Brian Baskin
Rikutsu-poi
DISCLAIMER - I am not a professional. As shade tree mechanics come, I don't even have a tree. Some of the steps and advice given here may NOT be the best possible solution and may result in harm, death, or sudden castration of the installer. Proceed at your own risk.
In undergoing the new engine build on my truck, and realizing that a large problem was the lack of oil in the engine, I knew that I needed a better handle on monitoring the situation. I needed additional gauges that were more than just idiot lights to help prevent another catastrophe. I started my search for a number of gauges, including: oil pressure, fuel pressure, and transmission temperature. Wow! I could not believe the cost these units were going for. In my eternal search for all things cheap, I did run across Glow Shift gauges. They seem to be quite popular in the ricer market, but that doesn't necessarily make them bad.
Looking through their products, they carry: Tinted 7-color, black 7-color, tinted, and white 7-color gauges. In a few hours of research, I ruled out the tinted units. Many had claimed that they were difficult to view in broad daylight. The white faced and black faced gauges were dramatically different. Being that there is a limited gauges available in white-faced, and that I light have a 6 o'clock null value, I went with the black 7-color gauges.
So, I made my purchase for an oil pressure gauge, a fuel pressure gauge, and a transmission temperature gauge.
I also needed an A-pillar to support the gauges, and they had a 3-pod pillar in stock. All of the gauges were 2 1/16" in size.
Total cost for everything: $175 with shipping. As a penny-pincher, I delighted in seeing the magical field when checking out: Discount Code. An hour with Google gained me a number of discount codes. For example, for 10% off use: GS06. For 15% off, use GSPC. I can't vouch that they're still good and active, but my costs, with shipping, came to under $150
With the pillar and gauges shipped, the first task was to paint the pillar to better match the interior. It is shipped gloss black, but that is quickly rectified. There was a lot information, and mis-information, on the forums about what paint to use. I ended up using Rustoleum Painter's Touch Dark Gray. A quick scuffing of the surface followed by a few coats of paint produced a nice dark gray. Make sure you also paint the sun-shades that accompany each gauge, if you wish to use them.
After painting the pillar, test fit each of the gauges. You will probably find that the gauges do not fit in the holes easily. Get some rough sand paper (I used 400 grit), and sand around the edges of each hole a bit. You want the gauges to fit snugly, so don't sand too much. The only thing keeping the gauges from moving is the compression provided here at the opening. The sun-shades give you additional leverage when removing the gauges later, so you can keep the fit tight.
The first step I took was to wire all of the gauges up, while leaving myself plenty of slack for the later hookup of each of the sending units. Each gauge was placed into the A-pillar, with the transmission temperature at the top, following by the oil pressure and the fuel pressure at the bottom. In hindsight, I would place the trans. temp at the bottom, since most of its readings are sweeping at the bottom of the gauge. If you were not very tall, it would be hard to read the individual ticks for the temperature. I would place the fuel pressure at the top, since it sweeps farther up.
A word of note here, if you are reading through the directions that accompany the gauges. They stink! GlowShift has much better installation instructions on their website under Technical Support. The printed instructions are Ikea-style ideograms, while the new ones on the website explain each step.
All of the gauges feature a universal wiring harness. Each features four colored wires: green (sender), black (ground), red (+12V power), and yellow (+12V constant power for color memory). When installing all three gauges simultaneously, you'll notice that except the green wire, the others can be wired to the same locations. Therefore, the first task was to bundle up the wiring and connect all three black wires to a single ground wire (black in my use), all three red wires to a single power wire (red), and all three yellow wires to a single memory cable (blue). Before connecting anything, make sure you properly label every wire on each end, especially since the harnesses are identical. Here I labeled my oil pressure wires "O", my fuel press wires "F", and my trans temp wires "T". Label the wiring harness itself, too, in case you need to remove them from the gauges later. Each gauge is labeled with a sticker affixed to the rear that describes it. Make sure you stagger the locations of the connectors here due to the added girth of each one. In my hastiness, I connected each wire at the same location, leaving me with six butted connections squeezing against each other, preventing the pillar cover from sitting flush with the truck's A-pillar.
