I just bought a 56 chevy truck. It has a 350 in it. The gauges (original) do not work. I have talked to the guy I purchased it from but could not really understand what the problem was. I want to hook up the gauges. It has the original gauges in it right now. I really want to hook up a temp, oil and tach... The temp being the most important. I believe I need to buy a temp gauge with a sending unit. When I do this what exactly do I need to be looking for. Am i buying an aftermarket gauge for a 12 volt or will any gauge work just as long as the sending unit and gauge are a match???? I am looking to put the gauge in the stock location. I think the answer is a yes. But need re***urance. Thank you
If you go with electric gauges (cheapest and simplest) everything is included with them. You may need an adapter for the temp gauge sending unit, easy to find. Bob
when i built my 55,in 74,i put a 365 hp 327.just used a sending unit for a chevy 12 volt guage,not a light.worked fo 20 years as a daily.oil is the same 1/8 line as any.amp guage don,t care if its an alt.rewired the whole truck from bare cab.just use your orig. ,looks way better.
If your temp gauge requires a sending unit just get one from a tri-five Chevy store. The oil gauge is just hooked up with the proper fittings from any parts store. The tack will come with what ever is needed for that particular tach.
56-59 used an electric temp gage. 55 was mechanical. For the electric gage, you need a sender, the Standard Motor Products TS6 sender will work. The gage has two connections, I and S, I goes to ignition power, S goes to the sender. Gas gage is pretty much the same as the temp gage, the sender in the tank usually goes bad but you can buy a new one. The oil gage has been covered already, it uses an old design 1/8" ferrule fitting, I've found the fitting for it in the br*** fitting section of a good auto parts store. The ammeter should work if you don't have a lot of accessories in the truck, just follow the stock wiring diagram (I'm traveling right now so I don't have it handy). usually the speedometers are messed up, but it can be replaced or fixed by a speedometer shop. I can't think of any other gages you could buy and install in the cluster, that would fit or look right.
Yea I hear ya but I dont want my engine to be cooked. I have had the radiator piss some fluid out. I think it has been the overflow. Its a crossflow and I think the prev owner filled it up too much... AND this is why I am aasking about gauges...
so how can I run the original gauges for the temp , oil, etc for this truck??? I would like not to have aftermarket gauges (ones that are not really period correct for the truck in it. Any help??? THx
Yup, I've got a '55 and none of the gauges were hooked up when I got it - Squirrel explained it about as simple and straight forward as is possible - even gave you part numbers....
So I ended up getting the sending(the parts number that was listed above) It did not work. I am not sure if there was an electrical problem or not but I said f it and put in the aftermarket gauges.
Could be your gauges are bad. You need to test them. Patience gr***hopper, patience... It took time but I hooked up all the factory gauges in my 50 F1 that has chev running gear and a mustang fuel tank. Now I dont have a bunch of **** hanging underneath my dash. A much cleaner look. To each his own.
If this vehicle were some really rare car, I could see going to new gauges, but a 56 Chevy truck, cmon! There are people like LMC that have the gauges, and then there are people out there that will repair them. These gauges are not difficult to repair. Good luck with the AM gauges! Most of them are not too good.
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