erm......OK......?

If it's just for aesthetics definitely go with electric analog gauges rather than mechanical. That's a good idea anyhow but if it's just for looks you'd be stupid to run oil and coolant lines lines into the cab.

The oil pressure sender is located near the front on the passenger side of the block. The coolant temp sender is on top of the block at the back right in the middle of the "V":

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Well, I tried to attach a screenshot of a diagram from the service manual. It shows up initially but then breaks? I don't know what that means.....can you see it? Message me if not and I can send it to you.

That looks rather interesting. You could pair that with some analog gauges that aren't hooked to anything,

If you were really clever you could get a USB OBD II cable (like you use for TechStream) and then have a Raspberry Pi monitor it and emulate the senders to drive analog gauges....

Let’s see some pics of this sweet ride.


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I'm kind of laughing at the term "manual gauges". Modern gauges are digital... coming from computer/CAN bus lines, etc. Old gauges were analog. Voltmeters and ammeters were electronic because they could actually measure voltage or amps. Coolant temp gauges were also electronic and usually driven by a temp sending unit. The oil pressure gauge was about the only thing where the actual thing being measured (oil pressure) reached the gauge. As others stated, that was usually a small tube coming from the block to the gauge. My '69 Z/28 had all those gauges mounted in the console in front of the shifter. The oil pressure tube leaked all the time and messed up two carpet sets. If I had another '69 Z/28, I would be all over making sure the analog gauges worked. But modern digital gauges (the real ones, not the fake ones like in Miatas, etc.) are so much better in every way.

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I think after reading all of these comments I’ve become convinced to switch over. Gauges aren’t really my thing so I’m sorry if I’ve used the wrong terms (mechanical vs electrical). I’m glad y’all got my point and gave me such useful information and advise. I knew the oil and coolants involved running a line into the cabin but I just never realized how risky that really is.

I’ll be looking around for some electrical obd type readers that y’all mentioned before. I’ll keep y’all updated as well as try and attach a picture of my car. I know one of y’all asked. Thanks again!

Also, as I remember the old manual oil pressure gauges used a small hollow copper line that connected to the rear of the gauge. These lines were soft, bendable and prone to leaking after a while - creating a big mess. Not sure you want to go there.