The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Interiors Gauges

For context my truck project is a 1950 3600 but the engine is a 383 SBC.

I have read a thread regarding the replacement of the original ampmeter with a volt meter in the original gauge case and plan to follow that lead.

The original oil pressure gauge (if it works) would be a 30 psi max which may not be a problem but I am considering changing to a more typical, probably electrical rather than mechanical 60 psi max oil pressure gauge. I am wondering if anyone has transplanted a modern oil pressure gauge into the original case, or at least the original location.

I am considering a similar approach for the coolant temperature gauge. Again I have not tested the original to see if it is a viable option but I am considering changing to an electrical temperature gauge and hoping to not break new ground regarding the retrofit into the original gauge case.

I like the idea of the original gauge package with all 4 gauges located together rather than an alternative layout if it can be accomplished without reinventing the wheel so-to-speak.

I have used modern gauge internals in a '65 GTO cluster with good results. The key is to find gauges with the same sweep of the needle. Mounting wasn't too hard, hot glue gun holds very well with just a bit of flexibility. On a side note, I have been using a 30 gauge on my 250 for 23 years now, not sure how much pressure it has when running, but when hot at idle the gauge does come down some.

If you want to make them look all nice and like new again, please look at the post at the top of this section Link. You'll see a decal template I made. You can take this to a FedEx (Kinko's) place and have them print it using their color laser printer on white waterslide decal paper and make yourself some decals ... or you can have them print it on the coated paper they have (what they might use for business presentations), apply that to double-sided adhesive and you'll have peel and stick decals. As for the inside of the gauges, you can do just about anything you are capable of doing. I've even stuck an electronic speedometer inside the original AD speedometer case and made it look very much like the original speedometer.

[edit by moderator] added link to the thread that Jon is referencing.

I've done exactly what you are proposing, using Jon G's templates, in my 1949 3600. I'll find the pictures. Took a bit of refinement and cardboard templates to get the gauges positioned correctly but the housings are steel so... weld and grind.

Jon G's templates are fantastic. I had to reverse the number direction on one or two, but used a photo editor and Jon's templates to manipulate tge gauge face to where I needed it.

I found the Bosch gauges lent themselves best to the purpose; some of the cheaper gauges out there didn't disassemble as well or provide the best mounting options.

This year I decided to go in a whole other direction and picked up some Classic Instrument gauges but, the others worked.

Thanks for the insight regarding Bosch guages, that is exactly the type of informaiton I was hoping to find.

Look In the LMC truck catalog.

I looked at LMC Truck catalog, pretty nice/pricy solutions there.

I have looked at Bosch guages but they all seem to be center pivot, 270 degree arc versions where I believe to fit well they would need to be bottom pivot and 90 degree arc?

The ones I used were bottom pivot Bosch gauges. I just had a look to confirm.

As I say I did have to reverse the sweep on a couple. But didnt have to modify the needles

Sweep matched the OEM as well. I’ll grab a photo

Edit: Some photos: If I was gonna keep these installed Id go back in and adjust the location a little better, clean it up more. Backside shows the mounting it wasn’t difficult just a bit of messing around.

Not sure if I mentioned before but I made my own metal faces in some cases although that fuel gauge is actually robbed from an aftermarket replacement gauge, which is why the colour is off. But the fuel gauge movement is a Bosch.

The oil pressure gauge does in fact register correctly that needle always sits off like that - the reading on that gauge even matches what the new CI gauge reads. It is also a bottom pivot.

All in all it was a good learning process and I have another OT project early 50s GM with unobtainable gauges I will apply everything I learned (read “done wrong”) on this, to that.

Thank you for the details and the pictures, I will need to do some more digging regarding Bosch bottom pivot gauges.

