mechanical guages?

[hounddogks76]

Has anyone replaced their oil psi and water temp gauges with mechanical gauges... . And I mean installing them in the factory bezel..... not mounting them somewhere else for accessory gauges.

 

[hounddogks76]

anyone?... ... ... ... ... ... ... .

 

[waltk]

I guess I need to know... why go through the trouble? making that change look good would be a real problem, and may require access to a machine shop to make a new face for the gauge that would fit in the factory hole. Or if you took the guts out of a mechanical gauge and attached it to the factory face, you would have to calibrate it (unless you found one with the same range and swing, and this would still involve some machining to make it work most likely).

I take it you have done a google search to see if there is anyone outside of here who has done it... You can try to call manufactures and see if they might have a combination gauge that will fit the factory hole (hell said gauge might have boost and pyro in it, solving most gauge mounting problems in these trucks!)

If after all this you still want to do it, drop me a message and I'll give you my phone number and we can toss ideas around (I'm not on often, as I am in school for 13 hours a day... ).

 

[hounddogks76]

I prefer numbers on my gauges. . lol... and as everyone states, these factory gauges aren't the most reliable. A guy on another forum did make his own gauge plate, machined the holes in it and then put some really nice gauges in it. But instead of being recessed like the factory bevel, the whole thing was flush with the front of the dash. I might end up doing this, just wanted to try and keep the factory look with better gauges!

 

[waltk]

I talked the idea over with my father last night, and we both came to the conclusion that the chance for collateral damage is high. You gauge cluster would have to come apart (Ha, it would most likely crumble apart after about 20 years... ) Then replace the guts with a 90 degree swing mechanical gauge (These are mostly the bottom-of-the-barrel units, so reliability would still be an issue. ) But your right, this would be a nice swap, just a lot of work.

After 21 years the gauges still work well in my 1st gen.

 

[JLEONARD]

and as everyone states, these factory gauges aren't the most reliable

Really? I would not agree with that.

Mine were dead reliable. Once I checked temp with a gun, and voltage with a meter I knew about what the readings were on the gages.

Temp rarely varied, voltage only varied when the grid came on.

Oil P was steady unless at idle.

 

[GHarman]

Want to experiment?

I got an old 1st gen gauge cluster where the speedometer and all the other gauges are questionable. You pay the shipping and its yours to cut up to yer hearts content. I replaced this one on Old Ugly with a junkyard unit that DID WORK!. Let me know ifn you want it and How, When, Where. GregH