cowl mounting a fuel pressure gauge 69 road runner

I'm sure someone has done this before, I would like some insight/ pics/advice before drilling into the firewall to mount the liquid filled gauge.
I am not a fan of cutting the lift-off hood either. I would rather it be a clean install.

You could reach through the drivers side vent box to reach inside the cowl so you wouldn't have to cut any holes and run the line to the outer end of the cowl... where they are designed to drain.

Ok, it's an A body not a B body but maybe it might get you thinking. I don't have wipers so I recycled the hole, but if you used black nylon Racehose you could squeeze the hose thru the fresh air grille.

As far as mounting gauges go, I used plastic toggle anchors. Slipped them through the top cowl vent slots then turn 90 degrees and tighten screw. No drilling, worked great for me. Got 'em at Lowes

http://www.toggler.com/products/plastic-toggle/installation.php

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PV3Sb77VLy4

http://www.lowes.com/pd/TOGGLER-5-Pack-P...-Screws/3183711

FYi, if u run ur fuel line in the fresh air grill u will need a fuel isolator. If u race at the strip, tech considers that the fuel line is in the car. Happened to me.

that's a great idea! happen to have any pics of it on car, and more curious where you drilled into the firewall at?

Most will not run a liguid filled gauge.Ive heard lots of problems with them.IIRC a few member actually drilled a hole to let the liquid out of them.Rocky

what sort of issues>?

when the gauge gets hot it builds up pressure inside & makes it read wrong.

John - you need to find someone that can drill a 0.030" hole in the vent screw in the gauge. That solves the problem.

Know anyone that can do that? LOL!

not off the top o my head....?

Oh! YOU!

OK.........I'm going to ask. Why do you think you need a fuel pressure gauge mounted permanently to your cowl. You might look at it one time while going down the track to see if you have a fuel issue and then you will never look at it again. Added dead weight for no reason

I have 4 gauges i can check whilst racing, I do my best Marty Feldman impersonation if I hear a miss or anything out of the ordinary during a run. Fuel Pressure. Oil Pressure. Water temp. Vacuum. these 4 guages are peace of mind for me when racing as before I enter the stage beam, I check the gauges, if the run is going well then I don't look, but i still check these 4 guages when in the braking zone. If they all showed what i was expecting then its the usual checks between rounds, if not, then i have some investigation to do. I don't consider these dead weight, to me they're insurance.

Why do you think you need a fuel pressure gauge mounted permanently to your cowl.


1. I've always liked the way it looks, reminds me of vintage drag cars

2. I don't need a tach either, just a shift light. but I like the way it looks.

3. I'm not completely sold on the idea that's why i'm on here looking for pics of how it was plumbed.

People like what they like and there is nothing wrong with that. I myself have never cared for the gauges on cowl look. I am very minimalist on what I want on a car. Oil and water are fine and you need to be consistent on water temp at staging, but that's about the last guys look at them. Oil is one of those things, that maybe you need and maybe you don't. If you look down and the pressure is low mid run, the damage is likely done anyway. You could get by with a hobbs switch that killed the ignition or turned a light on. If you lose fuel pressure, the worst that will happen is the car lay over. If you have a shift light or an auto shifter, you never use or look at tach.

I am just a freak about weight, so I hate adding stuff I never use........but that's just me.........LOL!!!

Plus, with the cost of tachs, gauges etc these days, you can buy a RacePak monitor only dash and see all you want to see. Can even get a "replay" model that will replay the run, no logger required.

I actually have the UDX "Street" dash in my gas burner dually. Speedometer, odometer, tach, voltage, water, oil pressure and temp, fuel level. Plus it also has indicator lights you can wire for turn signals, high beams, low pressure and high temp warnings. It's 600 bucks and weighs 1.3 pounds

i know what you mean about weight saving & those hi tech dashes do look great, but the folk i've spoken to who have them say they can't read them during a run. this is where the red pointer guage comes in handy. you dont have to read what it points at, just as long as it points up not down.

On our 70 Road Runner,we used a small piece of sheet metal in the shape of a "L" mounted to the screw holes where the washer nozzle hoses were. Then mounted the gauge to that. Ran the line down the lip under the cowl and to the carb.

So I decided since this car is just a fun toy and not a collector piece i want to install the fuel pressure gauge. Anyone have any pics of it mounted on a 69 road runner?

this car is something I take out for stress relief and i'm definately gonna have fun with it at the local Edgewater track this year. The new 505 is . blast to drive!

not a Road Runner but a Dart. Same thing

Monte,

I'm actually looking at doing gauges and had thought the price point was much higher. After reading this I went to look because it would make sense to me to have the digital dash for my cars purpose. I went on the Racepak sight and I'm not sure which one you are using and I didn't find any that would do what you said for the price. Could you provide a link or more detail?

I don't want to hijack and can move to a new thread if need be....

That fuel pressure reg location ( fire wall) won't pass tech where I'm at. Again, lots of 90* fittings are not a good thing in any fuel system.

how hard is it to remove the wiper linkage? I already have the wiper motor removed and a plate over top of it

Takes about 10 minutes once it's totally accessible.

Years ago I installed 2 of them on my cowl. One for the carb and one for the nitrous. I knew I did not want to drill my hood, so I made a aluminum plate with rubber glued on the bottom to mount them to.

Here's the original car they were on for 20+ years.
I used steel brake line and went down through the cowl vents in the hood.


Transitioned to braided steel flex line to the carb supply inlet in the cowl under the hood on this E body.


Then 20 years later while really driving a lot on the street I noticed too many negative responses. Just the way the cops would look at the car mainly in passing. I got tired of them too, I knew what my fuel pressure was. I have been looking at them for 20 years.

Took them off and it has been much better on the street, not near as many looks from the cops and what feels like is more respect. Plus I take the car out of town on many vacations and did not want it to stand out to the local cops. It helped a lot to blend in more. The car already stands out on it own, don't need racey stuff on the car to be noticed anymore.

Guess what? No holes or marrs on my hood when I took them off.

The lights in them were wired to my running lites, looked cool at night. I custom soldered and shrink wrapped all the wiring and it was done right and for a lifetime. Too bad I took them off!
How I transitioned over to #3 braided hose from steel brake line.

This is the inlet adapter on my gauge to accept steel inverted flare brake line which is skinny enough and would pass thru the slots in my hood. Then I installed the flare nut and double flared it.


South San Francisco and the Pacific ocean with no marks or holes on the hood. Less looks from the cops=win!

I had them on my RR and I was just going to do them temporary.
I used a zip tie thru the bracket, around the closest vent slats and tightened them up. Used 1 big one or 2 smaller ones and I never had any issues with them moving or coming loose. They were that way for 20 years. Lol

i have a FG hood so its easy.I get nothing but thumbs up from the cops around here,except for Officer Santiago,i used to be able to out run him but with all the new tech i wouldnt even try plus my brain kinda out grew that.

cool, looks like I'll be removing the wiper linkage, i never used them anyways in 20 years!

I did not use my wipers either for 20 years+ Till the day I drove my car to the top of pikes peak on July 31 a few years ago. It was foggy and 32° at the top. I had to stop half way up and open my hood to adjust the water valve because the cable was loose so I would have a little heat on the foggy windshield. I was praying that when I got back in the car that when I turned that switch that the wipers would come on or else my wife would have killed me. Pretty important to be able to see going up pike peak as there are a few turns with some pretty big drop offs! Didn't think it would be a problem in the middle of summer but I needed them big time that day.