Gauge Options for us "3 gauge cluster" peeps

[67ChevyRedneck]

I got tired of not knowin what was going on with my engine and I didn't want to buy and wire up a 5 gauge cluster, so I headed to advance and I believe for about 50 bucks I got a 3 gauge set up and a tach, all white face by sunpro. I will eventuelly go white face on the whole cluster, but this is what I've got for now. I like it. The tach is column mounted, and yep, the guage readings are with the truck running

[race-n-jason]

Looks good, man. Thanks for the pics.....

JEG

[70short]

Very nice good score.

[truckdude239]

sweet dude what was involde in installing them if its wasn't hard i'd like to go out and get me an set. how hard are they to wire?

[67ChevyRedneck]

I don't remember exact sizes, but whatever size the gauges are I went 1/8 or 1/4" smaller and used a wood boaring bit to drill out the holes. I first centered the two on the right side and marked where to drill, and used the same distance for the single gauge on the left. All of the gauges have a bracket that you mount to the back that "pushes" on the back of the cluster face while the silver ring around the front is what holds them on from the outside. Be careful tightening them, the plastic gauge cluster thing WILL crack.

The temp gauge simply has a sensor that you plug into the block. On my 350 I used the one below the #1 piston on the driverside. The oil pressure gauge simply bolts into the hole behind the dizzy on a 350 (if you don't already have an oil pressure gauge it will have a bolt style plug in it). I can't remember how the ammeter gauge hooked up, I think you run a wire directly to the battery and a ground. The tach is mounted to the column via a large hose clamp. You need to run a power wire, a wire to the tach spade on the dizzy and a ground.

All gauges had a "lighting" power wire and a ground. I ground them all together to the dash and I then ruled out wires to the dash cluster that couldnt be the dash lights and cut wires until I found the right one. I got lucky and it was the second wire I cut. I THINK it was gray or brown??? NOT the best way to find it, but the only way I could think of.

All gauges came with instructions on how to hook them up. They were easy to follow. The install was easy. I think I only spent about 2 hours on it.

[Longhorn Man]

On that volt guage, you should run it to the fuse box on an ignition on circuit... going to the battery will drain it if you go long periods not driving, and this will eliminate the clutter on the battery. (plus that's what sun pro says to do)
As for the lights... no splicing involved, on the fuse box there is a spade there that is labeled cluster feed...that will turn on the lights with your dash lights, and brighten/dim them accordingly.
The tach, the only bummer on mounting it to the column is the reflection you'll get on the windshield at night... but you can toss your hat on it at night and the glare is gone.
For all the nay sayers.... these guages are probably the best for the dollar, WAY better than 30+ year old stock junk, and they ARE made by snap on... I got in a p!ssing match with some one here 1 1/2 years ago on this, and he claimed to have called some big wig at snap on or something... but snap on woulda sued sun prop by now for printing it right on the packaging.
I have these exact guages on my rig (minus tach) except I upgraded to the electric temp guage, cleaner install, but a little more involved too.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Originally Posted by Longhorn Man

On that volt guage, you should run it to the fuse box on an ignition on circuit... going to the battery will drain it if you go long periods not driving, and this will eliminate the clutter on the battery. (plus that's what sun pro says to do)
As for the lights... no splicing involved, on the fuse box there is a spade there that is labeled cluster feed...that will turn on the lights with your dash lights, and brighten/dim them accordingly.
The tach, the only bummer on mounting it to the column is the reflection you'll get on the windshield at night... but you can toss your hat on it at night and the glare is gone.
For all the nay sayers.... these guages are probably the best for the dollar, WAY better than 30+ year old stock junk, and they ARE made by snap on... I got in a p!ssing match with some one here 1 1/2 years ago on this, and he claimed to have called some big wig at snap on or something... but snap on woulda sued sun prop by now for printing it right on the packaging.
I have these exact guages on my rig (minus tach) except I upgraded to the electric temp guage, cleaner install, but a little more involved too.

Thanks for the clear-ups andy. Thanks for the mental reminder, I did hook the volt gauge to the fuse box. I believe I used a circuit tester to find a spade that was not "hot" when the key was off.

I wish I woulda known about this board 2 years ago when I did this, coulda saved me some wire splicing, oh well, I need a new harness anyway.... Also, my "new" gauges do turn on and dim with the other gauges.

As far as glare I've never had any problem It may be because my tach is mounted down some and halfway up the column. I did a lot of early morning still dark driving when I worked on a farm my last semester at Clemson.

Thanks for the pic too.... I think I might go the route you did with the white face... just buy the stickers and not paint the black. Not too sure what to do with the midde though.....

[FRENCHBLUE72]

Nice up-grade I did something similar to my 5-guage set-up..

[krue]

Probably wouldn't be too hard to throw that tach in the center hole up top.?

[67ChevyRedneck]

Originally Posted by krue

Probably wouldn't be too hard to throw that tach in the center hole up top.?

I thought about that.... I just don't want to do it for some reason I guess I like to be different. I kinda like seeing my blinker things working too. I'm one of the few people I know who actually uses them

[70c10]

Andy, Sunpro makes a nice white face tach with the chrome ring that would look awesome in your bezel. Nice explanation on the wiring

[Palf70Step]

The dash looks great. I though about something similar before I got the one I have now.

[QKENUF4U]

you need to quit reading my mind !!!

now if i could only find that 3 3/8" fuel guage for the middle.

[tripleblack]

how much do those gauges run?

[Longhorn Man]

They do, but for the cost, I would be a few bucks away from the moon eyes unit i want sooooooooo bad.