Help with installing sunpro gauges

[haromaster87]

Hey guys,


I bought a little universal Sunpro 3 gauge pod with oil pressure, water temp, and volt meter in it. I got q's on installation of all 3.

1st, voltmeter, seems simple. Ground it and wire it in with a fuse box accesory. Seems simple. One thing, I have a cb wired into the fuse box and I have one of those accesorry fuses that has a wire coming out of it to wire things in. Would it be safe to put the gauge on that fuse with the cb on there or should I get another one of those fuses?

2nd, is my 86 engine microprocessor controlled? It says with the oil pressure gauge to be sure that the microprocessor controled engines can accept aftermarket gauges. Can it?

3rd, for the water temp and oil pressure it tells me to wire them into the warning light sender. Where would these be for oil pressure and water temp?

Any other helpful hints on gauge installation is more then welcome!

[haromaster87]

Please, someone? I hate to be impatient but I wanna get these gauges wired up asap.

[stockhatch]

The water temp guage will wire to the electric sender near the front of the engine on the drivers side of the intake manifold. The oil pressure guage will wire to the oil sender canister down by your oil filter. Its the canister looking thingy screwed to the end of a hexagonal stalk. You will have to unplug your factory guage wire or figure out some way to split the signal so both guages work.

[stockhatch]

Here is the location of both senders.

[haromaster87]

Ah thanks very much man, i'm okay with unplugging the stock gauge. How would I wire the new gauge onto the oil sender unit post? I need 2 wires on the gauge. Do I run the ground from the gauge and run the hot wire to the oil pressure sender unit? And the same for the water temp? I found both the units.

[haromaster87]

Also, for the lights on the gauges, theres 3 individual 12v light bulbs that fit in with the gauges, could I wire these together, and wire them into my fuse box with an inline fuse and a 12v accesory switch? Also, the water temp gauge has a thick wire coming off of it with a long cylinder looking thing on the end. Its for when you wire the gauge mechanically, but i'm wiring them electronically so what do I do with that long cable, it doesn't unscrew. And yes these gauges can be used electronically.

[stockhatch]

I dunno about the mechanical probe. Just wad it up and tuck it somewhere I guess. Personally, if its there, I would use the mechanical probe over the electrical version. Regarding grounds, grounding to the block is always ideal. See if you can find a chassis ground that goes to the block and tap for ground there. Otherwise, just find a ground under the dash wherever you can. Wiring to the lights I'm not sure on. Last set of aftermarket guages I wired were in an 88, so the switch and wires are different colors Im sure. Maybe someone else knows that one. You could do it the way you described, but thats kinda half-butt really. Why add ANOTHER switch to turn on just to read guages. Find the lighting wire and do it right. Well, as right as you can when tapping into the stock harness...

[83t-topp]

for the lights in the gauges, what I did was tap into the wire for the lights in my heater controls (so they lit up when I turned my park/head lights on) I also have a trio of aftermarket gauges , only mine are mechanical .
hope this helps

[JohnnyGT]

good info for the future

[haromaster87]

Okay, one other thing, is it okay to ground multiple wires in the same spot?

[haromaster87]

Okay, just realized these are mechanical gauges. The stupid ass instructions include instructions for wiring electical or mechanical gauges with no specific help to wich you need. And the box doesn't tell you either, I just went online and found out. Now I gotta figure out how to get that big probe on the water temp to go with the water temp measure unit. Has anyone done this? If so can you walk me through it?

[ujslost]

take your temp gauge out of the intake, put the thermoprobe in its place. the oil pressure gauge, remove the stock sending unit and use the supplied brass fittings and install in place of old sending unit. check for leaks afterwards. use some teflon tape on the temp sensor. the oil gauge probably uses small unions becareful they do not leak inside or outside the car.

[haromaster87]

Okay, another thing, how do I get all those cables through the firewall and into the interior?

[SRM351]

The easiest way would be to find an existing hole near where you want to run the wires and if it's plugged, remove the rubber plug or, if it's not plugged, then install a rubber grommet into the hole to prevent the wires from chaffing on the metal. If you have to drill a hole, make absolutely sure there's nothing behind where you want to drill that could be damaged by the drill bit popping through. Again, don't forget the grommet, otherwise you have an accident waiting to happen.