Gauges for a LS

[CCT]

I'm going to order some Classic Instruments for my LS3/T56. Is their anything I need to order extra to connect all my gauges. I have GM stand alone harness and it has a connector for my gauges to get their info. Will this work all my gauges? Also when I order do I need to get a electric or mechanical speedo? Just want to try and get the right stuff. Thanks for any help

[csouth]

You didn't say what gauges you are getting, ie volt, oil pressure, etc?
Based on what you have provided: You would use the electronic speedo. You would tap coolant temp into the passenger side head, and oil pressure behind the intake manifold or at the oil filter housing. tac wire should be labeled on the harness. The volt gauge would be wired into the alternator. The coolant temp sensor needs a metric to ntp adapter for the head. I'm forgetting something I'm sure, but its late....

[130fe]

You can use the bulkhead connector on the GMPP harness to get VSS, check engine light and oil pressure (5V can signal). Like Chris said, you can buy adapters to add 1/8" pipe to metric oil pressure sender and another one for the water temp sender for most conferential aftermarket senders. For the water temp sender, the PCM uses the one in the drivers side head while you can remove the plug on the pass side head and add the aftermarket sender. Be sure to know what thread the water temp sender is to buy the correct sender. Autometer sells one (temp sender) that is small and works well (just don't know if it will work with your gauge). You can also add a pin to one of the PCM plugs (I have the E67 PCM) to get the ground signal for the reverse lockout. Works well. If you need specific info on that, let me know.

FYI, here is a post with links about the sender adapters
https://www.pro-touring.com/threads/90405-Oil-Water-gauge-sender-Adapters?highlight=vaporwarx+fuel+sender

This is the water temp sender I was talking about- http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Auto-Meter-5284-GM-LS-Engine-Gauge-Adapter-Kit,66172.html

[40STY]

I got a custom speedo from Speedhut. It runs off the OBDII signal from the PCM. My advice would be to get Speedhut to make you a custom guage or set of guages that reads everything from the PCM. The PCM already measures water temp, oil temp, oil pressure, voltage and speed, so why not use the OBDII connection and save having to hook up a heap of guages separately.

[dhutton]

Speartech has some interesting gauges:

http://www.speartech.com/category_s/1830.htm

Don

[130fe]

I have the Dakota Digital VHX gauges and I run all of them off of the PCM, didn't have to run any extra sensors. Using one of their BIM modules and the VHX user interface, I get all of the engine readings from the bulkhead connector and the OBD-2 plug. No matter what brand you use, if you can integrate CAN style gauges, it makes installation easier and reduces installation time.

Do you have the instruction sheet for the GMPP harness? If not, send me a message and I will email you the PDF version. It has a lot of good information in it.

[rickpaw]

I have the Dakota Digital VHX gauges and I run all of them off of the PCM, didn't have to run any extra sensors. Using one of their BIM modules and the VHX user interface, I get all of the engine readings from the bulkhead connector and the OBD-2 plug. No matter what brand you use, if you can integrate CAN style gauges, it makes installation easier and reduces installation time.

Do you have the instruction sheet for the GMPP harness? If not, send me a message and I will email you the PDF version. It has a lot of good information in it.

Quick question for you Chris. If you're using VHX gauges and OBD-2 plug, then you'll loose the use of the OBD-2 port of diagnostics, correct?

tu

[130fe]

I bought a Y cable so I could use the DD stuff off of one and still plug in a code reader/scanner if ever needed. Works great! Bought it off of EBay or Amazon. Search Amazon for thisOBDII Splitter Y Cable, J1962M to 2-J1962F, 1ft (145802). $8 shipped via Amazon Prime.
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[CCT]

I was looking at Classic Instruments or Speed Hut. Not sure which. Thanks for all the info. I'm wanting to use all the readings from the bulkhead connector to make everything easier. I may call speedhut and get some info from them. I have a Detroit Speed dash insert with holes for 4 5/8 speedo and tach. It didn't look like Speed hut has that size gauge. Not sure if that will work. Thanks agian

[rickpaw]

I bought a Y cable so I could use the DD stuff off of one and still plug in a code reader/scanner if ever needed. Works great! Bought it off of EBay or Amazon. Search Amazon for thisOBDII Splitter Y Cable, J1962M to 2-J1962F, 1ft (145802). $8 shipped via Amazon Prime.
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Thanks Chris. So both ports work at the same time (ie driving the car with DD stuff running, and plug in the OBD scan tool at the same time?). I read somewhere on LS1tech that only one port works at a time.

[130fe]

Rickpaw, yes they do. BTW, I am running the BIM module for the DD VHX readings. I had to pull the Check engine light, oil pressure and VSS signal (not sure I really had to do this one after I got it installed and running) off of the GMPP bulkhead harness plug.

CCT, sent you the GMPP installation PDF.

[blu72nova]

Rickpaw, yes they do. BTW, I am running the BIM module for the DD VHX readings. I had to pull the Check engine light, oil pressure and VSS signal (not sure I really had to do this one after I got it installed and running) off of the GMPP bulkhead harness plug.

CCT, sent you the GMPP installation PDF.

Chris,

Are you using BIM-01-2 for OBD2? This is the updated version of their BIM module. Which scan tool are you using? Thanks.

Shannon

[130fe]

Shannon, I am using the first version (bought it in 2013). I read they came out with an updated part number last year but don't know the difference between the two. As for a scan tool, I have one that I bought at AutoZone that can pull codes and read some the engine data real time. On the DD VHX stuff, you can read certain perimeters off of the PCM like IAT and other stuff using the little black buttons on one of the little digital displays (like of the one that has the odometer).

[joshtownsend]

On those DD gauges, in fact only one port can be used at one time... What i did was hard wire the ald wiring into my gm port then i put a switch on the power wire so that i could disable the BIM and scan the car for codes and tuning without having to take everything apart all the time..

[blu72nova]

Thanks Chris.

I'm wondering if anyone has used hptuners or efilive through a splitter and still maintained functionality of the gauges. Has anyone tried this?

I'm kind of stuck right now on which way to go. I'd rather not run the additional sensors when the data is already at the PCM, but I don't like the fact of losing gauge funtionality when tuning either.