Does anyone have any recomendations for good aftermarket gauges?

 

Autometer has my vote and they carry several styles; I went with the Ultra-lite series - speedo,tach,oil,water temp,voltage and fuel level and mounted them in the (6) hole aftermarket billet dash insert that is made for the 67-72 trucks.

 

Depends on what you want to pay. I put some in my 67 a few months back. My idea was do what I had done years ago and put in a three-banger set of white on black Stewart-Warner gauges. When I started looking around, I found that those babies have gotten really expensive. I ended up buying a set from Autozone (Sunpro - temp, volt & oil) and an Autogage tach. The gauges were $40? and the tach about $80. They work and look fine. In my limited market research it seems to me you can spend what I did for some OK gauges or a LOT more for more professional types. There doesn't seem to be much in between. If you want a photo of mine, email me.
jor

 

Have you noticed the difference between electrical and mechanical gauges? The electrical gauges use a sender on the engine to produce an electric signal, which is sent to the gauge in your truck (like the fuel and engine temp. gauges in a stock F100). Electrical gauges are easy to hook up (just run a wire into the cab), but the needle on the gauge face doesn't have the "sweep" (usually less than 90 degrees) of a mechanical gauge. This can make the gauge hard to see b/c the numbers are crammed together.
Mechanical gauges, on the other hand, have a larger needle-sweep (say 270 degrees), so it's easier to see your exact temp, oil pressure, etc. For mechanicals, however, you need to run a plastic tube (for oil pressure), and another tube-thing (for water temp) into the cab. Sometimes the oil-tube leaks inside the cab.
Like JOR I was eyeballing the Sunpro triple gauge-set at the autoparts store. Coolant temp, oil pressure, and volts are the three most important things to me (well, along with fuel level). It's hard to beat that price for a triple gauge, 2" mechanical set. Finally, you should decide what size gauge face you want. I've seen some minis (look like 1.5"), with 2" and 2 and 5/8ths being more common.
Ohio Bill

 

Stroker 393, what did you do for a speedo?

Thanks

 

I used the Autometer Ultra-lite (4492) which is mechanical, 3 3/8" face. The billet insert is cut for 3 3/8" speedo and tach and 2 1/16" for oil, temp, voltage and fuel level. The whole setup put together is around $500 and worth every penny.

 

If you go mechanical gauges, for the oil pressure run a metal tube. Those plastic tubes can be easily broken (or melted) and can lead to a blown engine. At 65+ m.p.h. and 3000 rpms, things happen fast.

 

I also use the sunpro gauges in my 1970 f100.

 

>Autometer has my vote and they carry several styles; I went
>with the Ultra-lite series - speedo,tach,oil,water
>temp,voltage and fuel level and mounted them in the (6) hole
>aftermarket billet dash insert that is made for the 67-72
>trucks.


Where did you find the billet dash insert??

 

I purchased it locally at Carolina Classics in Durham,N.C. I don't believe they have a web site but you can give them a call at 800-598-4211 or 919-682-4211 and I'm sure they would send you a catalog.This is one nice piece and they come with tiny round lights; (2) green for signal indicators and (1) red for high beam.You have to trim your original inst. cluster in the center to mount the insert but it's simple and looks very professional. I removed my intire unit and purchased a used OEM plastic cluster unit off Ebay just to keep from cutting my 69 original. I will posting new pictures soon of my complete truck covering all areas so stay tuned.

 

I've always trashed the plastic and gone with copper tubing; always better safe than sorry.

 

On the one I had, the plastic tubing slipped on to the back of the gauge. How would one connect copper tubing ?

 

I slip a piece of vacuum line over the plastic line to protect it. Haven't had any problems doing this.

 

How did you end up with the indicator lights? Did you buy it complete with Gauges? I bought mine w/o gauges, and had to figure out the indicator lights on my own (Got some VDO). I like this insert, but I had heart set on VDO Millenium gauges. Trevor