I am going to order a AutoMeter Oil Pressure Gauge next week but I dont know whether to go with a mechanical or electrical gauge. Which is better/worse? Which is prefered? Any help would be awesome. Also does anyone here have AutoMeters LED Air/Fuel gauge, how do you like it and was it easy to install? Thanks dudes, you guys are awesome!

~Josh~

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1992 Firebird
3.1 Liter V6
K&N Filter, everything else stock, for now!!!

 

What's wrong with your stock gauge?

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-Dan
-1990 3.1L RS
-Mods? no
-Slow? yes
-Currently collecting parts for T5 swap

 

call me old skool "old skool", but i prefere the mechanical gauges, you can install it when you change youre oil, looks cool when the line fills with oil, and lets you know if the pump has died.

Flashback alert....I put one these in my 77T/A before I got rid of it. Was interesting to see wheen I first started it it had bout 40-50psi, when it warmed up, it had bout 0, I sold it shortly after going in the air force about a month later.

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85 Firebird. $150.00
2.8 Auto.
Blown Head Gasket.
turbo has arrived,

 

Since I have had the car, about a year now, the oil pressure gauge never worked. When I start the car it goes all the way up and stays there. It never moves, ever, until I turn the car off the it goes all the way down. Is there an easier way to fix it? Thanks

~Josh~

 

Same thought here!

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Ya can't have too many fast Chevys!

 

Setzer, replace the sending unit first, that way at least you will know if the stock gauge works properly

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85 Firebird. $150.00
2.8 Auto.
Blown Head Gasket.
turbo has arrived,

 

Thanks Project:85... About how much do they cost? I mean I will probably go and ask today. I can just go to the Autozone or Discount, right? Thanks a lot a dudes, your awesome!

~Josh~

 

You have a bad sender.
WHY?
The resistance in the sender "reads" the oil pressure.
NO RESISTANCE in the sender=the reading you see in your gauge (zero or swings to the end!)
COLD EVEN BE A BAD CONNECTION!!
Find the sender (at the oil filter), and clean the wire to the sender. Scuff sand the connection, etc, any thing you can try. Plug it back in & see what happens.
IT MAY WORK!!!!
Would not be the first time this has happened!!!

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Chat Soon,
KED85
Karl
1985 Firebird 2.8 to 3.4 swap project for Smog Happy LA, CA

 

The racers prefer mechanical gauges. They're more accurate, and supposedly will respond quicker to changes. The bonus of electrical gauges is that they're easier to connect. With a mechanical, you're leading tubing (or a thermometer line) through the firewall. With electrical, you're just leading a thin wire, and you can have that wire take tight corners, etc...

I have Summit mechanical gauges (2 1/6", oil pressure & water temp) in a dual gauge pod on the driver's side of the windsheild. The oil pressure tap for our 2.8's is above the oil filter. However, due to a difference in years, you only have one pressure tap up there. I have two. My car uses separate senders for "oil pressure, dash" and "oil pressure, fuel pump backup switch". Your car combines the two units into one. This means that you'd need a "Y" fitting to adapt your one sensor hole into a dual. The size of the hole is 1/8" NPT.

The gauge would probably come with clear plastic tubing; you can order copper tubing separately.


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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l)