Just wondering if you can drill holes in the dash and replace my idiout gauges with mechanical ones. Heard some electronic gauges can mess something up removing them. Want to replace oil, water and voltage. Has anybody done this before and what all would be involved.

 

While I can't specifically answer as to whether you'll confuse the computer or anything else by disconnecting the stockers (I've heard something about the same), have you considered adding a three-gauge mounting housing beneath the dash and running both the stock ones as well as the mechanicals as a backup / cross-reference? All it would take would be a tee installed at the water and oil pressure senders. Autometer makes a housing that is a little nicer than most of the three-hole plates you see, also, which allows you to add on gauges and can be angled to best suit the needs of the driver. Just a few thoughts.....

 

Just to let you know, at one time I had a mechanical water temperature guage teed in and noticed my temperatures were slightly lower than with the sender directly into the head. I forget exactly how much, I'm thinking even 20 degrees, but the stock one hardly even came to the normal line. Just something to think about if you're planning to use the stock and aftermarket temperature guages together.

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[font color="green"]1995 F-150 Supercab XLT 4x4 302 M5OD 8' bed [/font]31x10.50's
[font color="green"]1986 F-150 4x4 300 I6 NP435 [/font]Warn hubs, DeeZee bed caps, '96 XLT bench seat, new paint job

 

Is there another hole to plug in another water temp sender for a mechanical gauge. Would not mind just a mechanical water gauge. Also is there a tree gauge pod for your A pillar for these series trucks.

 

Pillar pods are avialable for the 87-91 f-series checkout

Http://www.autometer.com

 

Strangely, autometer doesn't have the full lisiting for the pillar pods easily accesible on their site. I found this list

http://www.autometer.com/hp/pricing/15300_20695.html

and part number 17301 is a full a-pillar replacement with three pod holes. I have the dual add-on pod and wish I would've known that they made the full replacement (the add-on pod was hard to make look even decent). I had a site bookmarked that sold it for $50 but they don't carry it anymore. I suppose anyplace that special orders can get ahold of one, but 75 bucks...whoo...that's not cheap

 

Is there a place that shows a picture of what the triple pods look like? I was thinking of getting on of these for my '96

 

Ford Truck Racer:

For your question re: the alternate location for a mechanical water temperature gauge, consider this: check the water outlet (a.k.a. thermostat housing) on your 302 for a threaded plug in the top. If you don't have one, you'll see an indentation machined into the top where it looks as if it can be drilled. Go to your local parts store and ask to see a water outlet for your engine. Chances are, the aftermarket one (should be $10 to $15) will have the threaded plug instead of the indentation. There you have it. Remove and replace your stock outlet with the aftermarket one, and plumb the gauge tubing into the top (leave enough slack to allow yourself the room to change a thermostat or gasket down the road). If the aftermarket outlet doesn't have the threaded plug, move on to another parts store. You can drill and tap your stock one, but it isn't worth the hassle when you can buy one ready-made and cheap. As for the oil pressure port, I believe there may be a threaded plug [that accesses the crankcase] on the driver's side of the block, towards the firewall and below the exhaust manifold, maybe a couple of inches from the bellhousing. You may want to double-check this; it may be hard to see. If this would work, it may be a neater source than running a tee off of the extension for the stock sender, which may be sort of messy given its location next to the oil filter. Just a couple of ideas.

 

the only problem with that location is that I beleive that it is on the radiator side of the thermostat and would be reading the cool water coming into the engine rather than what the hot temperature would be.

 

Thanks, I'm just starting to rebuild another block to drop it in my truck. I see the plugs you are talking about.

 

>the only problem with that location is that I beleive that
>it is on the radiator side of the thermostat and would be
>reading the cool water coming into the engine rather than
>what the hot temperature would be.

Micklesons has a point I failed to consider..... you may want to check for another location, or use the tee at the electrical temp sender unit.

 

Those plugs on the side of the block underneath the exhaust manifolds are not oil pressure, they are coolant drain holes, if this is a 302 engine. The only place to hook up a mechanical gauge for oil on a 302 is through the stock sending unit location by the oil filter. On mine I ended up teeing the stock and mechancial gauge into this.

 

So where is another place to tap into the oil. I was going to put an oil temp gauge on it. Just wondering also if possible to tap into an oil lines I plan on running into a bypass filter.