Gauges: What should I get?

[gauge_half_inch]

I bought the sure face gauges from harbor freight. There on sale all the time for 19.99. There electronic, other than the vaccum gauges are mechanical. They have 7 color led lighting. I've been using them for over 2 years with no major issues. Plus the temp sensor they give you threads into the same hole as the stock gauge sensor. Just put a T on the oil pressure sensor or remove the bulb and put the sender directly in the block. Also threads perfectly. Im using the same b6 as you Karl, so no issued there. You can pick up a rounded bubble style 3 pod at autozone, for onto of the dash. The gauges just slip into the pods, it if you use the metal plate the gauges have studs that stick out the back and a U shaped bracket slides over the studs and thread on the provided nuts admit pinched the metal plate being the ring on the front of the gauge and the tips of the U.

[getnpsi]

BTW I don't like volts as part of a triple gauge assortment. Your car starts or it doesn't heh. I like oil temperature in turbo cars, It's also interesting to see how far behind the oil lags behind coolant on warmup. I know safety is an eco nut--the quicker the whole engine is stabilized the cleaner and better burning it is.

[TominMO]

on ebay they have a piece with a 1/8 npt to mount an autometer temp gauge, splice into radiator hose. i thought it was pretty slick, since i have to cut my rad hoses for my engine swap anyway i picked one up.

http://preview.tinyurl.com/3j6dy9e

That is pretty nice. I picked up these plumbing parts at Lowe's for $10, to plumb a temp gauge into my heater hose (the hose going from the pass. side to the heater core). I will be using blue Loctite to make sure the threads don't leak. This will also minimize corrosion between the brass Part 1 and the cast iron Part 2.


Part 1 is the 3/8" adaptor that came with the gauge.
The outer threads on the two Parts 5 can be cut off.
I got two hose clamps for each side, just to make sure.


The parts bags, if you decide to go this route.


The temp gauge and sender. The sender screws into Part 1. The probe is quite long, so I really needed Parts 2 and 3 to keep the sender out of the direct path of the coolant to the heater core, or it would restrict flow.

[Safety Guy]

That's cool, Tom. As in "heavy cool."

I think I'll be getting that aluminum rad hose adapter. In anodized blue, if possible.

As for gauges, I'm getting an oil pressure gauge from Advance at 20 percent off their usual price. It's an A-M Phantom, which has a black bezel with white face. I plan to use the $50 coupon (off my next $100 purchase) to get two more Phantoms: vacuum and water temp.

My average price per gauge should be around $42 for a total of about $125.

Karl

[john1290]

how good a deal?

[sasquatch]

get a standalone in it, then you can have everything up on a laptop screen

[Safety Guy]

John1290 asked:

"How good a deal?"

If you're asking about the Auto Meter Phantom gauges I'm getting, here is the breakdown of approximate prices:

Item.........(A-M part #)...Advance.......Google price w/shipping......my price

Oil pressure (part 5721)......$59................$50................. ..............$48
Water temp (part 5737)......$60................$49................. ..............$35
Vacuum (part 5703)...........$68................$60............ ...................$43

I got the above prices this way:

Advance list price on their website--self explanatory.
Google: looked at shipped prices and chose lowest, plus or minus a couple dollars to reflect reality that not all prices are "real."
Advance sale: 20% off my oil pressure gauge (received already) and $25 off each of the other two gauges I will be buying with my next $50 coupon off $100 order.

My shipping was "free" since I ordered over $75 of parts and my next (coupon) order will do the same.

That's $126 for all three gauges which is an average of about $42 each.

A couple of caveats:

You have to be careful with Advance. Their website and their stores are related only by the business, not by reality. The stores will have no idea what the website is doing, except by order number when you arrive to pick up a part order. Otherwise, they know nothing about the website. Also, if a store does not have the part you want in stock, the store won't add it to the online tally, so you'll need to talk to the online help to get this done right. Finally, some parts need to be ordered from the store if not in stock, so you'll need those parts shipped to your house.

It's taken me a couple of orders to get all this down, but I think I'm working it well now.

YMMV!

Karl