For my wiring I took advantage of the close proximity of the headlight harness. To get to this harness you must first remove the instrument cluster bezel. Use a small pry bar to remove the two light gray accent bars on the bezel, and then the torx bolt behind each. Pull the headlight knob all the way out and then rotate it until you see the small notch in the rear of it. Place the end of a small screwdriver into this notch and pull it firmly outward. This should release and remove the headlight knob. Place wheel chocks under all of your wheels and apply the emergency brake. Remove the negative connection on your battery and insert your keys into the ignition. Shift the truck into (1) (the lowest possible position) and pull the tilt steering bar to lower the steering wheel all the way. Carefully pry around the dash bezel to pop all of the retaining clips off. Once they are removed you will have two wiring harnesses hold the dash bezel on: the fuel pump switch and the fog light switch. Carefully pop these two harnesses off. WARNING: These areas do get brittle with age. While removing the harness from my fuel pump switch I inadvertently broke off both mounting locations holding the fuel pump switch to the bezel. Carefully tilt the top of the bezel forward and remove it completely. Use the same Torx bit from earlier to remove the two bolts holding the headlight switch in. Once removed, carefully pop off the headlight wiring harness on the rear of it. This is what you can wire into to power the gauges.
Conveniently, as I was installing the gauges I also needed to replace my headlight wiring harness due to an exploding wire. Using a test light I attempted to locate a wire that was key-on and lights-on for the power, and a constant +12V for the memory. I ran the red power wire to the Orange with black stripe wire that only received power on key-on or when the lights come on. The blue memory wire was tapped into the green with yellow strip wire. In the picture I semi-permanently connected these, but placed quick release terminals further up on both the memory and power wire for later removal.
The ground wire was run to another close-by location; a bolt directly above the emergency brake. Use a ring terminal to connect the ground to this bolt, and the gauges should be able to be powered on and visible.
To install the GlowShift A-pillar you will need to drill into the existing A-pillar cover. From inside the truck hold the GlowShift pillar over the factory pillar and pick out four locations in which to place body screw. I chose a spot on each corner. Drill out this hole with the appropriate bit size, as described in the included directions. Re-align the pillar to the truck and use a fine-point sharpie to mark the hole locations on the factory pillar. Remove the factory pillar and drill appropriate holes into each. While the GlowShift pillar is off, take a moment to trim some excess plastic from the bottom edge, so that wires can more easily be fed through it (see picture).
Carefully reconnect your headlight switch and reinstall the switch to the dash. Reconnect your fuel pump and fog light harnesses to the bezel, and carefully press the dash bezel's clips into position. Replace the headlight knob and tighten down the two bolts holding the bezel on. Push in the two accent trims that were removed earlier.
I ran three wires that would feed to the sensors. All three were run from the interior through the firewall, through a hole cut into the steering wheel grommet. I conveniently already had a hole there for my CB radio, so it was a simple matter of feeding three wires through. I used a white wire for my oil pressure sender, a blue wire for my fuel pressure sender, and a red wire for my transmission temperature (the colors just seemed to make sense in those roles).
The oil pressure sender supplied by GlowShift can be installed in two ways: by replacing the factory oil pressure sender or by using an adapter plate with your oil filter. I went along the way of the first route by tapping the new sender along with the factory one, so that I could still utilize the idiot gauge. The GlowShift sender unit is a 1/8" NPT connector, just like the factory sender. So, purchase a 2" extension pipe, and a 3-way. The 2" extension is necessary to extend the 3-way past the block so that it can be tightened on. You will also need to remove your oil filter, and don't forget thread sealant. Installed, the sending units will sit within centimeters of your oil filter. There is plenty of clearance behind the power steering bracket to hide the new sending straight up, but I opted to have it face down so that I could access the wiring on it easier. The white wire from the gauge was connected to the "G" connector on the gauge using a ring terminal. A ground wire was connected to the other post, and put off to the side temporarily. Ultimately, it was wired to my upper intake, along with the fuel pressure sender.
