[Preston]

Getting ready to buy some gauges. Which do you prefer mechanical or electrical?
I want to get egt, boost, oil pressure, water temperature.

Thanks for the help
Preston

 

[Paul(in NY)]

I used electrical VDO, Vision Series on my M37. I am very pleased and the back light at night gives good vision and not blinding. I found the best deal at egauges.com

Here is a picture of the VDO Vision guages in my 4BTA/M37

Paul

 

[1985cucv]

i believe that mechanical gauges are more accurate if i am not mistaken

 

[Jcrow]

Not always, but usually the mechanical gauges needle has more sweep area, than the electric gauges.

 

[CrewCab59]

Also depends on what size ,style or brand ,somtimes you have to mix and match them to get the same gauge.

I use Autometer .

Scott

 

[Lustalbert]

Mechanical usually does have a wider sweep area, howefer the electrical gauges are (usually) easier to run, as a 16ga wire is easier to route through your dash harness then an 1/8" or 1/4" thermocouple line.
Also, you can make your wires to the length you want, wheras most temp gauges come with a 6' line, and thats all you get.
I know on 2 instances where people running mechaical oil gauges have had the line break under the dash, and ended up with an oil slick in the cab, not fun.

 

[JimmieD]

I prefer mechanical for oil pressure. The Carquest stores have part number 81583 which is an oil pressure gauge installation kit. Copper 1/8" tubing, various fittings, fits most anything.

I almost burned my whole truck into a crisp when my 100% JUNK Autogage Volts gauge, mfd by Autometer, shorted out. The hot wires then cut through the Parker plastic lines to the mechanical oil pressure gauge and through the clouds of billowing oil smoke it got real exciting. Add in a screamin' wild mountain road with hundreds foot sheer dropoffs and traveling high speed to the thrill factor.

Autometer may be fine, but NOT AUTOGAGE!

 

[beck]

I have been looking for gauges also. It seems that if you want gauges to match you are limited by which ones have diesel tachs. I was looking at the Auto Meter 2 5/8 unit at Jegs. It sells for $135 there but was out of stock last weekend. It is a Sport-Comp which matches the Pro-Comp gauges. By the time I would buy a full cluster of gauges like Paul (in NY) has in his dash it would cost $717. That is a bit pricy for me. After selling off the scrap and a few parts of my P30 that is about what I have in the motor. Some of the gauge companies have an industrial line that is a little cheaper don't they? Are they decent gauges?

 

[Dougal]

I couldn't find a VDO electrical boost gauge when I was looking. EGT and temp gauges make sense to be electrical.

 

[Paul(in NY)]

I have been looking for gauges also. It seems that if you want gauges to match you are limited by which ones have diesel tachs. I was looking at the Auto Meter 2 5/8 unit at Jegs. It sells for $135 there but was out of stock last weekend. It is a Sport-Comp which matches the Pro-Comp gauges. By the time I would buy a full cluster of gauges like Paul (in NY) has in his dash it would cost $717. That is a bit pricy for me. After selling off the scrap and a few parts of my P30 that is about what I have in the motor. Some of the gauge companies have an industrial line that is a little cheaper don't they? Are they decent gauges?

Your very close, a little under 700.

Paul

 

[Paul(in NY)]

I couldn't find a VDO electrical boost gauge when I was looking. EGT and temp gauges make sense to be electrical.

The VDO Vision Series Boost is mechanical.

Paul

 

[Dougal]

The VDO Vision Series Boost is mechanical.

Paul

Yes, that's the one I have in 0-30psi paired with their metric EGT gauge. You could use their electrical oil pressure gauge for boost, but the scale is somewhat higher (around 80psi I think).
I'm also using green backlights to match the original instruments.

 

[Paul(in NY)]

Yes, that's the one I have in 0-30psi paired with their metric EGT gauge. You could use their electrical oil pressure gauge for boost, but the scale is somewhat higher (around 80psi I think).
I'm also using green backlights to match the original instruments.

Dougal; have you seen the vision series backlighted Green at night. I have a picture of the panel I posted above in very reduced light so the gauges show up. Let me know if you want to see it.

Paul

 

[Dougal]

Dougal; have you seen the vision series backlighted Green at night. I have a picture of the panel I posted above in very reduced light so the gauges show up. Let me know if you want to see it.

Paul

Sure, post it up. I'll try to get pics of mine later tonight when it's dark.

 

[Paul(in NY)]

Sure, post it up. I'll try to get pics of mine later tonight when it's dark.

Here s a link to the picture to save forum space. A few of the gauges were missing the green filters as they were back ordered.

http://photos.imageevent.com/moosecreekmaple/m37project/websize/32030907a.jpg

Paul

 

[Dougal]

Here s a link to the picture to save forum space. A few of the gauges were missing the green filters as they were back ordered.

http://photos.imageevent.com/moosecreekmaple/m37project/websize/32030907a.jpg

Paul

Nice.
I also was unable to get a green "sock" for the bulb in one of mine. So I bought a green LED with a 10mm wedge tail. I used a few resistors to match the brightness with the factory instruments and wired it all into the dimmer wheel.

I did have a couple of problems. The round crimped connectors on the pyro didn't have a good connnection with the probe wires. They broke off (presumably from vibration). I now have mini K type connectors which look the part and let me unplug to shift stuff around.
My boost line also picked up enough oil from the inlet tract to gum up the reading. I blew it out and extended the plastic line right into the inlet piping. The airflow now bends the tube over so the open end is downstream and can't collect any oil.

 

[bt4mpg]

I got Autometer Z-series gauges. The only problem so far is that the 194 bulbs with the green or red covers were too dim. I went to Autozone and bought green-tinted 168 bulbs. They provide the correct brightness to match the factory gauges.

 

[cgarr011]

mechanical gauge for boost

I am curious to see what people think about the reliability, accuracy, and the extra wiring work when it comes down to mechanical VS electrical Boost gauges. The extra $80-$100 makes me hesitate. thanks

 

[dieselcruiserhead]

Paul would you say that your VVO gauges are fairly consistent? With my Autometer Z gauges I noticed some way brighter than others. Drove me nuts, actually

 

[Dougal]

Paul would you say that your VVO gauges are fairly consistent? With my Autometer Z gauges I noticed some way brighter than others. Drove me nuts, actually

I put resistors inline with each of my extra gauges, change the resistor size until the brightness is roughly uniform.

I also hooked the gauges up to the instrument dimmer, so they all wind up and down roughly evenly. Surprisingly enough it works great with LED's too.