So now that I've got my gauges narrowed down I need to decide who I am going to go through. I've used Glowshift gauges in the past and had great luck with them. I wouldn't mind trying to get something to match the interior cluster but I doubt that's gonna happen. Glowshift also makes a black pillar to replace my factory one, so I'll be going that route as well.

 

Adding to this - I was thinking of getting a quad pod for the truck but there's quite a few complaints about the top gauge not being that easy to read and that the sun visor hits it, so I think I'll just stick with the triple pod.

Since I can already monitor ECT, EOT, trans temp, and battery voltage I don't need a separate gauge for them. I know without a doubt I want a pyrometer and low pressure fuel gauge. I'm thinking of doing boost as well since the factory gauge can only read ~29 PSI and it's rather small and hard to read. I've seen some guys will also do a low pressure oil setup but IMO it seems like you either are going to have oil pressure or aren't, there really is no in between.

 

A friend just got his Glowshift triple pillar setup in. He said the pillar pod isn't the greatest quality but the gauges work perfectly and are good quality. He agreed with me when I mentioned the sun visor hitting the top gauge on a quad pod as he said his comes fairly close to the top gauge on the triple pod. Also, he said that the top gauge on the quad pod wouldn't be that easy to read as it would be quite a ways up from where the top gauge on the triple pod is.

With that stuff in mind I'll just be doing the triple pod and 0-60 boost, 0-2400 EGT, and 0-100 PSI fuel. You can get the 0-35 boost and the 0-1500 EGT, but I figure that there's a chance I may push over those numbers, so I'd rather be able to read higher than have a pegged gauge.

Now I just need to decide exactly what face and type I want the gauges. You have the option between either the Max Tow or the Elite 7 color gauges. I probably won't get the Max Tow as they only offer a green backlighting whereas the Elite 7 color have 7 color backlighting you can swap between which would be nice. Also, the Max Tow utilize a stepper motor whereas the Elite gauges use electronic senders so they allow the gauge sweep to ensure they are functioning properly. The Elite gauges are also magnified lenses as well and the Max Tow are not. Most likely I'll just get the black face Elite gauges as the white gauges would not match the cluster or my Torque screen and the tinted gauges can't be read easily during the daytime unless the backlighting is on.

 

I want the same set up as you , what was the best price you got ?

 

So far the best price I've found was 234 shipped with the pillar pod, 3 gauges, and all the necessary hardware to install them. You're thinking of going with the black face Elite gauge as well?

 

Personally, I find the SG2 to be the most flexible. When I need to monitor injector pressures, or FICM voltages I can dial them up. Otherwise I can watch MPG, or ECT and EOT.

I would recommend the SG2 or another ODBII gauge set, but the ability to program in to the SG2 any PID we have discovered makes it a great tool.

In terms of 3 or 4 A-pillar gauges, I installed the single A-pillar pod with a digital gauge with 2 halves, I am very happy with it, and I retained the grab handle.

Dual Gauges

Link to my install thread with pictures
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-a-pillar.html

 

Cody, I think I'm going to do white faced being I have a lariat and the main dash gauges are white, plus my eyes are what they used to be ... lol.............Bill

 

Makes perfect sense to me. I do remember the regular Lariat having the white faced setup. I have an Amarillo so it has the gray and black gauges, so I'll probably just do the black face. The tinted are a bit too dark for my tastes and they can't be read without the back lighting on.

 

Alright, got this narrowed down. I decided I will be going with the 7 color black faced gauges. The tinted and elite 10 color gauges can't be read during the day without the backlighting on and the white faced don't match the factory gauge cluster in my Amarillo. The Max Tow gauges can only be green backlighting, and I want it to be red. So, that left me with the 7 color black faced gauge.

I will be doing the triple pillar pod. The quad pod interferes with the sun visor and the top gauge is slightly hard to read and the pod color will be black to match the Amarillo interior.

Gauges will be 0-100 PSI fuel, 0-2200 pyrometer, and 0-60 PSI boost. Fuel will run 45 PSI minimum and 70 PSI max, so I've got that covered. Pyrometer can run up to 1700 F going down the track, so I wanted to go higher than the 1500 so I could see exactly what was going on. Generally boost never goes over 30, but in case I upgrade down the road I wanted to not peg the gauge at 35 PSI all the time and figured 60 is a better bet.

 

Gauges are ordered! I'll let you guys know how the install goes.

 

So, got the gauges installed over the weekend. Decided to start out with installing the fuel pressure sending unit. After pulling out this plug from the upper fuel bowl there is a nice place to get your pressure readout:



After that it's as simple as installing the sending unit adapter and sending unit. Issue I ran into is that the new o-ring was the wrong size and leaked so I simply swapped the o-ring from the old plug and installed it on the adapter. No more leaks!



Then it was time to tap the intake elbow to install the fitting for the mechanical boost gauge:



After that I started routing the boost gauge line and wiring from the pressure sending unit:



Next it was time to run the wiring for the pyrometer:



Then of course I had to tap the exhaust manifold for the sensor probe:



I got all the wiring ran up to the firewall and ended up here. The two extra wires you see looped up are for down the road if I want to add in another sending unit as they are already ran up into the harness with the rest of the gauges.



I then ran all the wiring through the firewall and into the cabin through this nice little spot:



After that I needed a ground and a 12v switched source for the gauges. The ground came from one of the factory grounds on the dash. The Super Duty trucks had a couple of harnesses that were blunt cut for adding in accessories after production. I was able to pull my 12v switched source from one of these harnesses that's near the radio:



Next I needed a 12v constant, so I simply opted for the add-a-circuit using the fuse panel:



I had the modify the panel cover a slight bit:





Everything reinstalled:



I didn't get a picture of the dimmer wire, but I simply tapped into one of the wires coming out of the dimmer switch. Then I pulled all the wiring through up to the A-pillar and got it all taped and zip-tied so it was cleanly strung:



The pillar pod attaches to the factory pillar using 4 screws after you remove the grab handle:



Here is the completed product:





The pillar pod and gauges actually fit insanely well, especially considering the entire package with gauges, pillar, wiring, sending units, and adapters was only 224 shipped. And finally, a video to give you an idea of what they do:



I am extremely pleased with the final result. It was a bit nerve racking drilling and tapping the manifolds, but it all worked out perfectly. Now that I've got my gauges it's peace of mind knowing my fuel pressure so I don't starve the injectors or not knowing how high the EGT's are and melting the engine. With these gauges I can now start doing custom tunes as I have everything I need to monitor to keep the truck safe.