Oil and water temp Gauges for my 69 Bronco

[pclancy]

Hey guys:

I'm thinking about adding better (than stock instrument cluster) oil pressure and water temp gauges to my bronco. The originals are hard to read plus I wonder about their accuracy after 45 years. I have a 302.

I want to keep my dash looking stock, so no new holes.

Can anyone give me advice on this? Where could I put them? I do not have a roll bar. What is considered to be a high quality gauge? I assume I can purchase a 2 gauge cluster. Any Bronco specific installation issues I should be aware of?

Do people recommend auto gauge?

Many thanks for your wisdom and experience!

 

[JoeB458]

Autometer is top of the line. They have several mounting options. I have mine mounted in a 3 gauge ring under dash. Jets.com or summit.com

 

[moses_m]

Do you still have stock radio? Some of us have installled gauge cluster over radio hole. or what Joe said 3 ring cluster under dash. Several nice brands out there. I currently have autometers and VDOs.

 

[Broncobowsher]

There are a couple of aftermarket gauge clusters that replace the stock gauges with a single modern cluster.

Beyond that an aftermarket under the dash mount is the most common. These are generic, not Bronco specific. To your taste.

There are some roll bar/hood mount pods that are also generic that could be mounted to the steering column (like the hose clamp a tach to the column) or you could probably mount them to the top of the windshield frame as well. Mounting is up to your imagination.

As far as gauges go, there are a lot of choices. Most are asthetic. In general the mechanical gauges don't require wiring except for the illumination. But there are issues with them as well. Temperture requires routing the fixed sensing bulb to the engine. Length is fixed, takes a big hole to pass that bulb through, no way to change the length. if the line is damaged the whole gauge is junk. Mechanical oil pressure requires routing an oil line into the passenger compartment. Typically these are a little nylon line that if they leak will leak oil inside the truck. Be careful of chafing on the hole passing through. They get brittle as they age. I have used mechanical oil pressure gauges but I go through and run good AN line to them. Use a bulkhead fitting on the firewall.

I prefer electric gauges. The thing is most electric gauges are short sweep where most mechanical gauges are full sweep (about 90° swing of the needle for short, about 270° swing of the needle for full). Really cheap mechanical gauges are short sweep, nice electric gauges are full sweep.

My gauges of choice now is the ISSPRO line. For the price of mediocre gauge you can get a nice full sweep electric gauge. http://www.issprogauges.com/Isspro-EV2-Gauges-s/25.htm and if you want to get fancy there is a relay driver R82006 and programmer R82003 that you can use to control a relay and set your own specs on the warning light built into the gauge. http://www.dieselmanor.com/docs/isspro/R82003InstallationRevA.pdf The only bad thing I have found about these gauges is they are not sealed. These are not for the hose out the interior type of vehicle. They don't even like a lot of dust, but you can make them dust resistant by putting a little RTV around the wiring hole on the back of the gauge.

 

[pclancy]

There are a couple of aftermarket gauge clusters that replace the stock gauges with a single modern cluster.

Beyond that an aftermarket under the dash mount is the most common. These are generic, not Bronco specific. To your taste.

There are some roll bar/hood mount pods that are also generic that could be mounted to the steering column (like the hose clamp a tach to the column) or you could probably mount them to the top of the windshield frame as well. Mounting is up to your imagination.

As far as gauges go, there are a lot of choices. Most are asthetic. In general the mechanical gauges don't require wiring except for the illumination. But there are issues with them as well. Temperture requires routing the fixed sensing bulb to the engine. Length is fixed, takes a big hole to pass that bulb through, no way to change the length. if the line is damaged the whole gauge is junk. Mechanical oil pressure requires routing an oil line into the passenger compartment. Typically these are a little nylon line that if they leak will leak oil inside the truck. Be careful of chafing on the hole passing through. They get brittle as they age. I have used mechanical oil pressure gauges but I go through and run good AN line to them. Use a bulkhead fitting on the firewall.

I prefer electric gauges. The thing is most electric gauges are short sweep where most mechanical gauges are full sweep (about 90° swing of the needle for short, about 270° swing of the needle for full). Really cheap mechanical gauges are short sweep, nice electric gauges are full sweep.

My gauges of choice now is the ISSPRO line. For the price of mediocre gauge you can get a nice full sweep electric gauge. http://www.issprogauges.com/Isspro-EV2-Gauges-s/25.htm and if you want to get fancy there is a relay driver R82006 and programmer R82003 that you can use to control a relay and set your own specs on the warning light built into the gauge. http://www.dieselmanor.com/docs/isspro/R82003InstallationRevA.pdf The only bad thing I have found about these gauges is they are not sealed. These are not for the hose out the interior type of vehicle. They don't even like a lot of dust, but you can make them dust resistant by putting a little RTV around the wiring hole on the back of the gauge.

I never thanked you for this excellent advice. Much appreciated.