Vintage gauge issues. Some pegging, some not responsive

[Brian76]

Performed our first startup on Saturday and the coyote fired right up! It was an exciting day. I did notice some issues with the speedhut vintage gauges though:

1. The water temp gauge is Celsius instead of Fahrenheit (didn't notice it until I fired up the engine and it showed 140*C!)
2. Water Temp pegs to 140C and Oil temp pegs to 100psi immediately when the engine is started. The engine idled for several minutes and never changed. I used the supplied speehut harnesses and bypassed the Ron Francis harness. The speedhut harness are attached from the oil & water sending units directly to the gauges. The Red/White/Black wires exiting the gauges are connected to the pigtail for the other gauges.
3. Tachometer is barely registering when engine is running. Idle speed is 0rpm. When I stab the throttle the tach only increases to 200rpm. I confirmed I hooked up the tachometer sensing wire per the FFR instructions and have continuity from the #8 coil to the gauge.
4. I do not know what the Ohm range is for the FFR supplied fuel sending unit. According to info from the forums it should be 16-158Ohm. I set the gauge according to this information (speedhut setting=7/8 on the gauge face) and it shows 7/8th full tank of gas. We only put 1/8th of tank of fuel in.

Other than that, the clock and voltage gauge seem to be working fine.

Is there something obvious I'm missing?

[FLPBFoot]

Have you confirmed that the positive and negative wires to the gauges are correct and not reversed? Also, are the (negative) for the Temp and pressure gauges separated from chassis or engine ground? Meaning they should not be connected to the chassis or engine ground.

[Railroad]

The Coyote does have 100 psi of oil pressure when cold or anything above idle. Mine runs 5w-50.

Instruction are included on how to calibrate the fuel readings. I had to call them, but they got it right and has worked well since.

[edwardb]

Did you calibrate the tach? Should be .5 pulse per rev when connected to a single coil-on-plug. In general sounds like some kind of electrical issue. Unlikely all the gauges wouldn't be functioning.

[RBachman]

I had a broken wire at one of the connectors that drove me nuts trying to find it. The gauge needle bounced around intermittently. Also, make sure the dials are not spun out of position. All but two of mine had loose bezels allowing the the dials to spin, particularly on the tach.

[Ducky2009]

The Coyote does have 100 psi of oil pressure when cold or anything above idle. Mine runs 5w-50.

Instruction are included on how to calibrate the fuel readings. I had to call them, but they got it right and has worked well since.

Wow, 5w-50. Mine calls for 5w-20. Might want to double check that.

EDITED: Joe's engine is different than mine and his takes 5w-50 as stated.

[Brian76]

Thanks for the feedback.
1. Fixed the tachometer by setting it to 0.5pulse per rev. I read info from an older thread stating it should be 4ppr.
2. Idled the car for 20+ minutes and the oil pressure did not drop from 100psi. While it was idling the coolant temp in the moroso expansion tank reached 168*F and the head casting just above the water temp sending unit reached 299*F but engine oil on the dipstick was not hot at all. Maybe I need to go cart it?
3. I pulled the water temp gauge to send to Speedhut. I will mention the issue to them and see what they say. I'll try it again once its calibrated to Fahrenheit.
4. The fuel gauge seems to working all of a sudden. I had it unplugged while removing the temp gauge, plugged it back in and its reading empty. At this point I probably only have 1-1.5 gal of fuel in the tank. I'll add some fuel tomorrow and see if the needle moves.

The oil pressure and water temp grounds go from the sending unit to the gauge connector. No chassis grounding. I confirmed continuity and that the correct harness is plugged into each gauge.

As for the bezels or dials, I'm not sure I understand the comment. The chrome bezels seemed snug when I installed them on the dash. Didn't notice the dials being loose.

Thanks for the comments guys!

[edwardb]

You should see the temp eventually come up during normal starting and idling. I've learned to live with the Celsius. The Coyote oil pressure is kind of all over, and runs high especially at start-up. But you should still see it swinging around. Here's my Gen 2 gauges during my first start day. https://youtu.be/MGiRDLwrwrU?list=UUcM_RlEuAZnUOzd-iQle4Ew&t=35.

[RBachman]

Thanks for the feedback.
1. Fixed the tachometer by setting it to 0.5pulse per rev. I read info from an older thread stating it should be 4ppr.
2. Idled the car for 20+ minutes and the oil pressure did not drop from 100psi. While it was idling the coolant temp in the moroso expansion tank reached 168*F and the head casting just above the water temp sending unit reached 299*F but engine oil on the dipstick was not hot at all. Maybe I need to go cart it?
3. I pulled the water temp gauge to send to Speedhut. I will mention the issue to them and see what they say. I'll try it again once its calibrated to Fahrenheit.
4. The fuel gauge seems to working all of a sudden. I had it unplugged while removing the temp gauge, plugged it back in and its reading empty. At this point I probably only have 1-1.5 gal of fuel in the tank. I'll add some fuel tomorrow and see if the needle moves.

The oil pressure and water temp grounds go from the sending unit to the gauge connector. No chassis grounding. I confirmed continuity and that the correct harness is plugged into each gauge.

As for the bezels or dials, I'm not sure I understand the comment. The chrome bezels seemed snug when I installed them on the dash. Didn't notice the dials being loose.

Thanks for the comments guys!

The bezel actually holds the dial in place. If they are loose, the dial spins out or position and the needle no longer points to the correct reading. Mine were slightly loose, but spun and I installed them not knowing this. So I ended up installing them top-up according to the dial, not to the meter. This caused some confusion.

On the fuel gauge, I had issues with a connection at the tank where the contacts on the plugs were bent out of position and did not make consistent contact with the sending unit.

[Brian76]

The bezel actually holds the dial in place. If they are loose, the dial spins out or position and the needle no longer points to the correct reading. Mine were slightly loose, but spun and I installed them not knowing this. So I ended up installing them top-up according to the dial, not to the meter. This caused some confusion.

On the fuel gauge, I had issues with a connection at the tank where the contacts on the plugs were bent out of position and did not make consistent contact with the sending unit.

I will check these again. Thanks

[Railroad]

My first oil pressure sending unit was bad. It would start out at 100 lbs, then just rise and fall with a change in rpm.
It would fall so low, it was of great concern.
Speed Hut sent me new sending unit and everything seems fine now.

My temp gauge reading is about 17* lower than what my computer is showing. I might address this. I did have my gauge converted to F.