iamsuperbleeder

And I was planning on just taking the day to relax and not do anything... Today I changed my oil and did a little tune-up and fluid check, then drove back up to the parts store to get rid of the old oil there; got to look'n around, and ended up buying gauges, the gauge pod, new t-stat, and a new oil pressure sencor along with the parts to make this little trick setup here so I can hook up both the OEM sensor and the new one on the pillar:



I've been wanting some gauges for a while anyway...

It'll take a little trimming to fit good to the pillar, but it's definately doable and I'll post the pics up of the final result!

scuba

Fail!!!!!

jk !!

Sounds good, Pics when its done im sure are already planned !!!

a4runnerfreak

Well, so much for relaxin and doin nothing, then.......lol

freddy

cool!!

iamsuperbleeder

gauges are like switches; you can never have too many... the more you have, the more it feels like your sitting in a fighter cockpit

abecedarian

Sounds like a plan.

iamsuperbleeder

Oh, I almost forgot to ask.

Is the t-stat housing a perfectly fine place to drill and tap and install the temp gauges probe?

I figured I could do that while I have it off to install the new t-stat...

Jay351

Damn you! I have wanted one of those 3 guage apillar pods for so long now. I wish I had enough cash.

Post more pictures up!
Where did you get it anyways?

BigBluePile

iTrader: (3)

I wouldn't, but that's me. What I did was cut the upper rad hose in sections and put a sender there. Like and idiot I paid LC Engineering for that hose manifold when I could have made one for cheaper.

http://www.toyotacatalog.net/m1webge...0-5C22F7B2AACD

I also have a three guage a-pillar pod and I really like it. I have oil, water, and vacuum. They're all electric guages with green back lighting to match the rest of the lights and it has it's own light switch just like my clinometer/altimeter.

iamsuperbleeder

do you think it would cause any harm?

IIRC, the outlet is aluminum, and that may be the only problem, but I dunno, that may not make a difference at all anyway...

Jay, I just picked it up from my old job Advance Auto Parts; it was $40, as were the set of 3 guages... I had some extra cash handy, so I thought "eh, why not"... Plus, I don't like just having idiot lights and a needle between "L" and "H"; I want to know my volts, oil pressure, and temp fairly accurately

BigBluePile

iTrader: (3)

You could, but the walls might be a little thin to mount the sender.

iamsuperbleeder

hmm, didn't think about that...

BigBluePile

iTrader: (3)

you could always get a bung welded in there!

iamsuperbleeder

what do you think would happen if I were to just drill and tap it as is?

I mean, I'm not so much worried of it pushing out or leaking; the only caution I think I would need to take is to make sure I don't over tighten the probe when threading it on so that I do not split the housing itself around the hole...



Anyone ever tapped in with a temp gauge probe here, or seen it done?

BigBluePile

iTrader: (3)

If the walls are too thin it wont seat right and it'll fit loose which will leak/spray. The sender has pretty corse threads.

iamsuperbleeder

true about that...

I dunno, it's tapered quite a bit as you work the way up the adapter, so I think it would seal pretty well...

We'll see. I'm going to go start the install now, and once I pull the t-stat housing off to replace the t-stat, I'll make my decision after looking over it with all your reponces in mind

thanks man, I'll let you know what happens!

BigBluePile

iTrader: (3)

sweet, throw up some pics and good luck!

abecedarian

c'mon...
it's noon there. where's the pics?

BigBluePile

iTrader: (3)

Yeah, what he said!!!

iamsuperbleeder

lol, ok fine, here's the progress so far...



got the guages installed with the lights and volt meter hooked up, and ran the temp probe and oil pressure tube under the hood...



but right now I gotta run up to the store and get a union for the hose, cause they never give you enough tubing for the oil pressure guage