I forgot I ordered these on Amazon in the end, we have very little selection up here in person; these are the part numbers I used:

Bosch SP0F000041 Style Line 2" Electrical Oil Pressure Gauge
Bosch SP0F000049 Style Line 2" Electrical Water/Oil Temperature Gauge
Bosch SP0F000043 Style Line 2" Electrical Voltmeter Gauge
.. and to prove how great my memory is, the fuel gauge movement is actually an AutoMeter:

Auto Meter 1318 Arctic White 2-1/16" Short Sweep Electric Fuel Level Gauge

Great, thanks for the follow-up and all of the detailed information regarding numbers you used.

I used all stock mechanical gauges in mine with the LS swap. My gmc has a 60psi oil pressure gauge stock though. Only part I did mod was to copy the amp to volt gauge swap mentioned above. I however like my faded tan guages so I simply added 2 small brown dots to my amp meter (now volt meter). The lower mark is 12v and upper mark is 16v so i kno if its at or below the 12 or at or above the 16 dot that theres a problem…..in the middle then all is well! Im the only one that drives it so i kno what im looking at. All other gauges work great!

I am still considering using the stock mechanical water temp and oil pressure guages (I have a volt meter I plan to swap in). Having the oil pressure guage pegged most of the time (60 psi pressure with 30 PSI full pressure on the guage) may create a problem?

The Filling station has a oil gauge 0-60 part number TR-330A I bought one for my truck along with a new temp gauge.

I had too many problems with the OE style mechanical gauge replacements. Issues with them sitting too high in the cluster and such. Had a faulty temp gauge.

Be different I'm sure if I was closer to a major center, and in the States, but up here waiting for anything from the States is months not weeks, so when they show up and don't fit or don't work it's a huge setback. Went on and on and I got tired of messing around with those, so took matters into my own hands as shown there.

Renewing an old thread now that I am actually to the point of working on/deciding on gauges.

I have reviewed Jon G's information and looked at a variety of generic GPS speedometers. The rebuilding of the GPS unit Jon has worked with remains a possibility but as I explore the options I am struggling with the amount of effort required for the reconfigured GPS speedometer as well as the other gauges. If I buy a GPS speedometer, and replacement oil pressure, coolant temperature, and fuel gauges the price starts to add up and I still need to retrofit a voltmeter in place of the original ampmeter. All this is doable of course but not sure it is worth the effort.

I have found that there is a Dolphin gauge set (EBay item #312148907081) that looks pretty good, not original by any stretch but bolt in. There is a similar Dolphin gauge set that is generic (EBay item #263673953940) that is significantly less expensive but per the seller would require "rings to fill the hole in your dash".

Has anyone here used either of these Dolphin gauge sets that can provide insight into fit and function?

As additional follow-up I found that Dakota Digital also makes a guage replacement set that includes both a speedometer and a tach in addition to the typical 4 gauges. It looks pretty nice and I believe Dakota has a good reputation but they are pricy.

I also learned (should have known) that my NV3500 transmission has a speed sensor that can be used/calibrate so that I do not really need to go to GPS.

I have seen some realy horror stories about cheap instruments so I may just bit the bullet and go with the Dakota Digital set. Would anyone here have installed the Dakota Digital products that could provide some real world experience?

I've used one Dakota Digital product. It was ok but obscenely overpriced.

Please understand there are differences between GPS and the speed sensor approach. First (and maybe foremost) is your speedometer must match the VSS pulse output of your transmission. Many of the aftermarket VSS speedometers accept any output VSS rate but have a specific method of calibrating so your speedometer will work with the size tires you have and the rear end ratio...otherwise it will never be accurate. Speedhut for example used to make you drive past a road marker, press a button, drive exactly 2 miles and press it again when you cross that 2 mile road marker. A timer inside the speedometer would understand 2 miles had been driven, measure the time spent and calibrate your speedometer to that. It wasn't perfect and it might take two or three tries. Some makers have you drive next to a vehicle driving a certain speed (maybe 60 mph) and then press the "set" button. All have some scheme and there's a bit of guesswork in all of them. The GPS on the other hand connects one wire to a known good ground, one wire to a 12v+ ignition switch "on" post, the high beam and dash lights and screw in the cable for the GPS antenna. And you are ready to go. Good luck!

