupid.
2) The lights in the guages have 2 wires. Black and white. Where do each of them go? I would like to have them come on with the headlights, and I have read something about red and yellow wires behind the headlight switch. But do I hook both wires into the headlight wires, or does one go to a ground? (I think that's what the directons said)

3) For the voltmeter, where is a good place to hook that up? And again, the same question, is it positive to source, neg to ground? I'm not sure, but I think I may have it hooked to a fuse in the fusebox, and the negative to a piece of metal behind the radio somewhere. In a possibly related issue, my radio doesn't work. Is the fuse box not a good place to hook this up?

So just remember to be specific, as I am really not good with electronic stuff.
Hey, it'sMonday. Only 5 working days until another weekend. (Oh,...sorry )
Thanks for your help!
Tony

 

[TYSHO]

Fred most likely had an electronic guage, which you would just tap the new wire in with the wire coming out from the temp sensor.

The white and black wires are used to light up the lights and must have a ground. I will assume the white ones are the ones used for the power source and the black ones you will need to ground off somewhere.

For your voltage hook up, hook it up with any power wire that only receives power when you turn the key, like the radio for an example.

 

[kmetros]

http://www.kurtmetros.com/guagepod.html

This should give you a good starting point. If you have any other questions, just ask.

 

[CALL AAA]

http://www.kurtmetros.com/guagepod.html

This should give you a good starting point. If you have any other questions, just ask.

Yup, that should help a lot.
Thanks!
Tony

 

[LeddZepp8687]

What is the best way to hook up an autometer water temp gauge?? Somone reccomended drilling and tapping into the metal snout/spout by the Tstat right by the upper radiator hose..Does that work?? Where do most people put the autometer sending unit??

 

[kmetros]

What is the best way to hook up an autometer water temp gauge?? Somone reccomended drilling and tapping into the metal snout/spout by the Tstat right by the upper radiator hose..Does that work?? Where do most people put the autometer sending unit??

One of the stock temp sensors is there by the thermostat. It's already threaded, so there's no reason to drill or tap anything. This is where you need to put in a ****** and a T. On one side of the T will have the autometer sensor and the other side will have the stock sensor.

 

[LeddZepp8687]

One of the stock temp sensors is there by the thermostat. It's already threaded, so there's no reason to drill or tap anything. This is where you need to put in a ****** and a T. On one side of the T will have the autometer sensor and the other side will have the stock sensor.

So put the autometer sending unit in place of the stock temp sending unit for the instrument cluster, and just run a wire out of it with the autometer gauge and the stock temp gauge leeching off the one wire coming from the sending unit?

 

[kmetros]

So put the autometer sending unit in place of the stock temp sending unit for the instrument cluster, and just run a wire out of it with the autometer gauge and the stock temp gauge leeching off the one wire coming from the sending unit?

No. Remove the stock sending unit. Go to Lowe's, Home Depot, etc, and find a 1" brass ****** (threaded male on both ends) that has the same thread pattern as the stock sensor. While at Lowe's/HD, get a brass 'T' pipe that will go on one end of the ****** (one end goes into the block where the stock sensor was, and the other end will have the 'T' on it). The 'T' will have the the stock sending unit on one end of it and the Autometer sensor coming out the other end of it. You may need to get a reducer for one end of the T or the other to get one sensor or the other to fit the T. Use plumbing tape on all of the threads before assembly. Then, put the wiring harness for the stock sensor back and add the wiring for the Autometer sensor. I wish I had a picture for you, but I don't. It's not hard, just takes some searching through the parts bin at the hardware store.

 

[CALL AAA]

So after losing one of those little tiny brass things that keep the oil line in place, I got the oil press and water temp hooked up. (I haven't done the electrical hook-ups yet)
So when I started it up, the oil pressure went up to 60 PSI at idle. Someone noted that my pressure (with the old guage) was low, at 20 PSI, also at idle.
So what should my pressure be? I didn't give it a chance to warm up, since I was going back under the car. Would that have something to do with it?

 

[TYSHO]

60psi at cold idle is about right.

 

[CALL AAA]

Then Sean (of the MC variety) was very right about the pressure being low with the old guage. Now let's see how inaccurate the old temp guage was. Was I running really hot, or was it just the guage?