Badd Dogg Guy19

Hey all, I have my truck for about 10 months now, 5,400 mi, finally got an ISSPRO combo with dash top mount from Diesel Manor. First off, I have installed gauges in almost every vehicle I owned, and a few friends too.

First off, Gauges and mount went in this morn, and I'm not connecting anything yet, other than to back of gauges, and I had to walk away! I got the dash top mount mad by Autometer, looks good, but the way its put together, I had to crazy glue the outside housing to the inside gauge mold, because it was seperating from each other.

Second, The Black pan head allen bolts they give you, to mount the bracket to the factory dash top, are too long, and when you try and tighten them up, they bottom out on the bottom of the gauges, I had to take two of the bolts, and grind them down to half their length, to make it work. Anybody who orders the dash top mount, keep note!

Third, These were the first type of gauges Ive installed with the seperate boxes, and although it wasn't too bad, it was kind of a pain in the rear being all bulky.

Fourth, and these were my fault , Dropped an allen key down the defroster vent, and to top it all off, while fooling with everything on top of the dash, I put two nice gouges in the front top of the dash from the metal clips that snap the front part in , Tried getting the allen key back with the magnet on a stick, but nothing.

I didnt even start connecting any sending units or anything, and I'm already burnt out, Anybody else have a simple job turn out to be a nightmare like this??

If this is the way things started out for me, I'm dreading connecting all the sensors, lines and fittings!!

TonyB

I've had MANY projects at home and at work that have gone that way.....

My biggest learning is to SLOW down and plan everything....I'm not saying you are going to fast; it just always help to slow down & look at the big picture then scrutinize the details.

HTH

Tony

Spooler

Happens to me all the time. When it is my stuff it is a pain in the butt. If I do something for someone else. Easy Peasy Japanesy. The only thing that I can figure is I want everything to go and be perfect. That is when the stress kicks in and I get aggrivated. I have learned that I can do nothing in a hury for myself. I have to think about it and plain it out. If it takes a couple extra hours. Who cares. I don't get stressed. Go one step at a time.
Whoooo, sometimes it's just SNAFU.... Hasen't happened in a while. Come to think of it since we got into horses. They are my theroputic animals.

Badd Dogg Guy19

Well, as the today went on, I did some more work, routed and mounted the wires, tubing, got the lights all hooked up, etc. Cleaned up under the dash, ran all the sender wires to where they have to go. I will tackle drilling and tapping the exhaust manifold another day . I did hook up the boost gauge 100%. Seems to work well, a few "good" pulls, and it was hitting around 29lbs or so, glad I got the 60lb gauge.

Two things I dont like, is One, The Isspro's don't have a "RED" warning track on the gauges to warn you when your in the "danger" zone, I would of liked to have that, oh well. Second is the glare that seems to be coming through the back window, it goes right across the gauges, and makes it difficult to see them during the day.

Seems like I got about 75% of the job done, dont know what Im gonna do about the trans temp, New pan, trans hot line, or I might just go to one of my mechanic friends, and see what he'll want to braze a fitting into the stock trans pan.

All in all, today had its up's and downs, I'll lets ya's know what else happens!!

Thanks for all the "Moral" support!!

rjm022

i have accepted that i am slower than most-or maybe i am just a perfectionist. when i see others listing how long it took them to do a "mod", it takes me almost twice as long. but like it was stated earlier, i make sure i do it right the first time-that everything looks professional. i check and recheck all my work as i go!.

Spooler

No doubt put your trans sender in the hot line. You can get one from Dieselmanor or Mass diesel. Takes about 30 min. to install. Just go slow. Pull line off at the tranny. Let it drain in a pan. Losen the top line. Let it drain some more. Climb out and assemble the new hot line loosely and install sender. Climb back under truck and bring rags. Take off line and lay it to the side. Install line and orientate the sender towards the back of the truck. Tighten fittings. Clean all trans fluid that spilled. Re-check all lines. Do not over tighten. These are compression fittings so no thread tape is needed. Plug in sender wires to gauge. Your done. Crank up truck and look for leaks. Check tranny fluid. Go for a drive. Takes some time to heat up the fluid so be patient.

Hope this helps.

brutal

I have had other mods get ugly and way to time consuming, but my gauges went in the dash pod fairly easy. I had to adjust their brackets for the DiPricol gauges, but other than that, piece of cake.