The fuel pressure sender was up next, and required an additional purchase. The sender is a 1/8" NPT, and could utilize the test port on the fuel rail. However, the fuel rail is a 1/16" NPT female connector. You will need to purchase an Autometer Fuel Rail Adapter (Part # 3280). This part runs around $8-10, and if you buy it from one of the big houses you will probably also need to pay the minimum $10 shipping charge. So, buy it along with other goodies that you've been wanting. Use a normal socket to remove the schrader valve in the fuel rail. WARNING, there is fuel sitting in the fuel rails. It should not eject out, but will spill out of the hole in the fuel rail. You may want to place shop rags around the lower intake before removing the valve. With the valve removed, place thread sealant on the Autometer adapter and install it into the fuel rail using a normal socket. Install the fuel pressure sender into the adapter, tightening it down with a 19mm wrench. The blue gauge wire was run up along the back of the engine and under the throttle body to connect to the sender using a ring terminal. The ground wire was run the short few inches to meet with the oil pressure ground wire at the emissions device at the front of the EGR spacer on the upper intake.
WARNING, as I learned the hard way you should never turn the key on between the removal of the schrader valve and the installation of the sender. This will cause fuel to rain throughout your engine bay.
The transmission temperature sender was another simple installation. While most people would drill into their pans to install the sensor, it is possible to use the factory pressure test port on the transmission to collect the temperature. This will test the fluid as it leaves the transmissions pump and before it reaches the transmission cooler. There is a slight difference here in temperature versus installing into the pan, but it is usually less than 5* Fahrenheit different. The test port is located a few inches forward of the MLPS on the driver's side of the transmission, and approximately 1/2" above the transmission pan. Remove this bolt and quickly install the sensor, as transmission fluid will flow steadily from this port. The red gauge wire for the sender was routed straight down the firewall, along the fuel lines, and over the exhaust. This entire segment of wire was enclosed in fire resistant wire loom. The ground wire here is just as easy to install: any transmission pan bolt. I removed a bolt in the rear corner so that it would avoid any muck thrown at it from the elements. I took a ring terminal, which normally has a 1/4" hole, and used a drill to open it up a few millimeters to fit over the pan bolt. I then quickly removed and reinstalled the pan bolt to avoid the seepage of transmission fluid. Zip tie all of your wire looms down, and away from the exhaust components, and double check all of your connections.
And, that's it. All three of the sender units should now be wired and grounded. Your gauges should turn on with either the ignition or the lights. Note that if you have the ignition on and then turn the lights on, the gauges will turn off and back on. Now, you can cycle through the seven colors available on the gauges by pressing the color selection button. You will find nine selections available: seven colors, a mode to jump from one color to another every few seconds, and another mode to smoothly transition between each color every few seconds. Test the memory wire by setting the gauges to a non-default color and then turning the ignition and lights off. When you turn them back on, the gauge should revert back to your chosen color selection.
CLICK HERE for 600K video of color transitions
Now, fire the truck up and test the results. The oil pressure and fuel pressure gauges should immediately register values. My oil pressure jumped to near 60psi at idle, and eventually settled to 25-30 when driving. The fuel pressure settled in at near 40psi. The transmission temperature gauge starts at 100* Fahrenheit, so you will not notice any change at first. Warm the truck up and take it for a cruise and you should see the temperature gradually rise. My truck eventually warmed up to 170* and gravitated between 170 and 180 in heavy driving. Don't do like me and spend 30 minutes testing every connection to see if the sender wasn't operating.
(Still need to hide that one last red wire better)
Enjoy your new gauges!
