jsimmonstx
forum member
After a month of agonizing over whether or not to fabricate my own pod, or use a rice-pillar pod, I went with rice (especially after I saw a 2011 GT-350 with an A-pillar pod - if it ain't too rice for CS, I guess I can deal with it - grin).
I got the gauges from SpeedHut, and the gauge pod is from Speed of Sound.
Since neither the 3.7 nor the 5.0 motors have temperature senders, I had to get a Tee sleeve and perform surgery on the top radiator hose. Here's a pic of the franken-hose as it sat in post-op, and then installed on the car:
BTW, I bought a new hose from Tousley for $18 to facilitate a faster (and dry) swap.
When I swapped out the oil pressure sender, I had to ground the sender wire to make the idiot light go out. I cut back the insulator sleeve about 6 inches, and snipped the wire. I then attached spade connectors on either end of the wire (just in case I had to reinstall the OEM sender later), connected a black wire to it, and folded the original wire back on itself so I could route the new black ground wire around the back of the engine. I attached it to the strut tower tab on the passenger side where other ground wires were already attached.
I connected the gauge power wire to fuse #35 with an add-a-circuit, and the illumination wire to the purple wire coming off the back of the headlight switch.
The SpeedHut gauges can be completely customized as far as appearance goes, including face color, bezel color, face font, needle color, and custom graphics on the face itself. I chose the characteristics that most closely matched the OEM instrument cluster, and then added the Ford Racing logo.
The only thing I haven't figured out yet is how to make the gauge lights to come on in the daytime like the instrument cluster does.
Counting the radiator hose, parts came to $550-600.
Observations (for the 3.7 automatic):
- Cold start oil pressure sits at 70-80 psi, warm idle is at about 30-40, and at WOT from a standing start, it pegs the gauge (my gauge stops at 100).
- Water temp sits at 200-205.
Tips:
You're going to need to partially drain the coolant in order to remove the top radiator hose for the required surgery. BEFORE you loosen the petcock, be aware that there's a metal tube sticking out to the side of the radiator (on the passenger side of the car where the petcock is). To avoid loosing any coolant on the driveway, I used this oil drain pan (got it at AutoZone just for this task):
and attached a hose to the radiator tube to direct the flow into the drain pan. After it was sufficiently drained, I poured the coolant into a plastic jug that used to hold distilled water (use a funnel!). That kept my driveway relatively dry, and prevent me from having to buy new coolant.
Also, when you actually remove the upper hose, be aware that there's about a pint of water still in the hose. Be ready with a catch can of some kind.
Finally, if you get a new upper radiator hose, be aware that your local dealer will want $45 for it. I ordered mine from Tousley Ford's web site, and it only cost $18.
I got the gauges from SpeedHut, and the gauge pod is from Speed of Sound.
Since neither the 3.7 nor the 5.0 motors have temperature senders, I had to get a Tee sleeve and perform surgery on the top radiator hose. Here's a pic of the franken-hose as it sat in post-op, and then installed on the car:
BTW, I bought a new hose from Tousley for $18 to facilitate a faster (and dry) swap.
When I swapped out the oil pressure sender, I had to ground the sender wire to make the idiot light go out. I cut back the insulator sleeve about 6 inches, and snipped the wire. I then attached spade connectors on either end of the wire (just in case I had to reinstall the OEM sender later), connected a black wire to it, and folded the original wire back on itself so I could route the new black ground wire around the back of the engine. I attached it to the strut tower tab on the passenger side where other ground wires were already attached.
I connected the gauge power wire to fuse #35 with an add-a-circuit, and the illumination wire to the purple wire coming off the back of the headlight switch.
The SpeedHut gauges can be completely customized as far as appearance goes, including face color, bezel color, face font, needle color, and custom graphics on the face itself. I chose the characteristics that most closely matched the OEM instrument cluster, and then added the Ford Racing logo.
The only thing I haven't figured out yet is how to make the gauge lights to come on in the daytime like the instrument cluster does.
Counting the radiator hose, parts came to $550-600.
Observations (for the 3.7 automatic):
- Cold start oil pressure sits at 70-80 psi, warm idle is at about 30-40, and at WOT from a standing start, it pegs the gauge (my gauge stops at 100).
- Water temp sits at 200-205.
Tips:
You're going to need to partially drain the coolant in order to remove the top radiator hose for the required surgery. BEFORE you loosen the petcock, be aware that there's a metal tube sticking out to the side of the radiator (on the passenger side of the car where the petcock is). To avoid loosing any coolant on the driveway, I used this oil drain pan (got it at AutoZone just for this task):
and attached a hose to the radiator tube to direct the flow into the drain pan. After it was sufficiently drained, I poured the coolant into a plastic jug that used to hold distilled water (use a funnel!). That kept my driveway relatively dry, and prevent me from having to buy new coolant.
Also, when you actually remove the upper hose, be aware that there's about a pint of water still in the hose. Be ready with a catch can of some kind.
Finally, if you get a new upper radiator hose, be aware that your local dealer will want $45 for it. I ordered mine from Tousley Ford's web site, and it only cost $18.
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