BTW, the DiPricol gauges have the red warning areas, including 5psi and under on the fuel pressure gauge.

Sorry you had such a time.

Badd Dogg Guy19

Yea, I figured with all the combos they sold, they would have had the correct bolts for the dash top mount. When I was buttoning it up, I thought something was wrong because the screws just wouldn't budge anymore, and the mount wasnt even seated against to original dash top yet, When I pulled the mount out, and looked at the gauge bodies, you can see where the screw was starting to dig in, Thank God I didnt wind up cracking a gauge or something .

Also, I didnt realize that The Isspro's didnt have the red area on them until they were pretty much installed, If I would of Known from the begining, I prob. would have got the Di's.

I was thinking about the hot line for the trans, but its another $90 I have to spend. If one of my friends can drop the pan, braze a on a bung, and re-fill my trans for a few dollars, I'm prob gonna go that way, Thats how it is in my IROC, and the gauge works fine. I'd rather put the $90 towards a deeper cooling pan, when I start to tow my car to the track.

Next is, should I attempt the pyro with the greased bit, and tape the tailpipe up to blow the shavings out, or try to loosen the 4 turbo bolts, drop the turbo a 1/2 inch, and slide some cardboard in there to catch the shavings??
I want to do it using a small bit, and work my way up 2 or 3 more bits till I get the right size done, If I do the taped up exhaust, can I leave it running while I switch bits, or do I have to shut it down, everytime I have to put in a bigger bit??

Cant wait till the warmer weather is here for good, Gonna do some easier jobs like pull the motor and trans out of my Nova and convert it to a 4spd, you know, something less stressfull and easier than today!!

fredbert

How about a 1/4" NPT drain plug kit for the stock pan, except replace the plug itself with the temperature sensor? Plus you'll have a drain plug! Geno's has them for about $10, but I've seen them locally for half that.

Badd Dogg Guy19

Hey FredBert, hows things been, long time no talk!! I didnt even think of what you said, Your saying get a plug that will screw into the stock drain plug, like a bushing, than screw the sending unit into that?? I didnt know if the stock pan had a drain on it, never looked. I'll have to check. If it works, could be an easy and cheap way, thanks for the tip.

Badd Dogg Guy19

Duh, Im getting tired, LOL Irealized what you said, its a drain "kit", so tha pan will have a drain once its installed, I didnt read the post right, now I realize what you said. I'm deff gonna look that route though, Thanks again

CRXsi

As far as the EGT probe...most will tell you to just tape and start up and not worry....on the other hand it sounds like you have the same kind of luck that I have. This is why I unbolted the 4 bolts and dropped the turbo slightly, slid in cardboard and felt safe. I was more worried about a drill bit breaking or a tap breaking then the shavings. I would be willing to bet that if I hadn't used cardboard that I would have broke a bit or tap! It's not that the manifold material was that hard...it's just the case of Gord luck that I have...or in your case, Badd Dog Guy 19 luck. I used a 1/8" cobalt bit to drill through initially and it went through like butter. I had bought an 8.5mm drill bit as I couldn't find an 'R' or 'Q' bit by the time I wanted to install (8.5mm is right between size R & Q and all tap charts I have seen vary as to wether to use an R or a Q) The bigger bit also cut through like butter, I did use grease on it and just went a bit at a time but it cut really nice, even with grease there were a few shavings still going into the manifold, but the cardboard stopped that perfectly. There are some photo's in my gallery if they interest you.

Another thought...I don't have an automatic, but I would recommend getting the adapter for the line also for two reasons, the first is it is more accurate as the line will be hotter than the pan, the second is it likely won't be cheaper to drain the pan and just 'refill' it, unless you re-use the orginial fluid. New fluid has to be ATF+4, and not normal ATF, which is only available from Dodge or Amsoil (if there are others please chime in) and I am told isn't exactly cheap...it may even cost close to your $90 or at least a good portion of it...but again don't quote me on how much as I have a hand shaker and not an auto.

Riverside Joe

I feel your pain. Took me 4 hours. I went the other route and installed my senders from the engine compartment and then wired into the cab first. My autometer guages have the black faces (pyro, xsmsn temp, fuel press) so I used liquid white out to mark my limits and range. With the white face guauges I'd use a razor and make a small limit tick out of red reflective tape and put on the outer rim of the sweep range. Good luck------RJ