Costs:
Gauges/Pillar: $149 incl s/h
Autometer fuel adapter: $18 inch s/h
Wire loom: $6 for 20'
Oil pressure pipe fittings: ~$5
Total: Approximately $178.00
In undergoing the new engine build on my truck, and realizing that a large problem was the lack of oil in the engine, I knew that I needed a better handle on monitoring the situation. I needed additional gauges that were more than just idiot lights to help prevent another catastrophe. I started my search for a number of gauges, including: oil pressure, fuel pressure, and transmission temperature. Wow! I could not believe the cost these units were going for. In my eternal search for all things cheap, I did run across Glow Shift gauges. They seem to be quite popular in the ricer market, but that doesn't necessarily make them bad.
Looking through their products, they carry: Tinted 7-color, black 7-color, tinted, and white 7-color gauges. In a few hours of research, I ruled out the tinted units. Many had claimed that they were difficult to view in broad daylight. The white faced and black faced gauges were dramatically different. Being that there is a limited gauges available in white-faced, and that I light have a 6 o'clock null value, I went with the black 7-color gauges.
So, I made my purchase for an oil pressure gauge, a fuel pressure gauge, and a transmission temperature gauge.
I also needed an A-pillar to support the gauges, and they had a 3-pod pillar in stock. All of the gauges were 2 1/16" in size.
Total cost for everything: $175 with shipping. As a penny-pincher, I delighted in seeing the magical field when checking out: Discount Code. An hour with Google gained me a number of discount codes. For example, for 10% off use: GS06. For 15% off, use GSPC. I can't vouch that they're still good and active, but my costs, with shipping, came to under $150
With the pillar and gauges shipped, the first task was to paint the pillar to better match the interior. It is shipped gloss black, but that is quickly rectified. There was a lot information, and mis-information, on the forums about what paint to use. I ended up using Rustoleum Painter's Touch Dark Gray. A quick scuffing of the surface followed by a few coats of paint produced a nice dark gray. Make sure you also paint the sun-shades that accompany each gauge, if you wish to use them.
After painting the pillar, test fit each of the gauges. You will probably find that the gauges do not fit in the holes easily. Get some rough sand paper (I used 400 grit), and sand around the edges of each hole a bit. You want the gauges to fit snugly, so don't sand too much. The only thing keeping the gauges from moving is the compression provided here at the opening. The sun-shades give you additional leverage when removing the gauges later, so you can keep the fit tight.
The first step I took was to wire all of the gauges up, while leaving myself plenty of slack for the later hookup of each of the sending units. Each gauge was placed into the A-pillar, with the transmission temperature at the top, following by the oil pressure and the fuel pressure at the bottom. In hindsight, I would place the trans. temp at the bottom, since most of its readings are sweeping at the bottom of the gauge. If you were not very tall, it would be hard to read the individual ticks for the temperature. I would place the fuel pressure at the top, since it sweeps farther up.
A word of note here, if you are reading through the directions that accompany the gauges. They stink! GlowShift has much better installation instructions on their website under Technical Support. The printed instructions are Ikea-style ideograms, while the new ones on the website explain each step.
All of the gauges feature a universal wiring harness. Each features four colored wires: green (sender), black (ground), red (+12V power), and yellow (+12V constant power for color memory). When installing all three gauges simultaneously, you'll notice that except the green wire, the others can be wired to the same locations. Therefore, the first task was to bundle up the wiring and connect all three black wires to a single ground wire (black in my use), all three red wires to a single power wire (red), and all three yellow wires to a single memory cable (blue). Before connecting anything, make sure you properly label every wire on each end, especially since the harnesses are identical. Here I labeled my oil pressure wires "O", my fuel press wires "F", and my trans temp wires "T". Label the wiring harness itself, too, in case you need to remove them from the gauges later. Each gauge is labeled with a sticker affixed to the rear that describes it. Make sure you stagger the locations of the connectors here due to the added girth of each one. In my hastiness, I connected each wire at the same location, leaving me with six butted connections squeezing against each other, preventing the pillar cover from sitting flush with the truck's A-pillar.
