Steady Sweeper

I have an Auto Meter 3363 Sport-Compact Fuel Pressure Gauge on the Bullitt. Most recently the gauge had been sweeping from 20-100psi for no apparent reason and with no drivability problems, which tells me the sending unit is probably bad. Before that, at idle the gauge was fluctuating between 30-32psi so it seemed like it was on the way out anyway.

Because the gauge is at least 5 years old, the previous sending unit (#4590-0008-22 P158-5190-2) was no longer available. Auto Meter has a new and improved replacement for these 0-100psi electric full-sweep gauges, but it's not obvious when calling the mail order places. It is Auto Meter #2246 Replacement Sender (#4590-0023-12). Besides the subtle differences in the photos, the port on the new replacement is quite a bit larger than the old one. With the new sending unit, idle is rock steady at 30psi and the gauge now sweeps correctly.


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Nothing Like a Little Stainless...

The Vortech supercharger on the Bullitt has a Vortech Aftercooler kit. Over the years, the anodized hardware around the stainless trim ring on top of the plastic tank got really rusty, looked lousy, and dropped crust into the coolant below. Also coolant would weep from around the gasket after using the car.




The hardware was so far gone, it couldn't be tightened. So I bought a gasket from Vortech for about $8, and since they wanted about $60 for the anodized hardware, I bought stainless hardware from the local hardware store. Spent about $14 or so on replacement allen head bolts with two washers and a lock nut for each.





It was definitely a hassle installing these bits with my big hands. I didn't drain the tank, and there are a pair of semi-circle trim rings inside the tank that is held on by the lock-nuts. Took a good hour to fiddle with this stuff. Looks great now though and should look that way for a long time. The stainless does not rest in the coolant, and the trim ring is stainless anyway so I can't see a downside at this time. We'll see!