 6. Auto Meter provides NPT...  6. Auto Meter provides NPT adapters for installing the water temperature and oil pressure sending units along with the gauges. The company also offers adapters to install the senders into metric-threaded holes, such as those on late-model engines like the LS1 that powers our '73 Chevy. |  7. We used the adapter to...  7. We used the adapter to install the water temp sender on the driver's-side cylinder head, snugging the adapter down until the crush washer was flat. |  8. On the left is the factory...  8. On the left is the factory oil pressure sending unit, which will not work with the new gauges. On the right is the Auto Meter sending unit, which requires a metric adapter to thread into the LS1 engine block. |
 9. At the rear of the block,...  9. At the rear of the block, we sealed the sender with teflon tape before installing it. |  10. To give the tachometer...  10. To give the tachometer a signal to read the engine rpm, we tapped into the yellow wire of our MSD 6LS ignition controller. |  11. We used a digital multimeter...  11. We used a digital multimeter tester to locate a wire in the original gauge harness that provided 12 volts when the headlight switch was in the "on" position. It turned out to be a brown wire. We also ran the ground directly to the factory ground location on the driver's side of the dashboard mount and found our 12-volt ignition power source at the fuse box. The fuel gauge is wired to the stock in-tank sending unit on our truck. Our wire harness under the truck is trashed so we just ran a new wire to the tank. |
 12. Here is when the extra...  12. Here is when the extra long wire harness comes in handy: it's time to install the completed gauge cluster. |  13. The new cluster re-installs...  13. The new cluster re-installs in the same fashion as the original. With a little finessing, the original Phillips head screws fastened into the original spots. The new gauges work perfectly and the combination looks a whole lot better than the old one. | |
The Final Word
A new set of pointers can make a big difference in your driving experience. Something as simple as having a working gas gauge really takes the stress out of driving an old truck, and when you combine accurate needles with cool looks, it makes driving a whole lot more inspiring.