Re: Just a few more questions

[jlandry@domain.elided (John A. Landry)]

On Wed, 5 Nov 1997 18:03:47 -0500, you wrote:

>I posted about aftermarket gauges a few days ago.  I got some very nice
>responses about how to make my stock ones work, but NONE from people who
>had installed aftermarket gauges.  Am I really looking to be the only
>person on the digest with aftermarket gauges, or are some of you just being
>reticent? :-)

Like you Paul, I gave up on trying to get reliable, repeatable and accurate
readings from my 20 year old stock IH gauges.  I *have* installed
aftermarket gauges, but not directly in the instrument panel like you are
considering doing.  I just couldn't bring myself to alter the beautiful and
graceful lines of the IH dash! <grin> Instead I mounted mine under the dash
to the right of the steering column.

So, I asked around (including the members of the Digest) what gauges are
considered high quality and Autometer brand gauges got high marks.  What's
nice is they are available from Summit Racing and Jegs at good prices.
Their selection is absolutely huge.  They have a web site at
www.autometer.com where you can see all of their gauges... some you won't
see in the Summit and Jegs catalog, but they can special order them.

As to the type, I decided to go with mechanical.  For starters, I like
gauges that have a full 270 degree sweep of the pointer.  It's much easier
to see the status of the gauge at a glance when the pointer sweep is large,
verses the narrow sweep of the typical electric gauge.  My preference to
large sweep gauges is a throw back to my flying days.  You'll be hard
pressed to find any electric gauges in large sweep.

Next comes accuracy.  I like direct reading mechanical gauges because they
are *generally* more accurate than electric versions of the same.  Another
nice feature is that when you turn your vehicle off, the gauge is still
working.  A coolant temperature gauge will still accurately display the
temperature even after the engine is turned off.  In most cases mechanical
gauges display faster than similar electric gauges.

The down side to mechanical gauges is their slightly more difficult and
involved installation.  Holes that have to be drilled in the firewall are
typically larger than for an electric gauge.  Luckily this is only done
once, so it's really no big deal to me.  Electric gauges are usually
cheaper.

Autometer has some very nice gauges.  They offer many lines of gauges in
certain styles, so you can outfit a whole dashboard with everything from a
speedo to the gas gauge if you so desire.  I opted for Autometer's
"economy" line of gauges called "Autogauge."  Even though they are
extremely affordable and are manufactured in Taiwan (verses the USA for
their other gauges), the quality seemed to me much better than the typical
auto parts store gauges I looked at first.

I bought from Jegs (I think) a 3-pack of mechanical gauges consisting of a
temperature, oil pressure and volt meter.  I also had Jegs special order a
matching vacuum gauge I had seen on Autometer's web site.  The same gauge
pack is also available with an ammeter instead.  I went with a volt meter
because my stock IH ammeter works fine.  Now I have both.

I really like these gauges and can recommend them to anyone.  They come
with little filters you place over the lamps to illuminate the gauge in
read, green or plain to match the stock dash lighting.  I wired the gauge
lighting into the IH dash lighting so they are controlled by the lighting
reostat.  They are very bright when compared to the stock IH lighting!
Someday I'd like to also order an Autometer tachometer.  They have one that
displays from 0-5000 rpm in 2-1/6" diameter to match my other gauges, but
it ain't cheap.  I don't *need* a tachometer, so this would be a luxury
item purchase that will wait.  I think the cost for the 3-pack gauge
cluster was under $40.00 and the vacuum gauge alone was like $30.00.

Hope this helps,

John

------------------------------------------------------------------------
jlandry@domain.elided             |
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