TPI Gauges? Are They Any Good

[nacho55]

While looking for a universal wiring harness they also offerd these gauges, so i was wondering if anyone had used them or heard anything

http://www.tpigauges.com/5_quad_sets.htm

[mknittle]

They look good if they work good.

[Gabbyp]

You will need some sort of spacer to mount them. The AD diameter is about 5 1/8" and these gauges are 4 3/8". Most every manufacturer of similar gauges are smaller in diameter that the original and require a spacer to mount.

[Houston54]

The TPI gauges are very similarly priced to the Dolphin gauges I used on my 54. You might want to review my issues with the Dolphin gauges and confirm the same problems do not exist with the TPI units.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=312195

If you are putting these in a 55 first series truck you can use the original gauge buckets to mount them by gutting the interior of the buckets and using the housing to mount the new gauges. I did this on my 54 and did not have to use any aluminum adapter or spacer to install them into the dash.

[nacho55]

Originally Posted by Houston54

The TPI gauges are very similarly priced to the Dolphin gauges I used on my 54. You might want to review my issues with the Dolphin gauges and confirm the same problems do not exist with the TPI units.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=312195

If you are putting these in a 55 first series truck you can use the original gauge buckets to mount them by gutting the interior of the buckets and using the housing to mount the new gauges. I did this on my 54 and did not have to use any aluminum adapter or spacer to install them into the dash.

Thanks for the heads up on the lighting and the mounting, this is for a 55 first series, (btw) , they do look very similar to the dolphins and another I've seen on eBay. One other question what ohms does the fuel gauge work off of.
Thanks.
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[Houston54]

The fuel sender ohm range needs to be matched with the fuel level gauge. The kit you buy should include all the required senders for the gauges you are ordering. You might want to make sure of that though. The typical GM ohm range is 0-90 ohms. A search on this site should bring up more info on this.

There is another gauge manufacturer call Vintage that has nice units which while pricier than TPI or Dolphin they look tons better.

[nacho55]

Originally Posted by Houston54

The fuel sender ohm range needs to be matched with the fuel level gauge. The kit you buy should include all the required senders for the gauges you are ordering. You might want to make sure of that though. The typical GM ohm range is 0-90 ohms. A search on this site should bring up more info on this.

There is another gauge manufacturer call Vintage that has nice units which while pricier than TPI or Dolphin they look tons better.

That's what I thought that factory Chevy was 0-90, I was wondering if your dolphins were the same , I'm running a blazer tank with and didn't want to have to try rig up a different sending unit to the new one I bought already bought for the tank.
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[nacho55]

Well, after talking to their tech department a couple times and getting a feeling that they don't have the same lighting issues as some of the imported gauges and these have a two year warranty if I had any problems, I went ahead and ordered a set and one of their 20 circuit harness, they don't match my tanks sending unit but said it could adapt the supplied one. These read 230 ohm full.. only problem now is the colors I would have used are on back order for a couple of weeks. I'll let you know my findings..
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[Dan in Pasadena]

I had them in my '46 and they worked fine; no issues.

[Houston54]

The one advantage I found with Dolphin was they gave you an option on your sending unit ohm range which would have enabled you to work with the existing sending unit in your tank.
Getting a sending unit with a different ohm range to work accurately with a gauge of a differing ohm range is not simple.
Did they offer to adapt the gauge they are sending to work with your 0-90 or are they saying YOU can adapt your sender to their 230 ohm gauge. I investigated this back when I was doing this and did not find a suitable solution although one may exist now.
One possibility is to adapt your tank to mount the sending unit they are providing with their gauges.

[summerj]

I purchased the 6 cluster TPI Electronic set. After 4 weeks of not receiving it I called TPI and spoke to the same guy who took my order weeks ago. He kinda scratched his head over the phone and basically said " Oh yeah we must have forgotten to ship that. , Here is yours over on a shelf in a corner. I will get it out tomorrow" ( I live only 1.5 hours from their factory) Got all of the gauges working without issue but the Fuel Gauge

I too could not get the OEM GM sending unit to work with the TPI Fuel Gauge. Here is what I did to make it work : I used the original 3.5"plate GM sending unit with 3/8 line pick up and mounted the sending unit the TPI included in their gauge kit to my existing one. (The TPI sending unit did not have a pickup line) In order to do this I had to drill to holes in the top of the plate to mount the receiver. Ran the two bolts/terminals up through the new holes. Put nuts on them. Conformed and shortened the float rod to match the old one. Works fine. So far no issues. The electronic portion of the TPI sending unit has a pretty small foot print so if you have the larger GM 3 1/2" round disk sending unit it is possible to mount it like I did. my plan B was going to be to make a new round plate and use a brake line to fabricate a pick up line . then install TPI electronic portion on underside of new plate. studs come right up through the top. A good solder will work well with this.

[nacho55]

Summerj, must be the same guy who is working on my "rush order" the ones I wanted were out of stock for three weeks and when I called him to check order status last week he said they were in and they would ship this week, but thanks for the heads up on how you did your fuel gauge, I did some more searching on changing the factory ohm readings and some guys on a ford site had success with adding some resistors to the sending unit line so I may tinker with that a bit, other than that how do you like the gauges and back lighting of them.
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[summerj]

All of the gauges work fine. The speedometer appears to be accurate. I had to get a brass adapter for the oil pressure sending unit to make it longer. It was too wide to screw into the top of my 350 behind the distrib. So far so good. I purchased the billet aluminum dash bezel from TPI as well-the gauges mount into them.