So far, I have gotten the voltmeter and coolant gauges to work. The oil pressure gauge is coming up hopefully soon. Just a disclaimer, the coolant gauge that comes with the Bosch triple gauge set up does not have a long enough hose to get to ANY cooling hose under the engine bay. For the coolant temperature, I ended up buying an electric gauge and splicing it into the throttle body outlet hose. My iCarsoft scanner is corroborating the gauge's temperatures so I know it is accurate.

As for mounting the gauges, I chose to mount them on top of the dash. There is a rubber insert on the top of the dash that I took off. They are mounted with screw to hold the in place. The the whole thing got Gorilla glued to the dash so they don't move around. In fact, they are very solid. The wires are run down to the fuse box on the side of the whole dash console assembly.

If you guys want more pics, please don't hesitate to ask.

Edit: If anyone has been in a Toyota FJ Cruiser, this mod may look familiar. I was trying to go for that look.

 

Looks great! All of my stuff arrived but I'm ALOT slower than you. Good job. I like the idea of splicing into the throttle body heater hoses.

 

Thanks Charlie!

 

Ok, so now I am running into issues. The coolant temp gauge is suddenly 30*F off. I know this because the scanner said 93*C (200F) and the gauge is at 170*F. Problem with the sender?

Maybe splicing into the throttle body heater is too go to be true?

 

My thoughts on gauge sending unit location.
To get an accurate temp reading, the sending unit needs to be in the block or the manifold, this is the where it is needed most. Any hose installed unit will read only the temp of the coolant in that hose, and not necessarily the temp in the engine itself, where it is most important. (Especially if it is after the thermostat). I know the majority of people install the sending unit in the hose adapter, but an option I am looking at is possibly removing one of the block drain plugs, getting an adapter that will screw in its place with the sending unit screwed into it. The optimum place would be very near the factory unit, I have also considered removing the water outlet on top of the manifold that sends water to the throttle body heater(PO bypassed the heater) and tapping it to fit the sending unit.

 

That's a very good point Joe. So do you suggest that I install the sender in one of those two bolts in the intake manifold? If so, which is the most accessible? What size are they?
Thanks.

 

not the bolt holes, but you see the tube going into the manifold right beside the factory temp sending unit. It is apparently pressed into the manifold. I was thinking of pulling it out and tapping the hole for the sending unit. It is a replaceable tube.

 

Doubt that. As Joe confirmed while writing. Believe that tube goes to the TB heater.

Unsure of how you you did this, a photo may help. Probably not a very good volume of flow to get good reading.

Should be mounted directly into manifold as ECT sensor or between outlet pipe and radiator prior to inline thermostat if installed using adapter as others have done.
......

 

Here is a picture. I thought that the temperature should be fairly accurate because the throttle body gets coolant from the engine (from what I saw). If my design is invalid, should I drill a hole in my copper tee (remember I had to replace the plastic bleeder with a copper tee) and jam the sender in there? It is 1/8 NPT, so I am asuming I would use an 1/8" twist bit for that?

 

This is the picture of the sender spliced into the throttle body heater