Questions about guages

[Clark's diesel]

I researched my options for gauges today and noticed that some makers offer an electronic guage as well as the standard mechanical guage. I think I might go with Autometer. The gauges we have on the late model race car all Autometer and have worked very well. Are the electric ones more accurate than the standard mechanical guages? They are a heck of a lot more expensive. I will be installing egt,trans temp, and boost/vac guages. I noticed a small plug,(possibly a test port), on the upper intake manifold of my 6.5. Would this be a good spot to hook up a boost guage? Also, where is a good place to mount the EGT probe? Thanks for helping the NEWBIE out fellas!

[Clark's diesel]

Do I buy mechanical guages or electric ones? My concern being that there might not be enough room in the A-pillar pod mounts.

[trbankii]

The main difference between mechanical and electrical is how they get their readings. An electrical gauge will have a sensor and then wiring back to the gauge which will translate the impulses to the display. The mechanical gauge is usually plumbed right to the gauge - say a vacuum line right to the gauge to get a vacuum reading. The gauges themselves are pretty much the same sizes, but the plumbing can be an issue with trying to route things and have room to get it in to the gauge.

I'm looking into installing extra gauges myself, so cannot exactly help with the location questions. There is another current thread about turbo warm-up/cool down that discusses EGT probe placement.

[More Power]

I prefer to install the pyrometer in the exhaust crossover pipe a few inches below the driver's side exhaust manifold. You can weld on a fitting or drill a hole for a clamp-on style pyrometer.

In either case, you should remove the crossover pipe to do the drilling & welding.

Any convenient location on the intake plenum or intake manifold will work for a boost pressure port. I like to mount them on the back facing side to lessen the clutter.

Jim

[ 09-17-2005, 03:34 PM: Message edited by: More Power ]

[Clark's diesel]

So does installing the pyro probe in the crossover make it pre-turbo. It seems that some prefer pre-turbo, over post turbo.

[More Power]

Yes, the crossover pipe location makes it pre-turbo. Consider 1250 degrees the max for the time it takes to tow a trailer up a mountain grade.

The turbo downpipe is another possiblity, but less useful, in my opinion. It'll be 100-300 degrees cooler there.

Jim

[ogrice]

There is plenty of room for wires and sensing lines at the pillar and by the steering column. I recently installed a 2 gage pillar pod and 3 gage dash pod. Started from scratch and now I have boost, egt, oil press, oil temp, and rpm's.

Here is a tip. If you install a dash pod with the factory radio in place you will be working very hard to route the lines and wires properly around the radio and harness.

[Clark's diesel]

Thanks for helping out the "newbie". I've actually owned my truck for six years now, and am just finding all of this info. Either my PMD, or my injection pump is bad. I've got a new PMD on it's way. I just figured if I have the intake manifold off, why not add a boost guage? Then I figured I just as well do the other two also. Just trying to get all the info I can before spending the big dollars and not ending up with what I want. Thanks again!