February 16, 2021 by Jason Flaherty

ISSPro 3 Gauge Pillar on 2nd Gen Cummins

My second generation 1999 Dodge 2500 Cummins got a new set of made in Oregon (USA) gauges over the weekend. Trusting the words of a diesel trucker relative of mine, I decided on the ISSPro ev2 three pillar Fuel Pressure, Pyrometer and Turbo Boost gauges. Best price I found for this setup was from Pure Diesel Power. Only complaint was they didn’t mention or include the R78827 snubber kit.

I’ve been collecting parts and tools over the past two weeks for this install. It took a little longer than expected, but turned out nice and clean in the end. Somehow, I’d like to confirm the numbers I am getting from the gauges… I am not 100% convinced they are correct yet. Anyhow, here’s how it turned out for me and I hope it helps anyone looking for advice on this install. 

ISSPro Gauges
ISSPro Gauges Before Install

I’d like to shout out a big thanks to many users of forums on the internet including: 

…and the youtube videos:

…and found this writeup helpful:

Tools and Supplies Used to Install ISSPro Gauges

  • ISSPro 3 Pillar Kit for Dodge (no speaker) #R50053
  • R78827 snubber kit. The snubber kit (with needle valve) was recommended by a few folks on the forums to keep the pulses from the VP affecting the fuel pressure reading.
  • 4-6 more Christmas tree push clips (my old a-pillar was cracking so I added more to secure gauge pillar)
  • Cutting Oil (for pyrometer if you need to thread hole in manifold)
  • Anti-Seize (for pyrometer sensor in manifold)
  • ⅛” NPT tap
  • R drill bit (start with ⅛” and work up to R / 21/64 bit)
  • Shop Vacuum (with smaller tip if possible)
  • Pen Magnet
  • Pipe dope for gas /  lp lines (used permatex #2, I tried the ace hardware tfe paste… didn’t work)
  • Rubber Grommet / Drill bit to drill through firewall
  • Lots of zip ties
  • Split cable tube  (this was just small enough / tight to fit through rubber grommet in firewall)
  • Electrical tape
  • Various wrenches
    • 17mm
    • ½”
    • ⅝”
    • 9/16”
  • Wire cutters
  • Heat Gun
  • Various wire splice / t-tap
  • Shrink wrap
  • Phillips screwdriver
  • VoltMeter / Circuit tester
  • Add a Fuse (for keyed on gauges – I used #15 cigar 20amp fuse – hot side is top on my install)
  • Solid day to focus on install

Tips I found most useful

In General

  • Take your time… measure 2x or more, then cut
  • Preset everything for a clean install
  • Clean as you go
  • Take a few breaks to refresh

Electrical Tips

  • Unplug your battery grounds until ready to test it out
  • Tap into #15 20amp with add a fuse for keyed-on power
  • Tap into BROWN dimmer wire behind the headlight switch for dimmer on gauges (works well, but does flicker at lower dimming settings) with t-tap or splice terminal
  • Solid ground is right to the left of your ebrake under dash
  • Daisy Chain your gauge wire and leave wire at top for future fun

Hardware Tips

  • Drill any OEM plastic slowly… it all seems to crack
  • Use more christmas tree clips than suggested to hold pillar to oem pillar
  • Carefully tighten your boost bolt (I broke mine and had to get another!)
  • Use pipe dope (permatex #2) on the fuel pressure sensor bolt attached to the banjo bolt. Use yellow ptfe tape anywhere that will NOT get into fuel lines
  • Set shop vac right close to manifold drill and tap as you cut to suck away metal debris
  • Use cutting oil and tap slowly threading and un-threading a few times as you go
  • Use Pen magnet to really clean out manifold
  • Test everything in your driveway (my fuel pressure setup was leaky using standard tfe pipe dope for example)

Longer Writeup if Interested

Working all week with a fun loving family in the mix doesn’t always leave me a solid block of time to get a project like this done. If I dove in, I figured I’d be without a truck for as long as it took me to finish, so I waited for a weekend, let my wonderful wife and kids know that I’ll be under the hood all day and went for it!

After reading over the forums, instructions and watching videos for the past couple weeks, I had a pretty good idea of how it was going to go. Starting with all the wires in a split wire loom, I drilled a hole through the firewall, inserted a grommet and pulled the whole set of wires into the cab leaving what was needed under the hood at the three locations. 

Turbo Boost Sensor

Back under the hood, the first item on my list was the Turbo boost sensor. That seemed the easiest and most straightforward to install. I pulled a bolt from the manifold, threaded the hollow boost bolt into place and torqued it to the said specs and broke it off right in the middle of the threads! Thank God I wasn’t wrenching on it and was able to back it out. New one ordered and  later installed, I put it directly into the manifold replacing the manifold bolt near just above the fuel filter. This time I didn’t torque it in half. I feel like I should somehow test for leaks around this as things settle in. 

ISSPro Turbo Boost Sensor
ISSPro Turbo Boost Sensor

On this note… After breaking the ISSPro boost bolt, I ordered a Glowshift boost bolt, since I could get it from Amazon in a couple days, but later found out that ISSPro could have mailed me one in a couple days also. Live and learn. The Glowshift one tightens flat to the manifold, whereas the ISSPro one sits a little above the manifold. So far the glowshift boost bolt is working fine.  

Pyrometer

Next up was the Pyrometer. While drilling into your manifold can seem daunting, this is really very straight forward. After hitting the punch a few times on the manifold hump closest to the firewall, I pulled the shop vac out and began to slowly drill with a ⅛” drill bit. After punching through surprisingly easy, I stepped it up to a larger bit, then finally the R sized bit (actually, I used the 21/64 bit). 

