Since I'm doing a lot of track days I decided to add oil pressure, oil temperature and water temperature gauges, but I'm finding it very hard to configure the correct gauges and senders. Does anyone here have these gauges and can help me pick exactly the ones to buy? I plan to use the 3 gauge dash kit that uses 2 1/16 gauges. Also, what's the best location to pick the signals from, i.e where to locate the senders?

I tried using the Torque app on my tablet and it looks really cool but unfortunately it does not report either oil temperature or pressure, just the coolant temperature. Apparently not even the Ford ECU keeps track of the oil.

On a side note, it annoys me to no end that Ford sells the Mustang with those fake gauges, they are just idiot lights disguised. I think only the fuel one is an actual gauge.

 

What gauges are you looking at? Autometer's electric gauges all come with senders.

Oil pressure you can use the location of the factory sender. Oil temp it depends, I had an oil temp gauge in my old Thunderbird, I mounted it in the pan. Water temp I'm not sure where a handy place to tap into on these cars is.

 

I am adding Autometer 2 1/16 short sweep electrical Ultra Lite 2's in my 2005 GT with the 3 gauge pod from CDC. I didn't like the mold seam running across the front so I sanded them out & painted it with Rust-oleum hammerd black. To my surprise it looks pretty good.


For the ground wires I went with 16 ga. & made 2 sets of 3 into 1. As for the terminals I didn't want to just crimp them so I tinned the wires, crimped, soldered & put 2 heat shrinks on each one. These will get soldered ring terminals & grounded in the smart junction box on the passenger side.


For the power I am adding 2 circuits, same wiring as the grounds. I bought 2 Bussman ATC add a circuits from Auto Zone. You can get these @ any parts store. If you have never seen one they are just a fuse extender that holds 2 fuses with a red wire coming out to connect your new positive circuits. The led back lights are going to the #16 socket cluster in the smart junction box so the led's only come on with the lights. The main gauge power can go to any socket that is hot only with key on. I am going to try #12 climate control, ignition. I also made sure to mark one red wire so I can tell the difference between the led's & main power.


As for running the wires it is a bit tricky but once you get one the rest are easy. With the CDC pod I am running the wires as far right as possible in the dash indent. in the first row of the defroster vent there is a gap to run the wires through. Open your glove box, push the brackets inward & this will drop the cover down. Reach your right hand up around & play around until you find the gap you have to go through. The trick is to form the wire into a sharp "J" shape. You the hook it through the first vent row with your left hand & at the same time reach your right hand up under the vent lip & feel for the wire. Don't get frustrated if you cant get it at first, it takes some practice. As for the sending wires I have not got there yet but I will keep you posted.


I hope this helps & if anyone can chime in to let me know if I am doing something wrong I would greatly appreciate any ideas as this is my first gauge install.


Tom

 

Here are some pics.

 

I did a 3 gauge pod this weekend, used glowshift gauges with the auto meter pod. It was a bitch running the wires down through the vent but it can be done. For unswitched continuous power which all my gauges needed i went to the battery with a inline fuse. For the switched power i went to the passenger side fuse box a,d for the grounds i used the one connected to the glove box.

 

Nice job!


I have all my wires through the vent & am wondering if I should put something on the terminals before I connect the gauges to prevent corrosion. Once I lay the pod down I don't want to pull it off down the road.

 

If you go with the glowshift gauges its a plug in harness at the gauge, no need to use the terminals.

Mike

 

Mike,


That is a nice feature. I wish Autometer would put up instructions for wiring multiple gauges. I have 6 grounds, 6 power (3 for led's 3 for main) & two senders for the oil & water. They only give you wiring diagrams for one gauge. I looked all over the net & didn't find much so I made my own harnesses.

 

Just a quick update:


On the Autometer Ultra Lite 2's my lights came on with the circuit extender plugged into the cluster fuse. This is not correct unless you want the led's on all the time. In order to get the led's to come on only with the light switch I tapped into the tan/white wire in the light switch. This is the "off" side of the headlight plug. Now the backlights only come on only with the parking lights, head lights & fog lights.