Gauges / Instrumentation (Stewart Warner, etc)

[Jon Mello]

Here is a 1968 Stewart Warner catalog which has great information on what was available from SW at that time. (Jon Mello Collection)

[janobyte]

I have the black and white racing fuel gauge. The in dash gauge was replaced with a SUN Tac (vintage now) Might also have the oil pressure. Always wondered about the bigger size--never see them.

[69Z28-RS]

I have the black and white racing fuel gauge. The in dash gauge was replaced with a SUN Tac (vintage now) Might also have the oil pressure. Always wondered about the bigger size--never see them.

sometime in late '71 or early '72, I purchased a complete new set of the 2-5/8" racing gauges for my '53 Henry J.   I love those large gauges...  they are so easy to read!   Those gauges went with the J when I sold it in the 'late 90's.   I had a bored '67 302 race engine with Muncie M21 in that car..   42 Ford straight axle front split wishbone, with '57 Chevy rear end sprung on quarter elliptic springs with split Ford wishbone for locating the rear...

I still have the larger SW 9K mechanical tach... which I think has a '68 date stamped on the back, but didn't see it in the catalog that Jon posted..?   Photo posted here..

[BULLITT65]

I have a set of the blue face gauges(custom face) in my car  the "utility" gauges which the oil and temp are mechanical. Even the amp gauge looks identical to the "deluxe" version. I guess it is just a matter of preference, but the 90 degree is easier to read for me. While I think the console gauges are a cool factory option, I am happy with the accurate reading of the SW gauges, with actual numbers on the faces. Thanks for posting the catalog, I always wondered if there was any difference with the clock face ones and mine...

[Jon Mello]

I still have the larger SW 9K mechanical tach... which I think has a '68 date stamped on the back, but didn't see it in the catalog that Jon posted..?   Photo posted here..

Gary, that appears to be a model D-535-AH tach. I'm not sure what year that first came out but I'll have Robert Lodewyk check his '69 SW catalog. You should find a part number and date on the back of it. The last two digits are typically the year and then the month. Months are easy to correlate by the number but the year codes are shown below. For example S4 would designate a build date of April 1973.

A - 1957
B - 1958
C - 1959
D - 1960
E - 1961
F - 1962
G - 1963
H - 1964
J - 1965
K - 1966
L - 1967
M - 1968
N - 1969
P - 1970
Q - 1971
R - 1972
S - 1973
T - 1974
U - 1975
V - 1976
W - 1977
X - 1978
Y - 1979
Z - 1980

[69Z28-RS]

Jon,

Thanks..  I had to dig out the part from my shelves, and you are right about the model, 535AH, and based on your information, this one was made in August of 73.    I think I'd looked at the S8 and read it as '68 previously..      I have this one, and a Sun 8K super tach (dated 11-68), and a 'new' set of Dykes rings for a 30 over 302 ; purchased from the Crank Shaft Company in '71 or 72..   bagged never used.   Great for high rpm racing if anyone can use them.   I have no plans to ever use any of these parts.

[Jon Mello]

Thanks, Gary. Post a picture of your Sun tach. What's the model number?

[69Z28-RS]

Sure Jon, It's an SST-802  photos below...
I used this unit in my Henry J for a short period, then in my '69 Z28 for 4 yrs...  it's been resting since 1980, but it does work well..

[Jon Mello]

Looks very familiar, Steve. I had one of those myself years ago but without the early date.

[janobyte]

When I start playing with the car again next month ,I'll crawl under there and get a date From what the original owner told me, he had it installed at the dealer before delivery.. Worked fine  when I disconnected it in place of a Mallory with a shift indicator/rev limiter. That was 1990 . The old SUN should be back in service this summer. I'm going to take a look today at the old SW gauges. Have the fuel for sure,90% sure on the oil pressure...plan on putting those back in service also.

[cook_dw]

Where did put the fuel gauge?

I kinda like it.  Its growing on me.

[janobyte]

Under the ashtray, I think. Have to look for screw holes. I'm leaning more they mounted it underneath the ashtray on the tunnel. No console option in the car. In 76 my Dad had a cluster (oil/water/fuel) enclosed in a small, carpeted box mounted on the tunnel ,under the ashtray. I always grew up seeing the tac in dash, would look strange to me any other way. Personally I like the way they did the gauges in 67.

The "Old Reliable" look, I know 68 ,which heavily inspired the second owner of this car circa 68-69.

[Jon Mello]

Gary, the Stewart Warner catalog that superceded mine (posted above) can be seen at this link... http://gilmore-global.com/documentation.html

I don't know for sure if this is later '68 or if it's a '69 catalog because the date is not seen on the back cover, however it does show the 535-AH mechanical tach in it.

[janobyte]

Curses. Had the fuel gauge in my hand somewhat recently, it's around somewhere, it'll pop up. Really don't feel like digging through boxes today.(It's hot up there ) Was not with my Camaro parts for some reason. Did find a temperature gauge ,large face dated  P3     March,1970.     692E-6Q"P3 ? Sort of cool ! Lots of SW gauges floating around here, never paid much mind to them. Would have bet it was an oil pressure. Something to do when the weather turns bad. Any case, you brought up yet another good historic fact John ,something I've never paid much mind to ,but certainly want to finish the car with a cluster of larger diameter temp/oil pressure/fuel. I'm not as gung ho on the "numbers" as I should probably be. I am very intrigued by period correct,properly dated, "upgrades" or "personal" touches.

[69Z28-RS]

Thanks Jon, I'll take a look at the later catalog..

Jano, the Sun Super Tach fit lots better in the round areas of the '67 dash, than it did in my '69.  I had to cut out the clear portion of the 'square surround' in the '69 dash cluster...