so..... what does everyone know about gauges?

88_GT_5_oh · Nov 21, 2004

i'm looking into picking up some gauge to moniter my new motor that will be goin in the stang come spring, i tried to search this but found no help really. whats the big difference with autometer compared to sunpro gauges? i can pick up like 3 different sunpro ones for the price of one autometer gauge. is there any real quality differences?...... what do you all think?.......... may be a dumb question but i can't figure why the autometer ones would be so much better, after all they are just gauges right?

The Shape · Nov 21, 2004

I am not sure what kind of quality difference there is in them, but I went with autometer because I wanted an electric oil pressure gauge and the parts stores only had the sunpros in mechanical. I think I remeber Jerry Beech saying he had some sunpro gauges in his car I am not sure on that, wouldn't hurt to PM him and ask. But in general I would say anything would be better than the old stockers. No way I would rely on the decade old stockers to monitor my new engine. Get oil pressure and temp at least.

HISSIN50 · Nov 21, 2004

TS, i think Jerry runs all Autometers. i run some of both (you might have been thinking of me).
i like the newer line of Sunpros - i have not done side-by-side comparisons of them with other gauges, but i think they work pretty well.
i would run AM's if i could afford and justify the cost. i simply cant. i would consider it if i had a high dollar motor going in the car. i seldom tach over 3K, so i dont need absolute precision. besides, i have the stock gauges to fall back on.

88_GT_5_oh · Nov 22, 2004

ya i'm thinking sunpros just cause price, i'm going to use a shift light and just use the stock tach, cause its just going to be a daily driver so i don't need to keep that percise of an eye on the revs driving around town and to work but then when i get on the gas hard then i have the shift light.... i'm thinkig as far as gauges go i'm gonna get coolant temp, oil pressure, then fuel pressure......... then i'm not to sure yet..... any suggestions?

HISSIN50 · Nov 22, 2004

88_GT_5_oh said:
i'm thinkig as far as gauges go i'm gonna get coolant temp, oil pressure, then fuel pressure......... then i'm not to sure yet..... any suggestions?

dont be surprised if your stock tach is a ways off at higher RPM's. they can be ~1K rpm off near redline. depends on the car too. i seldom shift over 3K, and the stocker and AM tach are pretty close most of the time.

order of gauges importance and type i would use, IMHO.
oil pressure (elec), coolant temp (mech), FP (i would mount mine outside the car). i have volts cuz im still 2G alternator.
those are the biggies.

what mounting method are you gonna do? that will determine the number of gauges, i suppose.

good luck.

leakyfaucet · Nov 22, 2004

HISSIN50 said:
dont be surprised if your stock tach is a ways off at higher RPM's.

Do they usually read higher or lower than the actual RPM?

HISSIN50 · Nov 22, 2004

leakyfaucet said:
Do they usually read higher or lower than the actual RPM?

most folks say they read higher than the actual RPM (i.e. it can 7000 RPM when the motor is really at around 6K rpm). they are off by a percentage, so the inaccuracy is less noticable at lower rpms. then again, some folks' tachs are not off that much; kinda' hit or miss.

Michael Yount · Nov 22, 2004

I'd throw another gauge brand into the mix - VDO. That's about the only brand I've used for years, always seemed like quality parts. I've never had a problem with one, they seem accurate, and they do manufacture for a number of the higher-end oem's.

ram360 · Nov 22, 2004

I wouldn't go cheap on the gauges. It's the only way you know what's going on with engine. Maybe it's just me, but I would want a quality part and wouldn't want an inaccurate reading from some cheap part. All I ever buy is autometer, plus they look sooo damn good!

The Shape · Nov 22, 2004

HISSIN50 said:
TS, i think Jerry runs all Autometers. i run some of both (you might have been thinking of me).
i like the newer line of Sunpros - i have not done side-by-side comparisons of them with other gauges, but i think they work pretty well.
i would run AM's if i could afford and justify the cost. i simply cant. i would consider it if i had a high dollar motor going in the car. i seldom tach over 3K, so i dont need absolute precision. besides, i have the stock gauges to fall back on.