For my wiring I took advantage of the close proximity of the headlight harness. To get to this harness you must first remove the instrument cluster bezel. Use a small pry bar to remove the two light gray accent bars on the bezel, and then the torx bolt behind each. Pull the headlight knob all the way out and then rotate it until you see the small notch in the rear of it. Place the end of a small screwdriver into this notch and pull it firmly outward. This should release and remove the headlight knob. Place wheel chocks under all of your wheels and apply the emergency brake. Remove the negative connection on your battery and insert your keys into the ignition. Shift the truck into (1) (the lowest possible position) and pull the tilt steering bar to lower the steering wheel all the way. Carefully pry around the dash bezel to pop all of the retaining clips off. Once they are removed you will have two wiring harnesses hold the dash bezel on: the fuel pump switch and the fog light switch. Carefully pop these two harnesses off. WARNING: These areas do get brittle with age. While removing the harness from my fuel pump switch I inadvertently broke off both mounting locations holding the fuel pump switch to the bezel. Carefully tilt the top of the bezel forward and remove it completely. Use the same Torx bit from earlier to remove the two bolts holding the headlight switch in. Once removed, carefully pop off the headlight wiring harness on the rear of it. This is what you can wire into to power the gauges.
Conveniently, as I was installing the gauges I also needed to replace my headlight wiring harness due to an exploding wire. Using a test light I attempted to locate a wire that was key-on and lights-on for the power, and a constant +12V for the memory. I ran the red power wire to the Orange with black stripe wire that only received power on key-on or when the lights come on. The blue memory wire was tapped into the green with yellow strip wire. In the picture I semi-permanently connected these, but placed quick release terminals further up on both the memory and power wire for later removal.
The ground wire was run to another close-by location; a bolt directly above the emergency brake. Use a ring terminal to connect the ground to this bolt, and the gauges should be able to be powered on and visible.
To install the GlowShift A-pillar you will need to drill into the existing A-pillar cover. From inside the truck hold the GlowShift pillar over the factory pillar and pick out four locations in which to place body screw. I chose a spot on each corner. Drill out this hole with the appropriate bit size, as described in the included directions. Re-align the pillar to the truck and use a fine-point sharpie to mark the hole locations on the factory pillar. Remove the factory pillar and drill appropriate holes into each. While the GlowShift pillar is off, take a moment to trim some excess plastic from the bottom edge, so that wires can more easily be fed through it (see picture).
Carefully reconnect your headlight switch and reinstall the switch to the dash. Reconnect your fuel pump and fog light harnesses to the bezel, and carefully press the dash bezel's clips into position. Replace the headlight knob and tighten down the two bolts holding the bezel on. Push in the two accent trims that were removed earlier.
I ran three wires that would feed to the sensors. All three were run from the interior through the firewall, through a hole cut into the steering wheel grommet. I conveniently already had a hole there for my CB radio, so it was a simple matter of feeding three wires through. I used a white wire for my oil pressure sender, a blue wire for my fuel pressure sender, and a red wire for my transmission temperature (the colors just seemed to make sense in those roles).
The oil pressure sender supplied by GlowShift can be installed in two ways: by replacing the factory oil pressure sender or by using an adapter plate with your oil filter. I went along the way of the first route by tapping the new sender along with the factory one, so that I could still utilize the idiot gauge. The GlowShift sender unit is a 1/8" NPT connector, just like the factory sender. So, purchase a 2" extension pipe, and a 3-way. The 2" extension is necessary to extend the 3-way past the block so that it can be tightened on. You will also need to remove your oil filter, and don't forget thread sealant. Installed, the sending units will sit within centimeters of your oil filter. There is plenty of clearance behind the power steering bracket to hide the new sending straight up, but I opted to have it face down so that I could access the wiring on it easier. The white wire from the gauge was connected to the "G" connector on the gauge using a ring terminal. A ground wire was connected to the other post, and put off to the side temporarily. Ultimately, it was wired to my upper intake, along with the fuel pressure sender.
