alsil Posted May 2, 2001 Share Posted May 2, 2001 OK, I'm digusted. I need to put some REAL guages in my Z, since the stock guages and sender are showing me some crazy readings. I want to install 2 guages - a water temp and oil pressure guage, both electrical. Need to know what size works, 2 1/16 or 2 5/8, how you guys have installed them, stuff like that. Want to know what's REALLY going on in my engine compartment. Thanks, AL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted May 2, 2001 Share Posted May 2, 2001 Al, You'll want to use 2 5/8" gauges. They attach just like stock, a small metal bracket is made that goes from the gauge to the dash mount. The choice on brand of course is up to you, I used Autometer, but have heard on this forum they're not terribly accurate, but can be calibrated I guess. VDO, Smith, Stewart Warner and several others are also options, but I can't vouch for they're accuracy as I just havn't compared, or seen a comparison on them. Regards, Lone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alsil Posted May 2, 2001 Author Share Posted May 2, 2001 Thanks! I like VDO guages, as I have used them in my old '66 Mustang, my current '66 Chevy truck, and my Z and have found them VERY accurate. Thanks for the info! Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted May 3, 2001 Share Posted May 3, 2001 Good point Drax, as he said, pull the stock front plastic off the front of the Nissan guages, the Autometers drop right into them (from the front of the bezel) and you can secure them in back with the brackets they shipped (this should work for the VDO's as well, most guages mount the same anyway). As Drax said, that way it'll mate up to the hole in the dash real well. Good luck, Lone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Shasteen Posted May 3, 2001 Share Posted May 3, 2001 Okay, with every new post you guys just keep reminding me of more items I need to budget for. I was driving home the other night & again was reminded of how "dim" the stock gauges are! Sure would be nice to "SEE" the gauges at night. Kevin, (Yea,Still an Inliner) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drax240z Posted May 3, 2001 Share Posted May 3, 2001 Kevin, you could probably just do a bit of a modification to your old ones to get them to be brighter. Actually they were probably bright enough from the factory, and years of dirt/corrosion has caused you lights to get less than adequate power. Seems to me than in both my early Z's the gauge lighting was not a problem, too bright at full power to use. I'm not sure how you mounted yours lone, I needed to make my own brakets to mount mine in the middle of the dash. The supplied ones weren't anywhere near large enough that I could tell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drax240z Posted May 3, 2001 Share Posted May 3, 2001 Hmm, ok lets use some pictures to show this a bit better, since I have them. The boost gauge is the only one of the 3 that is mounted using the 'shell' off the old Datsun gauges in this picture. You'll notice the water temp and oil pressure gauges are sort of aimed randomly. In this picture you can see how the old datsun gauges were mounted, the brackets on the autometer gauges, and what I did to span one to the other. Maybe that will help someone out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted May 3, 2001 Share Posted May 3, 2001 Thats pretty much what I did. I used the aluminum piece that autometer ships to hold the gauge in the bezel and the two studs coming off the back of the autometer gauge were attached to a bracket I made to meet up with the Datsun dash bracket (the one thats a verticle screw pointed up. Even with that, I have to admit, one of my gauges points at the driver, the other ones are sorta pointing straight ahead, but its functional and at a glance not noticible. Its a driver, what the hay.. *shrug* Lone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted May 3, 2001 Share Posted May 3, 2001 (semi-related...) Funny you guys should be talking about this... I've stuck with the std. gauges, for money/effort-saving reasons really. But, recently, my oil pressure started to read low. I bought a cheapish capiliary style one (compared to the std. Datsun remote transducer one) and did a temporary install on that - which showed the pressure was fine. I then replaced the Datsun sender (which was $AU 80, about $US 40) and all is now reading OK, for the moment.... Guess one day I'll have to bite the bullet and do what you guys are describing here. Also, FWIW: the sender, from Nissan, has been "updated"; rather than a straight anodised "bell" it's got a sort of rubber condom on it. I guess that's for safe-motoring... and after all it is measuring the pressure of the lubricant... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drax240z Posted May 3, 2001 Share Posted May 3, 2001 2 5/8" worked for me. The trick is to keep the plastic bezel on the stock datsun gauges, and use it when you put in the new gauges. You can get a perfect alignment, and a very clean install by doing that. If you don't use the existing plastic bezel, you'll end up with them sticking out quite a bit more. That said, it worked well for autometer stuff. I couldn't get VDO up here (big surprise) or I would have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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