I am installing a mechanical oil pressure guage in my 89 E-150 with a 302. What is the easiest place to tap into the oil feed circuit? Also, where do people recommend I mount the guage? Under the dash is not an option due to other things (trailer brake control, my shins), neither is an overhead console.

Thanks.

On my Dodge 318 engine, it can come right off where the oil pressure switch is. I pulled this hexagonal manifold rig off of a 360 engine and swapped it and the stock oil pressure gauge right into my van.



You could use the sending unit port on such a manifold for your gauge. I actually took the instrument cluster gauge from a donor van and swapped it into my instrument cluster in place of the idiot light. Would mounting it in the instrument cluster be an option for you?

Clear skies!

Nope, not in a Ford. On Ford smallblocks the oil pressure sending unit is buried under the driver's side exhaust manifold right behind the P/S pump and above the oil filter. Kind of a pisser....

Ouch! Do you suppose you could use a street elbow and a long nipple (ok - no dirty minds allowed...) and extend the whole affair out to where you could install a tee?

Clear skies!

That is what i am thinking. I need to pull the factory sending unit so I can take it to Home Despot and cobble together an extension from the plumbing section.

How about an electric gauge. Easier to run a wire than all that plumbing. Just a thought.

Hmmm. I will have to check prices. I already have a mechanical guage and I am a cheapskate. ;)

better to spend the money and invest in a GOOD electrical oil pressure gauge than break a plastic line on a mechanical one and fill the front of your van up with oil when the plastic line breaks......

yep that location is very hard to get to just another one of Fords "Better Ideas"........

..........Wookee

I always swap out the plastic line for a copper one.

Reed if you are installing it to test to see what kind of pressure you have to see what is going on in the engine, just do a temporary install and work out the permanent mounting at another time.

I bought an Autometer electrical gauge off of Ebay a few years back. Don't remember how much is was though.

Autometer gauges aren't cheap.

The fords are tough to get to. If you go for an electic gauge it will have a sending unit you will need to tap into the oil supply also. Six of one half a dozen of another.

I would prefer to do an electric sending unit since I really don't want to mess up the interior of my van. I once installed a mechanical guage in an Oldsmobile my sister used to own and it made a little black puddle on her otherwise perfect interior.

I put in a tee at the sending unit. Used a mechanical gauge with copper tubing.
Because I had mounted my stereo in the overhead I used that dash area for oil pressure, water temp and voltage gauges.

Can anyopne tell me if I can use the factory sending unit with an aftermarket electrical guage? Would it be possible to use and aftermarket electrical oil pressure guage and splice into the wire going to the factory sending unit instead of installing a second sending unit?

Probably not because the gauge is matched to the sending unit resistance wise. Most electrical gauges come with their own sending unit because of this I would imagine.

Dang. THought I could save some money. Thanks.

The sending units from the cheap(er) Sunpro gauges and the Ford factory ones are fairly close if you're playing horseshoes.
How about this thought: Check out the old boat yards or suppliers for a dash mounted gauge. The Mercury/Ford powered units used the Ford sending unit and, although new ones can be pricey, some of the used gauges survived very well because they are water proof.