Thanks Jon,

While I have a lot of respect for Dakota Digital they are very pricy. Their calibration approach appears to be the buttom/mile approach you mentioned.

I am just trying to make sense of all of the options and pros/cons of each before I head in a direction and start investing in hardware. There are some pretty inexpensive GPS options on E-Bay but it is hard to know if any of them are worth pursuing.

One of the options I saw was purchaing a set of rings that mount into the dash openings that adapt typical 3 3/8" diameter speedometers and 4 standard 2 1/16" diameter gauges. Again subject to the quality of the speedometer and gauges chosen.

I've seen those adapter rings, too. Probably just me but that always seemed to be a "sort of okay" approach. I've had both the VSS speedometer and the GPS type. And I can tell you there seems to have been a high degree of copying done by the folks in China here. Copying of the Speedhut products, that is. At the heart of it, the GPS speedometer is not a really complex thing. Some have opined the stepper motors used don't have enough torque, but they're only moving a light needle so I don't imagine they need much torque for that. I do understand you wanting to be deliberate about this. As I mentioned, I'm working on building a drop-in GPS unit that can be used in the AD trucks...just not quite there yet.

I agree with what Jon says above. Having built my own gauges from scratch using steppers, I don't really get the complaints that they lack torque. They are fast, precise, and inexpensive.

The one drawback I will point out for GPS speedometers is that they have to get a lock before they can display accurately. Depeniding on the conditions and software (warm-lock configs, etc) that can take from a few seconds to a few minutes. *Usually* is is less than 30 seconds, but a speedometer is one of those gauges that you generally need to be right pretty quick.

The Autometer gauges I put in my f*rd calibrated using a pulse counter. Out of curiosity I set the pulse output from my ECU to aa few different values and recalibrsted it for each of them and it was within a pulse of what my GM ecu said it should be every time.

Those gauges have some odd non-linearities though. They are spot-on up to 65, but start to diverge there. At 80MPH actual, they indicate 83.

I have been tempted by the dakota digital setup for years. It has a lot of well thought out features and just plain looks good.

On the other hand, I bought a running, driving yukon xl denali this summer for less than they cost.

I bit the bullet last spring and installed Classic Instruments set in my 1949 3600 (with a TBI 4.3 now). Eye watering price as well but have to say I love em.

Their tech support was amazing as well, had an issue getting the speedometer going; turned out that the paper manual they provided wasn't up to date so I was simply using the wrong reset procedure. But their techs on the phone were VERY knowledgeable and helpful - sorted me out there.

Yes, the speedometer top speed is "very optimistic" and it is in MPH not the weird stuff we use up here in the frozen North.

NorthCoast3800, not to change the subject but what is the push button on your dash next to the wiper switch?

I do like the look of your Classic Instrument gauges, I will need to look them up.

I decided to bite the bullet and ordered the Dakota Digital instrument set. I like the idea of US product with technical support if needed.

I know it is not a GPS based speedometer so it does not have those advantages but I like the layout of the instruements, the inclusion of a tachometer, and the clean look. The set comes with all of the required sensors and should be capable of being plugged into the VSS output from my N3500 transmission (still will need calibration).

I have a question about the GPS speedometers.

What prevents them from losing the signal? When using GPS on my phone, I sometimes experience a signal loss and the map and directions freeze up.

Does this happen with the speedos? What guarantee is there that the GPS transmission to the speedometer will continue in the future?

It does happen with speedometers too. It is generally less because they generally have larger antennas and better software, but when a solar storm rolls through or the local military base is doing testing you can just be out of luck.

I figure if the satellite transmissions are just gone, society has collapsed far enough that you probably won't care how fast you are driving.

Both transmission and gps based systems have their advantages and disadvantages.


I have been really happy with the knowledge and responses from Dakota Digital when I have called with questions.

