Overhead Gauge Consol

[dshockley]

Well, I finally got it installed. I really like the way that it turned out. I made the pod out of fiberglass from the mold that I posted earlier, then covered it with headliner material. The wiring is all routed above the headliner. The gauges are Auto Meter Z-series. The Tachometer is a 2 5/8" autometer diesel tach. It was a breeze to install. What do you guys think??



Dan

 

[dshockley]

Now for the questions.

1) Where is the best place to put the transmission temp sender. Can I install it in the cooling line to the cooler, or should it be mounted in the pan?

2) On my trial run I saw 1000 F and 19. 5 psi boost. The truck is a non-intercooled auto (intercooler sitting in garage).

3) I calibrated the tach using the de-fuel rpm (2600). Is this fairly accurate? I am planning to start with the pump mods, but want to make sure that I have a good tach, first.



Thanks for your input.

Dan

 

[Thierry]

Sweeet, looks real good, are you going to make any more? If so let me know.



Thierry:--)

 

[Old Smoky]

Looks good. You said it came from the factory that way?



Mike

 

[jjohn]

VERY NICE DAN, I LIKE IT

.

 

[MMiller]

Very Cool, please answer, will you make more? The only bad thing is in my truck I would have to move the CB somewhere else.



The gauges are VERY COOL!!

 

[RDusch]

You made a bunch of these,, Right???

 

[jdurham]

That really looks great. Since you haven't turned the light out in the garage yet, you wouldn't mind cranking out a few of these, right? GREAT! I'll take mine in tan thank you...



Jim

 

[Deezul1]

Those look first class, very nice job.

 

[dshockley]

Thanks for all the compliments. I too am very pleased. I will not be making anymore of them, but would be happy to provide information for anyone that want to follow in my path. The whole project took about 12 hours.



1 hour to mock-up a cardboard consol.

1. 5 hours to lay-up the fiberglass.

2 hours to trim / sand / drill holes.

2 hours to install the gauges in the consol and solder and shrink-wrap all the joints.

3 hours to install the consol / re-install the headliner and route the wiring around to the pass a-pillar and down.

. 5 hours to install the tach.

2 hours to install the senders and finish up the wiring.



All in all it went very smooth. All the wiring was soldered and shrink-wrapped. The materials for the consol cost me $3!! I ordered the gauges through Summit Racing and they were on my door-step two days later for $330.



Anyone going to take a crack at my questions above???



Thanks

Dan

 

[Case500D]

transmission Temp Sendor

Hi,



I think I can help you out with the transmission temp sendor unit question. I am mointing mine in the pan. This is after discusion with Bushwakr. He made the point that you want the temperature of the oil going into the clutches (from the pan), not the "used, hot" oil that is coming out of the clutches (transmission line). Plus you can remove the probe from the pan and have a built in drain plug. I got a 2nd gen pan because they have about 1 qt larger capacity than the 1st gen pan. It is a cheaper alternative to the Mag-Hytech pan. BTW, I will get an aluminium Mag pan once I have the transmission worked over by DTT. I had a fitting brazed in the rear part of the pan. I will let you know how the numbers turn out as I still have to repaint the pan before I do the install. Hope this helps.



Jeremy

 

[dshockley]

Case500D



Isn't one of the main reasons for monitioring transmission temp to see if the fluid is breaking down? That was my impression. Then you would want to monitor the hottest fluid. The fluid leaving the transmission.



I do see your point and it is well taken. That would probably have as much to do life as the above factor.



Thanks for the input.



Dan

 

[Case500D]

Dan,



When I was quizing Bushwakr about his transmission gauge setup, he told me a couple of things that he had discussed with Bill K. I wish Bob was around to answer this, but I would assume he is abusing the mule deer population of BC right now. Anyway, he said that he had the temp unit in the line and the gauge would respond very fast to acceleration, etc. But after having his transmission redone by Bill K. at DTT, they convinced him that the pan temperature was more important. I think it is kind of like having a post or pre turbo pyrometer. Both work, just one is more accurate. I think that the pan would give you a more average temperature of the fluid. I wouldn't think it would take very long for the fluid to go from the transmission to the cooler. These are just kind of the way I have been looking at it. I wish I knew more to help you out. I am interested to hear what you do and the type of numbers you get. Good luck!



Jeremy

 

[Philip]

The temp coming out of the converter isn't really the temp I would want to monitor. The pan temps are the ones you do not want in a high reading. If you setup and watch the converter temp. You have no idea if your coolers are working good. With the pan temps you do.



At times of heavy load. With the design of the converter and the way it works. The temps from the converter can be up to 100 degrees higher than the pan temp. As long as the coolers are dumping the extra heat is the main concern. If you look at the flow charts in the service manual. They start on page 21-111 you will notice that all oil flow from the converter is sent straight to the coolers. None of the flow is used till after it has been cooled. The converter can handle higher temps than the clutches and bands and seals can.



As long as you maintain the proper change interval's as recommended by the owners manual. You should be all right on fluid break down. Also go by the type of service you are using the truck for. If you are in heavy service. Then use that schedule and not the light duty schedule.

 

[JLEONARD]

To calibrate your tach, you really need to find an optical, hand-held tachometer. Most diesel mechanics should have one. Takes about five minutes.

You can "no load" your engine, document the rpm, then adjust your tach to that number.

Then you know you'll be right on the money

 

[quikshft]

dshockley you are indeed a craftsman. I might rig something like that myself.

What is the guage you have sitting on your dash? My truck already had a tach sitting in that exact spot when I bought it.

Since I have a 5 speed, I suppose the other guages I might be installing would be exhaust temp and boost.

 

[dshockley]

That is the tach. It is a 2 5/8" auto meter diesel tach. I chose that mounting location because there was a mopar tach available and that is where it was mounted. We have seen pictures posted before and all the truchs 1992 and after were wired for them. You are one of the lucky ones. I didn't particularly like the a-pillar mounts and am happy that I chose this route. Thanks for the compliment.



Dan

 

[wraney]

Does autometer make a 2 1/16 tach for diesel? I need the z-series to stay matching.

 

[dshockley]

I am not sure if they do, but I am pretty sure that they didn't. I choose the 2 5/8 tach because it is almost a perfect match to the z-series. I also liked the 2 5/8 tach because it is the same size as the mopar tach. Go to the summit racing webpage. They have all the auto meter gauges with pictures online. They also have the best prices of anyone that I found.



Dan

 

[Wayne M.]

back to the trans temp monitoring

I believe that the best place for the sender is in the pan.



Though the cooler line going out (the forward line) is also a good place as long as it's as close to the trans as possible.



I am not a Torqueflite authority, but I am pretty sure that the outlet line fluid was in the pan, just up through the pump and part of the valve body (the regulator)- and not in any other part of the trans before it's been to the cooler, What happens to the fluid after the cooler (the rear line), I'm not sure about. I don't have my FSM with the cool transmission diagrams handy.



Basically, with no extra load, my needle stays on 140, which is the stop, at all times unless I'm in traffic where I've seen it go to 160-80, but cool right down as soon as you move.



The pan location seems like the way to go since it doubles as a drain plug too.