I finally got around to installing the Autogauge Z-series gauges I bought a couple of months ago.



I was worried that it would look a little rice, but I think it came out OK. I mounted them on some scrap diamond plate I had laying around. I was going to paint it flat black, but I kinda like the contrast for now--we'll see. Used the mounting holes from the original cluster, with some spacers between the dash surface and the plate.

I tell ya, its nice having accurate info! Oil pressure jumps up to 80psi when cold, varies when operating, and gradually goes down to 20psi at idle after warmup. Far cry from the "2" I always had with the stock gauge; I might have just as well painted a red arrow pointing to "2" with that piece of !*%$. I was surprised how long it took the transmission temp to come up--about 20 minutes to max.

Here's the tee I installed on the oil pressure sender port. One outlet for mechanical oil and one for electric oil temp. Thought I might have to drain the oil to install it, but only a bit dribbled out before tightening it down.



Routed the tubes and wires through the firewall where the main harness feeds through. Turned out to be a good place; it gave me room to work them up under the dash and I only had to remove the speedo panel.



When I changed the transmission oil filter awhile ago, I had a welding shop put a bung in the pan for the transmission temp sender. Mounted a stainless steel screw next to it for the sender ground. Painted the pan to prevent rust where the weld was done.



Now I just need to figure out why the oil temp isn't working; it might be a grounding issue. I connected the ground wire to a screw hole you can see in the oil tee picture, but maybe that's not a good ground. I also need to redo the wiring in back of the gauges. You can't see it from the picture, but it's a rat's nest back there. Then maybe in the distant future when I get some fab skills I can build a console that looks more stock. That would be sweet!

All in all, it'll do.