I recently purchased an 87 GN and I am new to the v-6 engines. I purchased a set of auto-meter gauges to get some sense of what is going on? Anyway to get to the point, I go them home and looked at th eengine and couldn't figure where they hook up. I have an oil pressure, water temp,boost/vacuum, and a trans temp. If anyone could possibly give me any advice on to where to hook these things in I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks in advance.
Should be here:
http://www.gnttype.org/techarea/bodygauges/interiorpage.html
Thanks for the help!
what are the wires for hooking up an after market tach
Hi, I was looking at the diagram listed above and there is nothing there for water temp gauges. Any idea where a good location for the temp sender would be?
Bruce
Put the temp. sender inplace of the factory idiot temp. sender. Just left of the T-Stat housing. It has a single wire going to it. Tape the end of the orginal wire up and run your new wire from the sender to the new gauge.
If you happen to have the intake off, you can do what I did for the water temp gauge. I drilled on the flat area just below the factory idiot light temp sensor. I tapped the hole, cleaned out the intake, and mounted it there. That way I still had the idiot light. I like to keep the idiot lights, they will catch your attention more than a needle that moves 1/4" more than usual, and is mounted much below the normal viewing height. Another spot that I know if is on the side of the block. There is supposed to be a drain p;ug right in the middle(1/8"NPT). You can pull that out and put your sending unit in there. That is if it is an electric gauge. If it is mechanical, I don't think it will fit. Good luck.
Brian
I used the block drain plug hole to install the sending unit for my electrical gauge.
However, I do not think I get the correct reading now. Maybe my gauge or sending unit started malfunctioning at the time of the relocation. You can try it though.
Best location for temp sender is where the water is the hottest. This is just BEFORE the T-state. The heads run a lot hotter than the block. Water is pumped the the block first then to heads, up to intake and into radiator. Ever notice that small block Chevys read cooler with a gauge. Thats because the sender is in the head. Don't use a Tee to install two senders. The recess will cause a lower reading. If you want both light and gauge do what Brian did. Useing a block drain is a waste of time. Phil
I have to agree that the block drain is not ideal. Because my readings are very irregular, depending on the engine speed, it will move from hot to cold within a few seconds or from stoplight to stop light.
Melvin, I think you may have an electrical/ground problem with your install. I have my Autometer gage sender installed in the drivers side block drain port and my readings are steady and only about 3 to 4 degrees off from Tlink. I also made sure that the gage ground was ON the engine so there isn't reading error induced by uncommon grounds. Quality of gage may play some roll as well (VDO electrical typically off by 10+ degrees) but the readings should be consistant. I usually just use my gage as a indicator to point out abnormal temperatures and don't get so caught up in the actual numbers just in case they are not totally accurate.
Erik Skarsgard
87 GN 12.79 on pump gas