Gauges - Have you ever said, "I'm Done..."

[Hedgehog]

You and I are on a very similar page, but my page is 14 years further along. I was on the beginning wave of the new practical computer world. Loved it, embraced it, since I'm a graphics art/draftsmen I'm still involved, but much of the thrill is gone for me. I used to love the obscure question and the debate. Now an obscure question comes up and someone jumps on the internet and the answer is right there, no fun.

Back to the gauge subject. I'm a luddite to be sure, but there are even worse than me. Some folks get nervous about the programmable and electronic part of the Speed Hut gauges. I do wonder how the odometer memory works and how the programming is stored. Probably the same technology found in a flash drive. Heck, there might actually BE a flash drive in the gauges. I was all hyped up on the idea of getting a GPS speedometer, but soured on them due to the possibility of signal loss. It seems simple enough to me to add a pulse sensor to the GPS, then there would be the very best of both worlds. GPS calibration and good solid local/on board memory and control.

 

[Lumpy Grits]

True, direct reading of engine coolant temp and oil psi can tell you IF you might be see'n a problem start'n.
IMHO: They are the 2 most important 'tools' you can have, to insure long engine life.
LG

 

[Hedgehog]

Got some of the gauges today ..... Fuel gauge, water temp gauge .... the speedometer will come later on. Nice looking gauge, but the bezels are different from the stock gauges and the Auto Meter gauges I was planning on using. EERrrrrrr. More gauges needed, maybe later on though.

 

[Hedgehog]

Here's a question I've been pondering and there is logic in both directions. The gauges come with most all the wiring needed for installation. Unfortunately the wire colors are all the same, meaning Red for ignition power, Black for ground, White for dash lighting. The RBW wires being the same makes sense to me. The thing that doesn't make as much sense is that ALL sensor wires are the same yellow/green color. For me he debate is, do I run the nice new uncompromised by age wires to the sensors which could become confusing to figure out in a wire bundle (especially for a later owner) or should I use the factory wire of the proper color to go to the sensor. I know all the stock gauge wires are good. Except for maybe the Fuel gauge. Something isn't right there even though I've tested the circuit. To keep my life simple the new wire is definitely going to be used for that. So, which would you do use the new same color gauge sensor wire or tap into the proper color existing factory wire?

 

[jdcaples]

New, factory color and gauge.

In other circumstances, I have run new wire and if I couldn't remove old wire, I bound retired, old, not connected wire to the new wire using suitable tape.

My high school thinking was that future archeologists can see original wire, see it is not used and wouldnt have to guess.

I'll never know if it would have been better to just cut back original wire and call it done with a bonus mystery.

Yes, I hate wiring... Hated it for for over 30 years and plan to continue hating it for another 30.

Jon

 

[Hedgehog]

Jon - I've gotta say, what? Would you use the existing in decent shape factory wire (color) or would you use the wire supplied on the new gauges even though ALL the sensor wires are the same color, IE confusion working with the wiring harness at some point down the road?

 

[jdcaples]

Jon - I've gotta say, what? Would you use the existing in decent shape factory wire (color) or would you use the wire supplied on the new gauges even though ALL the sensor wires are the same color, IE confusion working with the wiring harness at some point down the road?

Oh, I mis-read. I think I read "gauge" as AWG as opposed to "instrumentation."

Generally speaking, I wouldn't use supplied-with-instrumentation wire. I think suppliers generally cheap out on the wire included with kits.

As a practice, I usually replace old wire whenever I can using wire of the same AWG and color.

When I was a kid, if I couldn't easily replace old wire with new wire, I'd cut old wire back from the connectors and use tape to "sister" old wire up to new wire.


At that point, the old wire wouldn't do anything, but future wrenchers could see the factory wiring and figure out what I did, so I thought. We'll never know if I just confused the hell out of people a few years later. Most likely, I just made more work for myself because I was, and still am, crazy.

-Jon

 

[jammer1]

When I did the rebuild of the CJ8 (still work in progress) I used a new painless harness. I used the speedhut wires to their sensors (except the fuel sending unit, stock style, used the stock wire). On the ground wires I didn't like the smaller gauge wire so I did a short run to tie them together and ran a dedicated ground to a ground block (run off ground of battery). I used a label maker (shrink tube style) and labeled each end to help if theirs a future problem. Here's the tread if it helps with ideas Never Ending Scrambler Build.

 

[Hedgehog]

I'm probably going to do the opposite. Remember you have a nice new wiring harness, mine is 40 years old. As I think of it the wires going to the water temp gauge and the oil pressure were replaced with the proper color wires way back when I installed the engine. Those wires were cooked pretty badly. I'll be using them. There is some sort of problem with the stock fuel gauge. The sending unit was replaced with the new 21 gallon tank, the ground wire was changed, cleaned and checked for resistance. Then the gauge was checked by grounding the gauge side terminal, the gauge went to "F" as expected. The pulse out put is working. But the gauge reads no more than a fat 1/4 tank. The only thing left is the wire going from the gauge to the sending unit. Other than being long, the wire bundle is relatively easy to get to ....... darn it, now I'm thinking of pulling the old wire and replacing it with the proper color wire too.

 

[jammer1]

Isn't it amazing, one thing leads to another