Anyone using one of those pillar pods on your truck?

If so how does it look? I may get one, but only if it looks good, I'm sure they work fine.

The reason I'm thinking of getting one is after searching some post's, I found out that the oil pressure guages in these trucks are more of an idiot light. The oil pressure can be as low as 7psi and the gauge will show about half way!

If anyone has pics that would be great too!

 

bump

 

Don't know about the pods, I bet they would look nice, I've thought about putting one in...
I was looking at your sig and saw your latest mod, the 204/214 cam. How do you like it? What did it add?

 

Well it's not running right now. I haven't had it running right since before the swap. It overheated and caused a few problems. Got it to run pretty good while cold but then it warms up and starts a knock/rattle when I rev it. At the same time it starts to run a little rough at low rpm. I'm assuming the knock sensor is picking up the knock and retarding the timing.

I can't say yeah or nay on it yet until it's running right, but the low end didn't seem up to par. The cruise and upper rpm was great however.

I think my oil pump was the culprit. I just found out the oil gauge will read normal even down to 7psi. I believe the oil pump wasn't giving me good oil pressure or it was acually what was giving me the knock. I traced the noise down to the distributor housing, so I replaced it.....in vain. I checked the rod bearings out and they look good. There was no metal in the pan or traces of metal anywhere in the lower end. No water in oil or oil in water and the compression was even on all cylinders. After pulling the pump, I compared the new one to the old one. The old one doesn't turn as freely as the new one. I'm hoping this is all that's wrong with it. I "should" have it up and running again next week.

That's why I'm looking at guage pods for the temp and oil pressure.

 

I've got the two gauge pod in my truck. I like it. I currently have an air/fuel ratio gauge, as well as a coolant temp gauge. It comes stock as black, unless they came out with colored ones for our trucks recently. I left mine black, and it still looks good. I know there was someone else here who was talking about painting theres. It was well worth it, in my opinion. I've got other gauges mounted where the old ash tray was, but those two in the pod are/were my main concern when I installed it. They're also a piece of cake to install.

Luke

 

I understand it mounts with 2 sided tape. Did you drill a hole in the molding for the wires to go through, or are they running up the side of the pillar?

 

Actually, mine didn't come with the 2 sided tape, so I drilled 4 holes at each corner, and used the screws it came with to mount it to the pillar trim piece.. (Autometer pod). I drilled a hole in the pillar trim piece behind where each gauge would sit, and then threaded the wiring through each. Do a test fit to find out where you want it to sit in relation to the dash, as well as the screw hole to mount the trim piece back on the pillar. I'm actually glad it doesn't mount with the 3m tape, cuz I've had to take mine off to fix a ground wire I accidentally yanked when I had the steering column apart. LOL Much easier with the screws.

Luke

 

How do you install the coolant guage? Do you have to drill the radiator?

 

I replaced my water neck/thermostat housing with an aftermarket one. The new one had a pretapped hole, that I had plugged prior to the coolant temp gauge. The gauge I bought was an electric gauge, so I just removed the plug, and using the fittings that came with the gauge, just screwed in the sending unit, and ran the wire back up through the firewall and up to the gauge. Cake!!! All my gauges are either Actron/Sunpro, or Autometer, and everyone of them has been great to install. They've all come with any and all hardware I've needed.

 

Cool, that's what I'll do then. I'll spring for the $120 for the pod and the two Autometer gauges. But I'll just pull the existing sender for the stock gauge and throw in the real sender.

I'll also try to match up the camel interior with a rattle can.

 

I'd actually recommend using a T adapter so you can run both gauges. I know the stock oil pressure gauge is a joke, but it is still there all the same. Have the best of both worlds. I think the red "engine" light is also tied into the stock oil and temp gauges, so you may trigger that light, if it's not there. I'm not completely sure, but I know that when my oil pressure was skyrocketing, according to the stock gauge, the "Engine" light came on. Not the CEL, but the RED engine light. I'm contemplating an Oil Pressure gauge, and that's what I'll do....

Luke

 

Ahh, hadn't thought of that. Thanks.

 

Hey Lex Where did you buy your gagepod at???? And did you put on your 89??? As you know it s so hard to find a lot of cosmetic goodies for the 87 thru 91's Anyone know why that is??

 

dont know bout lex, but I got my pods from autometer. I put a 2 1\16" double pod with a single 2 5\8" single pod on my a pillar cuz they dont make a triple one for a 91. My frankenstein design looks pretty good to me, although it was a pain in the butt gettin the pillar back on cuz the bottom pod was directly over the mount screw for the pillar. I only got the lights wired up right now so they work with the headlight switch, but it looks pretty cool. I painted em tan to match my interior. Once my oil pressure guage comes in, im gonna finish tappin into the truck wires and be done with it. Sorry no pics though. Ive been tryin to get em down to an acceptable size for my gallery.

Chris

 

I got mine from Summit, and it's an Autometer like HD's. I just checked here, but they don't carry our years... I don't know why aftermarket products aren't as common for 87-91 as it is for '92 and up....

Hey Dvldog458, the link to your webpage in your sig is always giving me an error when I click it. It has an extra break at the end "<br%20/>", and by removing it, I'm able to get to the page. Love you truck btw.