Must have been you I was thinking of then HISSIN. But yeah I put a sunpro temp gauge in a friends Bronco for him and it seemed like a quality piece.

HISSIN50 · Nov 22, 2004

to each his own.
Michael, i know you like your VDO's - i too have had very good luck with them. i have never bought them aftermarket, but they have come in a a couple of the German cars and they are held in high esteem by me. (and i love that they offered an oil temp gauge OEM).

88_GT_5_oh · Nov 22, 2004

HISSIN50 said:
what mounting method are you gonna do? that will determine the number of gauges, i suppose.

i'm planning on one of those 3 gauge pod deals that mounts where your center vents are, maybe i'll fab one up my self over the winter and see if i can make it look decent, if not i'll just buy on. personally i don't care much for the A-pillar gauge pods, i've seen so many ricers with a A-pillar pods its kinda turned me off to it, thats just my opinion though. I probably wil mount the fuel pressure one outside the car so that leaves me with 1 empty spot in my center pod, i'll probably stick a voltometer in there though

ram360 said:
I wouldn't go cheap on the gauges. It's the only way you know what's going on with engine. Maybe it's just me, but I would want a quality part and wouldn't want an inaccurate reading from some cheap part. All I ever buy is autometer, plus they look sooo damn good!

don't get me wrong i'm not looking for the cheapest one's out there, i just couldn't grasp why the autometer ones where more in price, i just couldn't see them being WAY more accurate. and from what i've read above it seems that no one says bad things about the sunpro gauges.

Michael Yount · Nov 22, 2004

Let's see if this will work...

Michael Yount · Nov 22, 2004

Well, click on the link for a pic of my 'gauge pod'. All factory....

http://www.stangcity.com/showphoto....00924d8b66ac33273fab9fed3e4a33/sort/1/cat/500

From left to right on top are fuel mileage (vacuum), oil temp, oil pressure, volt meter. Bottom is a custom gauge that registers percentage of electric cooling fan speed - 'thermal output'. Proud of that one. Thanks BB.

88_GT_5_oh · Nov 22, 2004

those are VDO's? i've never heard of them.... where do you ussualy find those?...

BTW looks good .. but what is thermal out output?????

ram360 · Nov 22, 2004

88_GT_5_oh said:
don't get me wrong i'm not looking for the cheapest one's out there, i just couldn't grasp why the autometer ones where more in price, i just couldn't see them being WAY more accurate. and from what i've read above it seems that no one says bad things about the sunpro gauges.

Not sure if it justify's the price but the autometers are really made well. They are definetly a higher quality part when compared to sunpro, so I guess that that's were the moneys at. What I was trying to say is that they may be less prone to some sort of mechanical failure, however I do understand this stuff isn't cheap and we get what is in the budget at the time.

HISSIN50 · Nov 22, 2004

88_GT_5_oh said:
those are VDO's? i've never heard of them.... where do you ussualy find those?...

BTW looks good .. but what is thermal out output?????

not sure what you mean. they come OEM in Euro stuff (in my Porsche and other German makes, as well as some of the Swede's stuff too.

places like Summit sell VDO gauges. some of the hot rod crowd has found them to be favorable these days. nice gauges.

88_GT_5_oh · Nov 22, 2004

HISSIN50 said:
not sure what you mean. they come OEM in Euro stuff (in my Porsche and other German makes, as well as some of the Swede's stuff too.

places like Summit sell VDO gauges. some of the hot rod crowd has found them to be favorable these days. nice gauges.

i've actually never heard of them, i'll have to check my summit mag

Michael Yount · Nov 22, 2004

"but what is thermal out output?"

"custom gauge that registers percentage of electric cooling fan speed "

Michael Yount · Nov 22, 2004

VDO is a division of Siemens Automotive Group - Siemens is a HUGE oem parts supplier. http://www.vdona.com/Homepage/homepage.html

http://www.egauges.com/vd2_main.asp

so..... what does everyone know about gauges?

88_GT_5_oh

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