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'74 four speed. None of the gauges, NONE, in my car work. The temp gauge moves but is inaccurate. I have a fresh small block, with a new Dewitt's radiator and dual Spal fans. According to a laser thermometer, the radiator cap temp gauge is correct and my fans are operating properly. Next on the list is installing the tubular control arms, rear offset trailing arms, and coil-overs that are all sitting in my garage. I am gathering the parts(and courage!) to completely replace the interior. This will include dying some used parts to match some new parts. I will probably do a partial wiring harness then as well. I don't want to dive into fixing gauges until I am ready to tear out the old interior. I still want to drive the car in the meantime. I consider it very important to have temp, oil pressure, and voltage gauges at minimum. Have any of you guys installed temporary gauges? If so, how did you mount them? On the cowl right behind the edge of the hood? I absolutely do NOT want to pull the dash, gauge cluster, or anything else until I am ready to do the whole interior.
I don't want to take the dash apart at the moment. I am a bit rickety, laying on a floorboard is NOT my thing, and I want to do something quick and dirty to get by until I strip the interior.
Summit, or even some auto parts stores sell a 2 or 3 pod gauge setup they are pretty reasonable.
I like the mechanical vs electric. If you use a mechanical sender try Auto Meters copper line. Had a plastic line burst many yrs ago while driving.
Love your 74 looks..
but thinking logically…
temporarily lay this on floor…isn’t Christmas coming? When you do take dash out then you won’t need console gauges with this..and time to rebuild them and no need to dye them …ha!
Thanks for the nice compliment! But no, to me digital just looks wrong in a fifty year old car. I'd put in vintage analog gauges before I did that. And if getting the originals working is too much of a hassle, I might do just that.
GMPP used tp sll some sharp looking gauge sets
Lots of optinos to choose from. If anything it can be interesting to see what the new gauges read and compare to what your factory ones do.
Never liked modern repop digitals in these oldcars either just doesnt look right they will be dated over time too
so ignore the air fuel reading as im not sure what was going on there in that pic but this is where I put my secondary gauges.. The one farthest to the right is a dual temp gauge which gives me both under the hood temps as well as the temps inside my aircleaner (upper readout) this enabled me to realize I dont need a cold air intake with my setup with my style of driving. Yes the temps climb at stop lights but they both drop to ambient air temps a few minutes after I start moving. the temps in the air cleaner are often a bit lower due to the hood vents on the greenwood turbo hood and the element top spectre air cleaner.
GMPP used tp sll some sharp looking gauge sets
Lots of optinos to choose from. If anything it can be interesting to see what the new gauges read and compare to what your factory ones do.
Those are not digital gauges , although they do sell digital gauges . Take a look at them at their website I installed the hdx version and I am able to change the color of my gauges . Wiring them is easy as pie as it all goes to a main box that is labeled .
From: Some days your the dog and some days your the hydrant.
Royal Canadian Navy
Originally Posted by augiedoggy
so ignore the air fuel reading as im not sure what was going on there in that pic but this is where I put my secondary gauges.. The one farthest to the right is a dual temp gauge which gives me both under the hood temps as well as the temps inside my aircleaner (upper readout) this enabled me to realize I dont need a cold air intake with my setup with my style of driving. Yes the temps climb at stop lights but they both drop to ambient air temps a few minutes after I start moving. the temps in the air cleaner are often a bit lower due to the hood vents on the greenwood turbo hood and the element top spectre air cleaner.
I don't doubt that those underhood air temperatures are correct. Your hood louvres working great!
Temporary Gauges
