A few gauge related questions.

[Skunksmash]

1. Anyone know the best way to go about getting an RPM gauge in the factory spot in my 87 silverado 5.7 liter/overdirve? I would like to do away with that little clock, and move the fuel gauge to it's spot. Then have the RPM gauge in the old large slot where the fuel gauge used to be. I know it probly won't be easy, but surely it can be done.

2. Do they sell a gas tank with "fins" on the inside of it? I am tired of looking down at my fuel gauge in my 87 and seeing the needle just moving around wherever it pleases. It's as inaccurate as me trying to shoot my short barrel glock pistol. I find it to be annoying. I bet if there was a tank that would bolt up that had some walls or "fins" in there to stop the gas from sloshing around everywhere, the needle would stay put.

3. Where can i find a new gauge bezel? I saw that some people on this site have some nice new looking aluminum ones. Mine suffers from the typical ugly aging problems. I really dont want to waste my time looking around on ebay or in junk yards anymore for the one that is still in good shape. I will just say screw it and buy a new one.

[Captkaos]

1) you need a complete cluster that came with a Tach, and you will have to start swapping out the EFI specific stuff.  78-81 is where you are limited to and if it is pre-80, the fonts wont match.  It is a huge undertaking to make it work with an EFI truck. 

2)87 Tanks have baffles in the already to reduce the amount of slosh, but the float design makes it fluctuate as it's on an arc not in a verticle plane.

3) We have these aluminum plates that go over the stock pieces: http://store.73-87chevytrucks.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=7&Category_Code=7G

[lawdog49]

Chris, is the entire guage swap to Autometer gauges using the painless harness the same with EFI trucks?  I want to do the entire panel in my 91 Suburban.  Do you know if a 91 has electric speedo, or mechanical?  If I electric, how hard to convert to mechanical if I wanted to?  Thanks, sorry don't mean to threadjack.  Gonna be getting a panel overlay and dash cap from you soon.

[Captkaos]

EFI shouldn't matter on a set of auto meters as long as the right signal gets to the ECM.
1991 had a electronic speedo, there is no reason to convert to mechanical in my opinion.

[lawdog49]

   ya know, after i thought about it- makes sense all the gauges are electric in my truck, i don't know where my brain went!  i did see a complete set of mechanical gauges used that seemed like a decent buy, guess that's why i was pondering it, but you're right, it'd be a bunch of trouble to do.

[Skunksmash]

Well, seems like i better go for the autometer all electric setup then. I can only guess as to how much it costs lol. Anyway, how does an electric tach work anyway? I heard something about it hooks up to the coil, but i dont know if thats true or not.

[Captkaos]

Uh, all GM vehicles short of The early corvettes used an electrical tach.

[Skunksmash]

Where does it hook up to? I mean for the one that is not mechanical, and does not go into the transmission somewhere. I was told that somehow the ignition coil can be used. And Kaptchaos, those aluminum gauge overlays that yall sell: Is that what Tvblazer78 uses? It looks really hard to tell that it's just a cover on his blazer. I would like mine to look that way as well.

[frogman68]

On Distributor (HEI) it has a slot for Tach

[Captkaos]

On a points distributor Pre-1975 it hooks to the coil, if you are using a points, I would ditch it.
On an HEI distributor it hooks into the slot marked TACH on the distributor cap.

For the gauge overlay, it looks like what bigblock73 is using here:
http://73-87.com/7387garage/interior/gauges_jeff/gauges01.jpg

I think tvBlazer78 is using a polished version of the same.

[Skunksmash]

On a points distributor Pre-1975 it hooks to the coil, if you are using a points, I would ditch it.
On an HEI distributor it hooks into the slot marked TACH on the distributor cap.

For the gauge overlay, it looks like what bigblock73 is using here:
http://73-87.com/7387garage/interior/gauges_jeff/gauges01.jpg

I think tvBlazer78 is using a polished version of the same.

Cool thanks. Its really that easy? Just run the new wire to the cap? But is it still possible to do it this way if we are using an aftermarket ignition module? I thought we did away with some of the HEI stuff when using one of those. Maybe i misunderstood.