How to hook up elecrical guages
I now cringe when i think of wiring since i redid my gauges abouta week ago (all electrical cept the speedo) lol
Anyway. I'm sure most of this was mentioned and what not but heres my little run-down.
Wiring Temp/Oil Psi Gauges.
Power - Both will require a switched 12v wire to power them. Usually a radio power wire or something will do the job. Have a test light handy because you'll need to find one hot when the key is in 'Run'. You can tap into the radio wire, or pretty much anything else without doing harm, these gauges don't pull much power. Tap Splices would be the easy way to do it, should do the job, easily removed. More permanent and much stronger connection would be to solder of course. (which i soldered all my power, ground, sender connections. My lighting, turn signal, high beam, brake light, etc etc were all tap spliced for easy removal without harming the factory wiring.)
Ground - Both will require a gauge ground. To the dash frame is just fine. You can ground the light bulbs and gauges to one ground spot if you choose to do it that way.
Lighting - My gauges are setup to dim with the factory dash lights if i need to do so. That was done simply by tap-splicing into one of the wires up in the dash...which isn't very convient unless you pull the cluster out like i did. A quick n easy way to get lights when the headlights are on, and the dimming feature is to find the fuse for the lights in the fuse box. (test light will tell you that). You can take your second wire from the bulbs (not grounded) and strip the end a inch or so. Pop the fuse out, wrap the stripped end around the fuse and pop the fuse back into the box. Not the best method...but it does work, easily removable if needed and is a pretty solid connection once that fuse is popped into the box.
Senders - Both will use their own senders, stock stuff i believe is the same as autometers. (oil psi warning light sender will not work for a gauge). For the temp sender I just ran a new wire out to the sender, cut the stock tape out and wrapped up the factory sender wire back behind the motor outta sight. A good wire straight from the gauge to the sender is always better than trying to tap into the stock wire and such...but thats just my opinion, others may vary. I would say not to use any type of teflon tape on the senders because it can effect the grounding of them to the block (which is how they function is off the ground). I've yet to have a issue with leaks with senders without any type of thread sealant on them.
Anddd i think that about covers it. I'm no pro or anything, all that is just from my experience and how i wired my gauges. Not saying other methods are right or wrong, etc...It's just how i personally do it.
I now cringe when i think of wiring since i redid my gauges abouta week ago (all electrical cept the speedo) lol
Anyway. I'm sure most of this was mentioned and what not but heres my little run-down.
Wiring Temp/Oil Psi Gauges.
Power - Both will require a switched 12v wire to power them. Usually a radio power wire or something will do the job. Have a test light handy because you'll need to find one hot when the key is in 'Run'. You can tap into the radio wire, or pretty much anything else without doing harm, these gauges don't pull much power. Tap Splices would be the easy way to do it, should do the job, easily removed. More permanent and much stronger connection would be to solder of course. (which i soldered all my power, ground, sender connections. My lighting, turn signal, high beam, brake light, etc etc were all tap spliced for easy removal without harming the factory wiring.)
Ground - Both will require a gauge ground. To the dash frame is just fine. You can ground the light bulbs and gauges to one ground spot if you choose to do it that way.
Lighting - My gauges are setup to dim with the factory dash lights if i need to do so. That was done simply by tap-splicing into one of the wires up in the dash...which isn't very convient unless you pull the cluster out like i did. A quick n easy way to get lights when the headlights are on, and the dimming feature is to find the fuse for the lights in the fuse box. (test light will tell you that). You can take your second wire from the bulbs (not grounded) and strip the end a inch or so. Pop the fuse out, wrap the stripped end around the fuse and pop the fuse back into the box. Not the best method...but it does work, easily removable if needed and is a pretty solid connection once that fuse is popped into the box.
Senders - Both will use their own senders, stock stuff i believe is the same as autometers. (oil psi warning light sender will not work for a gauge). For the temp sender I just ran a new wire out to the sender, cut the stock tape out and wrapped up the factory sender wire back behind the motor outta sight. A good wire straight from the gauge to the sender is always better than trying to tap into the stock wire and such...but thats just my opinion, others may vary. I would say not to use any type of teflon tape on the senders because it can effect the grounding of them to the block (which is how they function is off the ground). I've yet to have a issue with leaks with senders without any type of thread sealant on them.
Anddd i think that about covers it. I'm no pro or anything, all that is just from my experience and how i wired my gauges. Not saying other methods are right or wrong, etc...It's just how i personally do it.
