analog gauge troubles
 

i was curious if the analog gauges in a 85 300zx t were notorious for malfunctioning?

it seems my temp gauge doesnt work, my oil pressure gauge doesnt work and neither does my oil temp gauge. i just bought the car 2 wks ago or so

is it the gauges or the senders?

im also wondering if the stock boost gauge is mechanical or electric?

i wanted to put in an after market boost gauge but need to know exactly what i need and ive never been behind the dash of this car before

thanks for any and all help

senders notorious for going bad. stock boost is another sender unit marked boost left side eng compartment if I remember correctly. download the fsm from xenon it will give you all this information and more. After market boost is where do I put it? if I remember my 85T correctly the boost gage sits above the radio with another gage. they are one unit. On my 86T which has the useless acceleromter and compass i am going to gut the stock units and use the plastic base to hold a mounting for a boost gage and fuel pressure gage. Haven't quite worked out the details yet. pic is what the module will look like out of a 85 n/a once you get the schematic out of the fsm you can trace wires for broken or disconnected. the oil temp gage sender is under the engine and easily damaged. take the schematic on a thumb drive to kinkos and blow it up to 11x17 makes it much easier to read.

Ah thanks for the tips, im just curious though, what sort of fittings does the stock boost gauge have on the back? is it just pure electrical or is there a vacuum fitting? Is the gauge mechanical or electric? I like your idea of gutting the stock units to hold alternative gauges, i wonder what the dimensions are of the stock units

i was thinking on buying some cheap summit racing gauges the stewart ones

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SWW-122267/
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SWW-122256/
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SWW-122255/

and using this http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-G2879/
to hold them/mount them

then i was going to get a single cup style holder: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-G2962/

and buy a 2 5/8th boost gauge off of ebay but i just need to know if they are electric or mechanical as i have no experience doing any of this stuff so i didnt want to blindly throw money at electric one when i need a mechanical one hehe.

all the gages on z are electronic. If you look at Harbor Freight they have some decent gages for $20. I'm using the mechanical boost and the electronic oil (for fuel) pressure. had you read my post thoroughly you would note I said the boost sender is on the fender well.

Ah sorry about that, my bad, i guess when you told me that the boost sender is in the engine bay/fender well area it just didnt connect in my brain haha, im starting to get old - thanks for the information though i appreciate it