When you’re at a cruise night or a truck show, your eyes may wander over your truck’s glowing paint, inspecting it for dust. Or you may be swapping information about the new set of drop spindles you fitted with disc brakes while you grab glimpses of your labors parked proudly among the crowds. But what about when you’re driving home; then what do you glance at? The dash and gauges!
Think about it. You spend a lot of time behind the wheel of your truck, which means you’re eyeing the gauges in constant flashes whenever you’re on the road. Not only do they have to deliver an appealing look to match the aesthetics of your interior, but they also provide accurate information about the powertrain. A lot of time and money is invested underneath that hood, and you want reliable at-a-glance data on just what is taking place there.
When it came time to outfit our ’49 F-1 with a fresh set of gauges during its second reincarnation, we turned to Auto Meter Products. Auto Meter offers a variety of gauges and is known throughout the racing industry for its reliable products. This year the company introduced a new series of gauges, the American Platinum, that caught our eye. The gauges feature brushed-aluminum faces with classic domed lenses and thin black bezels that look at home in any custom truck. Complete kits are available that include everything you need to install, connect, and mount a speedometer as well as monitors for oil pressure, coolant temperature, electrical current, and fuel level. Another feature that we like is that all of these gauges are electric, including the speedometer.
Most gauges are available either mechanically or electrically controlled. Each style has its place and its own benefits. An electric gauge requires a 12-volt power source, a ground, and a signal wire that is connected to a sensor. This signal wire generally connects to a sensor that relays a varying resistance value. The internals of the gauge then convert the electrical signal to physical movement of a needle. Mechanical gauges do not require 12 volts to operate, since they receive their information through physical contact with the components they’re reading. This requires a thicker capillary line, in the case of coolant temperature, or a tube to carry oil pressure to the gauge (which also puts an engine-oil line within the passenger compartment). For race cars without charging systems or for gauges that hang below the dash, mechanical gauges are the ticket.
For custom installations within small confines or unusual mounting positions, electric gauges are the way to go. Wires are easy to route and hide compared to tubes or stiff plastic hoses, and with an electric speedometer, you don’t have to worry about a bulky speedometer cable. What a relief!
Auto Meter’s kit is very complete. It includes brackets for installation, wire terminals, sending units for the temperature and oil-pressure gauges, plus a complete fuel-tank sending unit and float assembly for the gas gauge. Since the ’49 used in this installation originally had a mechanical speedo, we needed to get a sending unit to convert the data from the mechanical gears of the trans into a signal for the electronic speedometer. The sending unit simply screws into place on the transmission and connects with three wires.
To hold all of the new gauges, we went to the Adult Toy Factory for a custom dash insert for our Ford. The billet insert has a brushed look that matches the gauges, and it was already machined with the correct-size holes to fit common aftermarket gauges.
We were more than pleased with the fit and final appearance of our new dash, and we look forward to gazing at it for hours on the road. Check out the accompanying photos to see how easily the installation was accomplished.