Should be no problem. Sending units do not know what motor they are in. My pickup is running a 401 Buick Nailhead with these senders.
Hi, Rich... the fuel sender must 'match' the gauge in ohms resistance. Most times they will work, as @mj40's said. But if the Chevy is using an alternator, it's BEST to use a volt meter, rather than the ammeter. The ammeter CAN be used if a 'shunt' is used to bypass gross amperage from damaging the unsuspecting ammeter.
Yes Rich is right. I just used a universal fuel sender that matched the ohms of the fuel gauge I was installing. The trick is finding one that will fit your tank opening and bolt pattern.
I've already tested the fuel gage, works great. I'm gunna go the shunt route on the ammeter. I was wondering mainly about the temp and oil pressure senders. Use Ford or Chevy? Or no difference? Rich
If memory serves me, there are 12 volt oil pressure sender's that should work with the stock 40 unit. However, just using a reducer from 12 to 6 volts going to the op gauge should be fine. I have done this. This should also be true for the water temp gauge. I have used the single pole stock unit on newer engines that have a large enough port to install them into that also runs fine with a reducer. My old 40 coupe ran that way with dual water temp gauges (I eliminated the amp gauge) with the flattie.
What gauges are you using? As in the article, I used Ford pickup gauges and simply bought new sending units that matched the gauges from the same donor car.
not trying to hijack this post, but here is the F1 pick up speedo in a '40 cluster. I cut off 1" long sections of 2" exhaust pipe, I split it length wise, that lets me spread or squeeze them to pinch the gauges [pic]...used 80* sweep gauges [mock ups shown]. I used silicone to anchor the glass to the bezel. gauges in with glass and bezel.... screws run through the F1 plastic housing. hot rodded deluxe speedo / gauge cluster. cluster mounted in the half '35, half '40 dash, '56 V8 emblem, '40 ford hood script. silicone the ashtray's doors closed... ...now, back to your regularly scheduled program...
Rich you would need to get the sending units that match the gauges for the oil pressure and water temp. It sounds like your fuel gauge already works with your sender. The voltmeter or ampmeter just measures amperage or voltage. I do know that the 86 thru 88 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe did use a shunt with an amp gauge. If you want an amp gauge that my be a good set of donor gauges for you to use. I do have an extra 88 T Bird instrument cluster from a Turbo Coupe if you are interested . Here is one on Ebay at a fair price that you can look at. https://www.ebay.com/itm/1988-Ford-...ash=item3ae8958797:g:HmgAAOSw3h1ZTxHT&vxp=mtr
I looked at gauges like these but wanted the guage to read left to right, as stock did and found the vertical ones just didn't look right to me.
This is the tricky part.... Those shunts are calibrated to the gauge, you just can't stick a 'shunt wire' in there and expect any accuracy. And these weren't noted for being accurate anyway. And gauge failures were very common; I can't count how many Ford trucks I've seen with aftermarket amp gauges in them after the OEM unit failed. I personally haven't seen many that actually worked after they get older. As to connection, the shunt should be connected across the gauge terminals in parallel. What resistance value you need in the wire I can't say; I searched my Ford manuals in vain for that info. I'll also note that if you're looking at mid-90s and up Ford oil pressure gauges, they really aren't gauges. Ford started getting numerous complaints from owners who didn't understand that oil pressure could vary, like dropping at idle or changing due to ambient temps, so Ford's solution was an 'idiot light' gauge. It looked like a regular gauge, but simply would go to a 'normal' reading anytime minimum required oil pressure was present. Rumor has it that GM and Mopar did the same thing with some of theirs.
As you can see from the photo there will four leads into the regulator. The side with three leads will be feeding 5.1 volts to the oil, water temp and fuel gauges. The side with a single lead will be 12v coming in to powering the cluster.
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