Technical old school gauges installation

been a while since ive been on the hamb, huh?
well, heres hoping im back for good this time and the hiatuses are mostly over.

ive been gathering parts for a while to do some proper hot rodding to my 57 ford, theres a 4 barrel and some rust removal in the works aswell once i get it mechanically reliable... again.

i figure i'll get some gauges to know what im working with, im thinking a half sweep tachometer mounted to the column, an oil pressure gauge, and an ammeter should cover just about everything i need.

the first order of buisiness, i picked up a Transmitter style Sun tachometer. i have the documents to install it but i have a few questions... should the transmitter be engine bay mounted, or inside the car. is the hose clamp the best option for mounting it to the column? and should i have to worry about it popping the fuse on my ignition circuit.

 

welcome back...

The transmitter should go under the hood. Has the transmitter been worked over, so it'll actually work? They come with a mercury battery inside that died a long time ago, and can't be easily replaced.

Mounting it with a hose clamp is how it was usually done.

You'll catch all kinds of flak about the ammeter. But if you do wire it up, make sure you do it well.

 

i figure i'll solder in a watch battery slot for the 1.35 volts it needs to function.

i should mention... the transmitter isnt in my possession yet. i just have the tach. i need an EB-9A transmitter which shouldnt be hard to find as theyre the most common.
im pretty sure a shunt type ammeter will be safe enough, looking for black stewart warners for gauges.

i trust the stock temp gauge well enough to not worry about it being wrong.

 

that's... shockingly affordable. mines a football but it doesnt have the red rpm sticker/logo , might be early 50s? i think i'll stick one of those in a failed transmitters housing.

 

Glad to see you again!
The ammeter is old school, but as Jim says and you mention, it's gotta be done right. I'd prefer the system gets the money to work reliably. Modern stuff has mostly foolproof charging systems.
You've got the tach covered.
The oil pressure often is mechanical and comes with the plastic line. While they do work and are easier to hook up, many of us have experienced a failure of it, too. Either because of it getting old and brittle, high oil pressure on cold start or a poor install that either didn't fully tighten or gets caught in something moving. Take the time to do a great job, or get the copper replacement or both.

 

im without a doubt going copper line... plastic doesnt like heat, cant get as tight either.

im pretty sure the ammeter needs to be wired so one wire goes to the ARM side of the voltage regulator, and the other to the output stud of the generator, if my memory serves me correctly.

ive got so much money in the generator i might as well keep on with it. if the generator itself fails (hopefully it wont) i'll probably find an alt bracket for a 1963/1964 f100 and install a ford g1 alternator+ss voltage reg, still traditional, but slightly modernized

 

The ammeter needs to be wired between the battery, and the rest of the car. Look on the starter relay, there should be a big wire that goes to the battery, and a smaller one on the same terminal that goes to the main wiring harness. The ammeter needs to connect between these two. That's why it's tricky to install it, as all the current from the car needs to pass through the two wires, that run from there to the ammeter. If you use a shunt type ammeter, then the shunt will go at the starter relay, and a much smaller pair of wires, that carries far less current, will have to go back to the ammeter. Either way, you need to route the wires carefully, so they're well protected.

I would not bother with the ammeter, because the idiot light will tell you when the generator or regulator starts acting up, and it's much easier to notice the light when driving.

Have fun!

 

my idiot light didnt let me know last time it happened was my big issue with it, it also is now randomly burned out now so i need to grab a replacement

if the voltage regulator sticks the gen light stays off... maybe i'll go voltmeter instead would also do the job.

just read about a guy who lost his 47 ford due to an ammeter shunt catching fire... that would suck.

 

Yeah, it's possible for voltage regulators to fail in many different ways. The volt meter is a good idea.

otoh, I've had lots of old cars with ammeters, and never had an issue with the ammeters or wiring, but I make sure the wiring is up to snuff first. Not everyone knows what that means.

If it were my car I'd just put a GM alternator in it, and use the idiot light. But that's only because I've had to deal with so many generator issues over the years, I'm "burned out" on them.

 

now i need to look for one of those... thats a very nice looking gauge. are they backlit?

 

Thinking back, I guess it was the volt meter in the Edsel that really let us know something was wrong with the charging system. We eventually got the regulator contacts cleaned and it worked for the rest of the trip.

 

This is what my pea brain came up with a long time ago. I haven't done it yet because my '50 Chevy truck presently has a tilt column so no room for a column mount gauge.
But I'm ready for the day when I have an older vintage steering column. The clamp is the type used in the food prep industries, such as dairy/milk, pizza sauce, etc...... easy to find on the 'net. They're used to clamp the flanged, stainless pipes together and allow frequent cleaning.
I've simply added some rubber hose to grip and cushion the column, and a nut in the clamp channel (not shown) to attach the gauge pod. I like that it's not billet and it's not a cheesy hose clamp.

 

im on my third voltage regulator, i went through the original and one off a thunderbird before finally relenting and just buying a new one.

worked ever since

 

The side lighting is pretty hard to get working well, especially on old gauges. But if you don't need to see it at night, it's not a problem

I had an older SW oil pressure gauge on my 55 for a while, I could barely see it at night.

 

To quote Family Feud game show........
"Good answer!"

 

i just realized... my cars column shift.

wont that interfere in some way?

 

i think itll work.

 

It sure could. But I once had a '55 Chevy with a 3-on-the-floor shifter.

 

this kind of column shift?



If so, you can have the tach off to the side, at an angle. Hold it in place in a few different positions. You can also screw it onto the top of the dash, like a race car.

 

Here's his build thread.
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...ject-1957-fairlane-500-town-victoria.1226507/
and the dash, from post #1455

 

so it's the same column shift as in my Edsel picture

Put the tach here? Gotta have it in your hand, sitting in the car, to see if it will fit and be visible when driving.

 

i have a really nice virgin dash so on top is off the table, but i definitely could fit it right there in front of the vent actuator.
wish i wasn't busy this evening or else i'd have checked it by now.
also, i don't have a cup for the tach yet, this morning i ordered another one that has what looks like an original cup, this time not an 8500 rpm tach, its a 6000, much more reasonable for this cars capabilities haha

 

Drilling holes in a virgin dash, to mount a tach, is one of the most fun hot rodding experiences there is. I do it to most of my cars.

 

yes but the "old thing that's survived this long" part of me doesnt wanna poke holes in things if i dont have to

 

@Moriarity do you have any pictures of how your tach match is wired? im assuming you ran wires to the original places on the transmitter internally then wired it up as normal?

 

oh also! i found a junk transmitter on ebay for 30 bucks, should be here by Friday, said it was coming from columbus so it might even get here tomorrow, sometimes ive gotten lucky like that