Got my gauges set up finally!!!!

[throttle out]

These are in my 87 short bed V10 LS swapped with 4L65E & NP241C.
Bought a cluster from a 91 K5, rolled the odometer back to match my engine and also fixed the trip reset. The tach is from gmsports.com and it works like its meant to be there. Coolant temp and oil pressure uses the 87 senders and I retro fitted them to the LS block.
If anyone needs help with their ls swap gauge set up let me know while its all still fresh lol.
Third picture is a bit blury but was the best I could do at 80mph lol
Enjoy!!

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[donnieray]

Looks good. Im guessing those are LED lights. If so what brand are they?

 

[87scotty]

Can you dim leds?

 

[throttle out]

Nope, they're regular incandescents, 168's I believe.
I painted the interior of the housing and the back side of the black reflector panel hillbilly chrome and it made a huge difference. everything dims as it should!

 

[donnieray]

Silver spray paint? The white light had me thinking LED. Nice job. By the way, around here duct tape is called hillbilly chrome.

 

[Abusfullofnuns]

Looks good. I have a LS swap in my suburban.

I probably will go with the dakota set up, but it would be nice to get the oil pressure and water temp working in the factory spots for now.

There is a crappy three gauge pod in the truck now that I bet is using the sending units for the LS. I'll need to do a little digging to see what's in the truck, but I would be interested in how you converted it.

 

[1973c10]

Very nice

 

[throttle out]

Silver spray paint? The white light had me thinking LED. Nice job. By the way, around here duct tape is called hillbilly chrome.

I have heard duct tape called hillbilly chrome as well come to think of it lol. I was referring to rattle can chrome, specifically, Duplicolor "chrome". Made a world of difference, it actually illuminates the gauges enough that you can see them at dusk. Mine I could'nt before.

 

[87scotty]

Sweet ill be doing that when i get my tach/ fuel gauge

 

[throttle out]

Looks good. I have a LS swap in my suburban.

I probably will go with the dakota set up, but it would be nice to get the oil pressure and water temp working in the factory spots for now.

There is a crappy three gauge pod in the truck now that I bet is using the sending units for the LS. I'll need to do a little digging to see what's in the truck, but I would be interested in how you converted it.

Was a fun, easy little project. Been driving the truck daily to work and back for months now and only had fuel and vdc, having a full compliment of gauges makes a huge difference in the driving experience in the truck.
If you have the money for the Dakota setup, they seem pretty nice. Too expensive for my blood though, and I didn't mind the factory gauges, just wanted a tach and everything cleaned up and functioning correctly.

The conversion is very straight forward, my truck is an 87 V10 and I bought coolant and oil pressure sending units for that year pickup. Think I gave roughly $25 for the senders, some shrink tubing, and a tube of automotive grade thread sealant.

Oil Pressure-
Remove the coolant bypass block on the LS. It is next to the oil filter and has two 10mm bolts and an o-ring type gasket that can be reused.


Then drill and tap the boss on the block. My oil sender was 1/8" NPT. Use thread sealant on the threads and reinstall the coolant block. Find the wire for the oil sender at the firewall bulkhead connector and connect it to the oil sender.

 

[throttle out]

Coolant Temp-
Find the coolant port plug on the back side of the passenger side cylinder head.
You will need to make or buy an adapter to to mate the M12x1.5 threads in the head to whatever your coolant temp sender threads are, mine were 3/8 NPT.
I made my adapter however, you could simply drill and tap the head for 3/8 NPT. once you have your adapter use thread sealant again and install the sender into the port. Again, find your coolant temp gauge lead on the bulkhead connector and route it to the new sender.

 

[CRM]

Did you paint the needles?

 

[LateOnTheBrakes]

These are in my 87 short bed V10 LS swapped with 4L65E & NP241C.
Bought a cluster from a 91 K5, rolled the odometer back to match my engine and also fixed the trip reset. The tach is from gmsports.com and it works like its meant to be there. Coolant temp and oil pressure uses the 87 senders and I retro fitted them to the LS block.
If anyone needs help with their ls swap gauge set up let me know while its all still fresh lol.
Third picture is a bit blury but was the best I could do at 80mph lol
Enjoy!!

I'm sure it isn't fresh anymore, but do you know the part numbers you used for the oil and coolant senders? I'm hoping they will work with my 1986.

 

[Snoots]

Coolant Temp-
Find the coolant port plug on the back side of the passenger side cylinder head.
You will need to make or buy an adapter to to mate the M12x1.5 threads in the head to whatever your coolant temp sender threads are, mine were 3/8 NPT.
I made my adapter however, you could simply drill and tap the head for 3/8 NPT. once you have your adapter use thread sealant again and install the sender into the port. Again, find your coolant temp gauge lead on the bulkhead connector and route it to the new sender.

And you're getting an electrical connection through the thread sealer? That's great! What sealer are you using?