After market gauges

[snowbound]

G'day oh Knowledgeable ones.

As the title suggests, i have bought a set of after market gauges for "Rangella" (84 RRC V8 twin carby) Wiring this thing up will be something of a challenge I am thinking? The instructions say that that the fitting will suit "most vehicles". Has anyone tested the theory whether a 30 year old Rangie is classified as "most vehicles?"

It comprises a battery meter (Ameter I guess) An oil pressure gauge (has tubing not wiring) and a water temp gauge which has the sender already attached ready to insert ( non electronic) but a hard to bend wire thermo conductive whatever it is, not like the original for OME gauge.

The battery meter should be easy enough, not sure about the water temp sender and definitely unsure about fitting the oil pressure meter!

Any advice please?

[jboot51]

Not sure of the fittings.
I wouldn't use an oil pressure gauge that has an oil line going to it. Too risky if the line gets punctured.
The temp gauge will be fine.
Only use the ammeter if it has a shunt resistor at the battery end.

[isuzutoo-eh]

Not sure of the fittings.
I wouldn't use an oil pressure gauge that has an oil line going to it. Too risky if the line gets punctured.
The temp gauge will be fine.
Only use the ammeter if it has a shunt resistor at the battery end.

Why's that with the oil pressure gauge? Surely if the oil line broke you'd notice the drop in pressure and start fault finding asap, the size of the oil line is small eneough on my Series' oil gauge that it'd take seemingly hours to empty the sump through it under pressure.

[snowbound]

Not sure of the fittings.
I wouldn't use an oil pressure gauge that has an oil line going to it. Too risky if the line gets punctured.
The temp gauge will be fine.
Only use the ammeter if it has a shunt resistor at the battery end.

I have never heard of a "shunt resistor" Is this a fancy name for a diode or something? Keen to learn!!

[JDNSW]

Ammeter - firstly, it probably is not, probably a voltmeter.

Ammeters used to be pretty much standard on cars - up until alternators started being fitted. The output of these increase so that it soon became impractical to use ammeters of the normal type, because all the current flows through the meter, and this means once you get over about 30A, you need inconveniently heavy cables up to the dash. (typical generator 20A, typical alternator today 80-120A)

If you really need one, you can use a meter with an external shunt. This is a very low value resistor that is remote from the meter, and through which the current flows. In this case, the meter is a voltmeter that measures the (very small) voltage drop across the shunt, although the scale is calibrated in amps.

John

[snowbound]

Wow, that was technical. It is wired across different points of the live circuit, so effectively inline as opposed to positive to negative, hence my interpretation of an ammeter. Basically it is identical to the old series Landies charge / discharge meters, pretty much as you have said. Anyqay, the wiring instructions are reasonably straight forward for this. Either it works or it doesn't! I'm more concerned with the water temp and the oil pressure in that order. No power it stops, no probs, over heat its $$$$ BIG problem! Really, hand on heart, I want pretty gauges so I can better monitor what is going on under the bonnet!. OK I just want pretty gauges to impress anyone who cares! :p

[Kev the Fridgy]

Personally I would rather "Bourdon Tube" mechanical gauges over electrical any day, electrical gauges can be affected by voltage changes, bad earths etc, yes mechanical can have issues to but in my experience they a rare

[snowbound]

Well, an update on this little project. Biggest pain in the rear end! The oil pressure gauge pipe was like a spring, trying to feed it through the dash to its destination it got a kink. That rendered it useless. OK, just a plastic pipe, so I persevered. Got to the business end and the threads are different the kit had American threads the V8 has 1/8 UNC No adapters available anywhere. Gave up and now ordered an electronic gauge and LR specific adapter.

The Ammeter is going too! As advised on here, would require heave gauge wiring up to the dash and back. too hard, ordered a voltmeter replacement.

This now leaves the water temp gauge. Do you reckon it fitted the V8? Nah, course not. So bought an inline adapter for the top hose, this I had to drill out the thread, , countersink and fit the probe in using "coldweld " :eek: Determined that 1 out of 3 was going to work! The gauges look good, shame about the functionality of them. I guess it's the joy of owning a more unique vehicle??? Or not doing my homework?

[gavinwibrow]

If you really want an ammeter, there is an OZ digital version that uses small wiring (Hall effect I think from memory) AUTRON gauges in Melbourne. There are many options and I have a triple one which shows engine oil P, auto trans T and Amps https://autron.evolveshop.com.au/epages/autron.sf/en_AU/?ObjectPath=/Shops/5353109392756724/Products/AI-052.27.030405/SubProducts/AI-052.27.030405-01&ViewAction=ViewProductDetailImage