Which series did you end up buying? I *almost* pulled the trigger on a set of RTX gauges for my truck last night.

WICruiser, that push button is for the washer (which admittedly, I haven't installed yet! But need to)

The New Vintage USA Woodward series gauges that were installed in my '52 before I bought it use a replacement unit for the speedometer/odometer cable. It sends electric pulses to the speedo head that times them and sets the speedo needle and odometer.

The "calibration" routine is:

1. Stop on the Interstate shoulder at a mile marker.
2. Put the unit into "calibration" mode.
3. Drive exactly 1 mile and stop at the next mile marker. Speed doesn't matter, the speedo head is just counting pulses from the sending unit on the transmission.
4. Tell the calibration mode that you have driven one mile.

The speedo is now ready for use. It has stored the number of pulses and will use that to move the speedo needle and the odometer numbers.

In my case, the stored number was just a hair over 10,000. That is just about 2 ticks per foot.

The speedo gives you an option to change this number up or down, one pulse at a time if you need to correct anything. I went to another mile marker and tried the calibration again. This time the count was about 100 less than before. That is a 1% difference. Not a big deal unless you have a slight case of OCD, like your's truly. I "adjusted" the calibration up 50 ticks and called it a day.

Fibonachu, I purchased the VHX-47C-PU-S-W model.

I corresponded with Dakota before deciding and their response was both timely and informative.

Bill, I believe that your description of the calibration methodology is what I can expect. In my case the transmission (NV3500) has a VSS signal output that sends the pulse signal to the Dakota interface, not teribly different than the way the signal was originally used by the truck computer to provide speedometer inout on the donor truck the transmission came from.

Once I get the set I can provide some more hands on information regarding what is involved in mounting and calibrating the system (although my actual calibration will not take place until the truck is road worthy).

In process of installing the Dakota Digital gauges, the left unit (tach, etc.) went in without a problem but the right unit (speedometer, etc.) is not lining up on the mounting studs. Given the stud locations on the back side of the dash it is hard to tell what needs to be tweaked to get the studs aligned with the gauge mounting holes. I have an original speedometer housing (gauge is removed) and considering some sort of cardboard template but wondering if someone else has been down this path and found a better solution.

The spedometer installation problem was related to a deformed flange behind the dash in the area but below where the choke cable was originally. The flange was pushing the unit to the left but I could not see that when trying to install because it was behind the dash and covered by the bezel for the speedometer case. Once in place the installation of the mounting nuts was another challenge (kinda crowded behind the dash).

I still need to clean up the wiring in the dash area but the Dakota Digital intruments and the related control module are installed.

They look sharp. Where did you mount the control module?

160mph. That's funny. Even my Toronado only goes to 140!

It is interesting that the VHX gauges go to 160 when the RTX gauges only go to 120.

I mounted the control module below the fuse panel on the driver's side inner cowl panel. I will get a picture at some point.

I was not really focused on the maximum speedometer number but I doubt that 80, 120, or 160 would ever be tested, at least not by me.

I know that the Dakota Digital option was taking the easy way (not the cheap way) out compared to converting the original speedometer to GPS, and reconfiguring the other gauges but I like the addition of the tach and the integrated look for the other gauges.

Unfortunately it will be a while (maybe 6 months or more) before I can actually test the gauges.

There is nothing wrong with buying parts off the shelf that just work. The Dakota Digital setup looks great and from everything I have read over the last 20 years, they just work.

Full disclosure: I broke down and ordered a set of my 58 over the weekend too...

Here is a picture of the fuse panel and Dakota module mounted to the inner cowl panel.

The headlight dimmer switch came with the wiring harness from Speedway.

I probably need to do some more clean-up on the wiring but now that the dash area is generally together I plan to press pause on this area and move on to other areas.

I will have to agree, my Dakota Digital gauges just plain work and have been doing so for three years. Used them with the 235 and with the current LS. Bought their cruise control too and it works flawlessly. Money well spent!

100mph on a stock cluster is too fast for these trucks.