The fuel pressure sender was up next, and required an additional purchase. The sender is a 1/8" NPT, and could utilize the test port on the fuel rail. However, the fuel rail is a 1/16" NPT female connector. You will need to purchase an Autometer Fuel Rail Adapter (Part # 3280). This part runs around $8-10, and if you buy it from one of the big houses you will probably also need to pay the minimum $10 shipping charge. So, buy it along with other goodies that you've been wanting. Use a normal socket to remove the schrader valve in the fuel rail. WARNING, there is fuel sitting in the fuel rails. It should not eject out, but will spill out of the hole in the fuel rail. You may want to place shop rags around the lower intake before removing the valve. With the valve removed, place thread sealant on the Autometer adapter and install it into the fuel rail using a normal socket. Install the fuel pressure sender into the adapter, tightening it down with a 19mm wrench. The blue gauge wire was run up along the back of the engine and under the throttle body to connect to the sender using a ring terminal. The ground wire was run the short few inches to meet with the oil pressure ground wire at the emissions device at the front of the EGR spacer on the upper intake.
WARNING, as I learned the hard way you should never turn the key on between the removal of the schrader valve and the installation of the sender. This will cause fuel to rain throughout your engine bay.
The transmission temperature sender was another simple installation. While most people would drill into their pans to install the sensor, it is possible to use the factory pressure test port on the transmission to collect the temperature. This will test the fluid as it leaves the transmissions pump and before it reaches the transmission cooler. There is a slight difference here in temperature versus installing into the pan, but it is usually less than 5* Fahrenheit different. The test port is located a few inches forward of the MLPS on the driver's side of the transmission, and approximately 1/2" above the transmission pan. Remove this bolt and quickly install the sensor, as transmission fluid will flow steadily from this port. The red gauge wire for the sender was routed straight down the firewall, along the fuel lines, and over the exhaust. This entire segment of wire was enclosed in fire resistant wire loom. The ground wire here is just as easy to install: any transmission pan bolt. I removed a bolt in the rear corner so that it would avoid any muck thrown at it from the elements. I took a ring terminal, which normally has a 1/4" hole, and used a drill to open it up a few millimeters to fit over the pan bolt. I then quickly removed and reinstalled the pan bolt to avoid the seepage of transmission fluid. Zip tie all of your wire looms down, and away from the exhaust components, and double check all of your connections.
And, that's it. All three of the sender units should now be wired and grounded. Your gauges should turn on with either the ignition or the lights. Note that if you have the ignition on and then turn the lights on, the gauges will turn off and back on. Now, you can cycle through the seven colors available on the gauges by pressing the color selection button. You will find nine selections available: seven colors, a mode to jump from one color to another every few seconds, and another mode to smoothly transition between each color every few seconds. Test the memory wire by setting the gauges to a non-default color and then turning the ignition and lights off. When you turn them back on, the gauge should revert back to your chosen color selection.
CLICK HERE for 600K video of color transitions
Now, fire the truck up and test the results. The oil pressure and fuel pressure gauges should immediately register values. My oil pressure jumped to near 60psi at idle, and eventually settled to 25-30 when driving. The fuel pressure settled in at near 40psi. The transmission temperature gauge starts at 100* Fahrenheit, so you will not notice any change at first. Warm the truck up and take it for a cruise and you should see the temperature gradually rise. My truck eventually warmed up to 170* and gravitated between 170 and 180 in heavy driving. Don't do like me and spend 30 minutes testing every connection to see if the sender wasn't operating.
(Still need to hide that one last red wire better)
Enjoy your new gauges!
Costs:
Gauges/Pillar: $149 incl s/h
Autometer fuel adapter: $18 inch s/h
Wire loom: $6 for 20'
Oil pressure pipe fittings: ~$5
Total: Approximately $178.00
