Repro Oil Pressure Gauge trouble

[calebroberts]

Hello,
Has anyone had trouble with one of the repro oil pressure gauges?

I bought one of the 60 lb gauges to use as I have a '54 235 in my '53 truck. Once installed, I started the engine and it leaked. After a little while the threaded square brass fitting broke off the gauge (the piece that the oil tube threads into - that protrudes through the back of the cluster housing). I observed that the square piece had been soldered to the rest of the gauge but hardly any solder had been used and could not have possibly sealed the joint - much less adequately hold it ont the gauge.

I sent it back and got another one that had the same problem - only worse. I don't know if I can get away with sending this one back too. I didn't realize at the time that Chevy Duty carried these (wasn't in my catalog) so I bought it from another supplier who said the first time that he hadn't heard of any trouble with these.

Anyhoe, I'm considering trying to re-solder the square piece back onto the gauge. Anyone have any advice on this? I wonder if the original assembly was done with solder paste as used in automated surface-mount electronics circuit board assembly. The stuff is expensive and so manufacturers are always trying to skimp on the quantity used as much as possible. My original 30 lb gauge has a generous amount of solder around all the joints.

Maybe these repro gauges are just junk?

thanks,
Caleb

 

[brit 50]

Hi, not sure if you should use silver solder instead of solder, are the two metals both brass or copper? or a mix, be carefull about putting too much heat into the guage, strip it as much as possible before atempting it, good luck,

p.s if i were you i would test the guage on an engine that you know exactly how much pressure it has when running just to be sure.
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BABE TUBE

 

[calebroberts]

Hey brit 50,

Both parts that need to be re-soldered appear to be brass. There are other parts of the gauge mechanism that are made of copper tubing or some other types of metal that are soldered togehter. They could probably take some hear before being damaged but it will require some care. Hence, It occurs to me that a solder paste approach may requre the least amount of heat to work.
thanks,
Caleb

 

[brit 50]

Probably the best thing to do is call a guage repair shop and see what they recommend,
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Chrysler Neon Engine History

 

[vwnate1]

FWIW ;

You can run the original low pressure gauge and the 235 will pin it above idle speeds (you hope) and I've never , EVER had one leak yet .