ISSPro Pyrometer / EGT Sensor
ISSPro Pyrometer / EGT Sensor

Setting the ⅛” ntp tap into a ⅜” socket will give you easy control over the tapping. I used a good amount of tap oil right away and after about 5 minutes of slowly tapping and cleaning, I had a threaded hole for the ⅛” pyrometer bolt. Using the pen magnet I thoroughly cleaned out the manifold, not finding too much debris inside due to the shop vac and tap oil doing a great job keeping the shavings out. Adding a bit of anti-seize around the bolt, I snugged it into the hole and inserted the pyrometer. With that in place, I zip-tied the wires up under the hood near the firewall out of the way with the other wires.

Fuel Pressure Sensor

Last, but maybe most important, the Fuel Pressure sensor. The vp44 trucks are known for this failure point, so watching the fuel pressure can save you a big bill possibly. My truck has a FASS DRP in case you are wondering. There is a lot of opinion on where this sensor should go, however, in the end, I chose to put it right on top of my fuel filter housing on the line that runs to the vp44. It was after the fuel filter and away from the vp44 while still easy to hook into with the wiring. 

At first, I pre-assembled the snubber kit without any ptfe tape or pipe dope. Everything threaded together nicely besides the sensor. The sensor did not thread into the brass snubber as easily as I’d like it to, but after a few thread cleanings I got it a few turns in. Turned out I needed ptfe tape and pipe dope to keep it from leaking. I used the yellow tape from the needle valve to the sensor and pipe dope right where it enters the banjo bolt. I have read enough posts about folks getting yellow tape into their injectors to not go down that road. I suppose you could use pipe dope up the whole line if you want.

Replacing the stock banjo bolt and the washers with the one supplied, I was able to hook the full snubber kit I pre-assembled into place. Turn the needle valve a tiny bit, like an 1/8th of a turn or less to begin with. Then used the dipstick housing to zip-tie everything into place. 

Originally, I used Ace Hardware TFE pipe dope, but it was leaking after a quick 15 minute run down the road. After cleaning the threads really well with some alcohol, I got some Permatex #2 that sealed it right up. 

At this point, besides some final zip-tie clean up and more leak checking, I was done under the hood. 

Inside the Cab

ISSPro fusebox setup
ISSPro gauges fusebox setup

This old truck has some brittle plastic, so I did end up with a couple more cracks. I will be getting a new bezel for sure. The dash is actually in good shape. The driver’s side a-pillar cracked while I was drilling it while trying to match up the included gauge pillar, so be extra careful and do not push hard or drill too fast when mating it together. 

Taking the driver’s side fuse box lid off and unscrewing the kick panel from above the pedals, I was able to see under the dash really well. There was plenty of room to push the wires up to the a-pillar just beside the fuse box. 

ISSPro recommends a few Christmas tree clips for the pillar to be mounted to the factory a-pillar. I used a few extra and put them in between the top and bottom to really hold things in place on my cracking a-pillar. They work really well.

I ran the power and sensor lines daisy chained from the top gauge (pyro in my case) down to the bottom gauge (boost) using only one set of power wires from the boxes. I left the power wires hanging free outside the fuse box while threading the pyro, boost and fuel pressure wires up the pillar.

NOTE! When running the wires, make sure you run them behind the factory a-pillar through the holes you drilled, closer to the windshield so they do not interfere with snapping it back into the factory location. Use some double sided tape and loose zip ties to keep the wires hidden and attached to the a-pillar.

After connecting each gauge in its location, leaving a little extra wire to pull them out if necessary, I snapped it all into place and then turned and pushed the gauges in a little way to see how it all was looking. Things are getting exciting at this point!

Tapping into electricity took me a little time. The ground is an easy one. To the left of the e-brake is a ground, just add your ground there. 

For the keyed power (red wire from gauge), I needed an add-a-fuse from the auto parts store to tap into the #15 cigar lighter 20 amp socket. Make sure you find the hot side on this fuse location and put the add-a-fuse in correctly. Mine happened to be the TOP. I also added the 1 amp fuse inline with the given inline fuse holder to be sure nothing will go hay-wire. 

Adding the dimmer wire (orange wire from the gauges), you have to pull the bezel off (careful, you might break some of it!), and unscrew the three phillips screws holding the headlight switch in place, the brown dimmer wire on the back of the switch was quickly tapped into with a t-tap. Test it before you clip everything back in place.

The Big Event

The big event was next. Will this all light up and will we see some information when I start the truck? After cleaning up a bit and checking for tools and connections under the hood, I turned the key on / off and let the fuel pump cycle a couple times. At first turn-over, the truck wouldn’t start, so I cycled it again and wa-la it fired up after a couple rotations. I let it run for a bit, then took a drive to the hardware store for some miscellaneous items needed for other projects and to test out the new gauges. 

Popping the hood back at the house, diesel was slowly leaking from the snubber setup, and like was noted above, I rebuilt the connections with Permatex #2 and yellow ptfe tape. No more leaks. 

Everything else seems to be in good working order. After running this gauge setup for a few months, I’ll update this post hopefully with a solid quick review of the ISSPro gauges. 

Overall, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. The instructions are a little vague on where certain items should be installed, but chatting with ISSPro folks, watching and reading others’ experiences helped make this a doable project to anyone who likes to wrench a little.

#diesel#dodge#gauges#truck