Try a quality digital gauge made by Cyberdyne, New Eagle, Pennsylvania 724
258-8440. J C Whitney plus some speed shops sell them.
Easy to read, accurate and blend in nice at the bottom, in the dash or
instrument panel or, I have even mounted a set across the top of dash with
an appropriate fabric cover (as long as you don't drive through the steering
wheel!).
I use mechanical gauges inside the engine compartment. You don't want an oil
leak @ 60 psi on your floor & feet, nor 50/60 amps of current loose under
the dash (that's why auto makers went to volt meters).
Not only oil pressure but transmission, fuel & radiator pressure, you can
use the same gauge with a four way switch (to reduce the number of gauges).
Then temperature for oil, transmission, radiator, outside air, inside air,
including air conditioning discharge (so when the freon gets low or with A/C
off when the vent temperature gets high & you feel sleepy).
Also fuel gauge reads in the number of gallons remaining.
These are all in the standard 2-1/16th" diameter, numerals are 10 mm (a
little more than 3/8th") high. The best is the 3-3/8th" diameter tachometer,
nice to know your engine speed. Numeral are ~1" high. This does have
pitfalls: 5 days after installing in my 1991 Chevy S-10 pickup truck in
1995, the truck was stolen in Kingsport, Tennessee, of all places. I guess
they were after the small V6, manual transmission or whatever, this truck
had 130,000 miles.
There is also a speedometer & odometer, 3-3/8th", that you can set the
limit, read 0 to 60 mph times, 1/4 mile times & calibrate with the push of a
button.
Sorry to get carried away, I just think digital gauges are smart,
Dave, 66 year old M.E. & P.E. with a K-Car deritative 1993 Imperial
Tach
----- Original Message -----
From: <dardal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, July 29, 2002 11:29 AM
Subject: Re: IML: one more thing!
> John, thanks for the suggestion. This engine was actually rebuilt by the
> previous owner, about 10 years ago but only 20K miles. Again, the reason
of
> the unusual oil pressure reading was that the oil was diluted with gas due
to
> the carb problems, loosing its viscosity. Also, the reading of the stock
oil
> gage needs to be taken with a grain of salt. My (high mileage) sedan was
> showing very low readings at times making me nervous. So, I installed a
> mechanical oil pressure gage. Well, my worries were not justified. The
> pressure rises very rapidly after startup to 60 psi and stays there till
the
> oil warms up. After a super heavy high speed drive, the oil pressure will
stay
> at 25-30 psi idling, and reach 55 psi at 1500 rpm. Again, Mobil 1 15w50
helps,
> especially when you drive the car hard like I do. Modern oils designed
for
> super high revving modern high performance engines can do well on our old
> 440s. Again, remember, as powerful as a 440 is, its specific power is
quite
> low compared to, say a BMW 4 liter V8. That actually works at our favor.
> Using high performance oils, and given how understressed our engines are,
they
> should last far longer no matter how hard they are pushed (so long you
keep an
> eye to the temperature and pressure gages!)
> D^2
>
> Quoting jsadowski <jsadowski@xxxxxxx>:
>
> > That sounds common of a high mileage engine. I'd take it a bit easier if
> > you want it to last a while.
> > John
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: D. Dardalis
> > To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > Sent: Sunday, July 28, 2002 11:00 AM
> > Subject: IML: one more thing!
> >
> >
> > On the prior adventure, forgot to mention. After I got the car
> > driveable
> > again, I drove around the block. I noticed the (stock) oil pressure
> > gage
> > was sitting about where it sits when the car is hot, even though the
> > oil
> > was certainly close to cold. I checked the oil, and the level was at
> > least
> > half a quart higher than where it was last time I checked. Also, it
> >
> > smelled like gasoline. Could there be a connection between this and
> > the
> > stuck carburetor float?
> >
> > Well, I had to toss 4.5 quarts of expensive Mobil 1. The Texas heat
> > would
> > eventually boil the gas out of the oil, but I had probably 20%
> > gasoline in
> > there!
> >
> > D^2
> >
> >
> >
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>
>
>
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