Should I Go with Warning lights or Guages?

[Isaiah92260]

My truck was a Original Warning Lights truck, someone cut the temp guage and oil pressure and installed 60's Stewart Warner Guages probably 40 years ago which they look like crap, the plastic lense is all scratched and has lots of over spray which I can't clean off,. So I found a original set of warning lights cluster for a good deal, but I'm curiouse if that's a good idea to go with considering that I live in the hot desert and if I should be monitoring my exact temps. I run at 160ish 170's in the morning, and during the day my tuck runs at around 185-195 and at 190-205 at idle. Yesterday when I got home it hit 210 when I parked and then shut it off, I am gonna do my water pump soon on my 250 I6. So that's why I believe I should keep track of my temps, cuz the truck has its days where it runs hot... .. So I don't worry about oil pressure because my truck runs at 40 psi at idle which is perfect. But I know my truck was factory with warning lights and that would obviously maintain its value if I keep it OG since I still use the 3 on the tree too.

[Chevy Fleetside]

Gauges are always the better choice.

[Isaiah92260]

Originally Posted by Chevy Fleetside

Gauges are always the better choice.

I know it's pointless but I'm thinking of doing the warning lights and hook them up to light up with the accessory when I turn the key but wire up a under dash Guages on the drivers side. I want try to keep my truck as original as possible by appearance and some functionality, I can get the Guages for dirt cheap for what the deal is, and I have a friend that's gonna hook me up with a 283 short block that my truck is supposed to have with an IOU for dirty cheap lol.

[LostMy65]

The majority say gauges are better.
A dummy light would of saved me and my 65 when I was a radical back in 83.
My friends and I use to go out to this place outside Woodland California - 'The Rolling Hills' - A huge wide farm road.
Many locals called the place The Roller Coasters.
Because of how smooth and wide the dirt road was, we could just fly over those hills. Because of the speed we'd go, it really gave you the up and down rush of a roller coaster.
In the winter it became a great place to go Muddin.
Plowing through the mud, fish tailing, and flying over the hills. Anyway, we were having so much fun, I didn't notice my oil pressure dropped off because the dim lighted old gauges on my 65.
The warning light would of caught my attention sooner.
Well, I shut the engine off and it seized up.
Put some oil in it and pull started it back on paved road, but the cam was shot.

[Isaiah92260]

Originally Posted by LostMy65

The majority say gauges are better.
A dummy light would of saved me and my 65 when I was a radical back in 83.
My friends and I use to go out to this place outside Woodland California - 'The Rolling Hills' - A huge wide farm road.
Many locals called the place The Roller Coasters.
Because of how smooth and wide the dirt road was, we could just fly over those hills. Because of the speed we'd go, it really gave you the up and down rush of a roller coaster.
In the winter it became a great place to go Muddin.
Plowing through the mud, fish tailing, and flying over the hills. Anyway, we were having so much fun, I didn't notice my oil pressure dropped off because the dim lighted old gauges on my 65.
The warning light would of caught my attention sooner.
Well, I shut the engine off and it seized up.
Put some oil in it and pull started it back on paved road, but the cam was shot.

That's an awesome sorry, I'm from Los Angeles and I've ave been out that way before, it's nice out there! You are right, my lights on my Guages already are pretty dim. I just bought the Guages for $25, it's a deal I couldn't pass up, I'm trying to increase the value in my truck by keep it original, I'm gonna install the warning lights but wire up a set of Guages under the dash, I already have a oil pressure guage that was has an old copper oil line that's mounted under the dash, so I'm gonna install a new temp guage under where light switch and wiper switch is at to keep the dash looking clean.

[vince1]

New Cat 235 excavator didn't have the bottom closed in yet but did have a flashing light at eye level on a spiral old style telephone cord. Punctured the oil filter, light flashes, engine shut down and saved. Who looks at gauges?

I like the dual cold and hot feature of the sending unit on my 66 250. Had to buy it new though because it had long since been replaced with something else.

[vince1]

BTW the test for the hot lamp is that it illuminates while the engine is cranking on start up.

If I had an original cluster with gauges then yahoo but don't see the point of them hanging below the dash.

[PGSigns]

I have gauge clusters in both my trucks. I still run a good quality temp gauge under the dash. For that I want numbers that i can read and that I can trust.
Jimmy