Anybody running gauges in their bay?

[Miles]

If so, pics please!

I've been given a lovely chrome 4 pod bezel for smiths style guages, and an ammeter, voltmeter, oil pressure and vacuum advance gauges to put in it. I just cant decide where to put it on the dash!

Anybody running gauges please give me some ideas

 

[aircoolerej]

Ron Van Ness' solution:

 

[MMMC]

you have to cut but worth it in my opion...

 

[Miles]

thanks guys....I like the line up on top of the dash!

 

[easy]

Only extra gauge i have is this.

I am a big beiever that if you have loads of gauges then you will keep worrying about whats going on all the time, but it will of course stop fried engines etc. If i go to a 1776 then i will get more, but until then i will trust me VW.

 

[Miles]

Thats a nice tacho there. I'm liking the billet heater controls too

 

[easy]

cheers dude 8) they are not particularly useful as i have my heater permantly on ( i will fix the cable one day :wink: )

 

[clyde]

Had guages in a beetle and was forever worring about the Temp. You should be able to tell when a VW engine is getting to hot........Smell/performance/heat etc. If they werent fitted they werent needed. Nice on a big lump but not on anything else.
Only my opinion and you can all laugh and point when im sat at the road side with a blown engine or worse.
Got a temp guage and sender for sale if you want. Brand new never fitted.

 

[clyde]

Had guages in a beetle and was forever worring about the Temp. You should be able to tell when a VW engine is getting to hot........Smell/performance/heat etc. If they werent fitted they werent needed. Nice on a big lump but not on anything else.
Only my opinion and you can all laugh and point when im sat at the road side with a blown engine or worse.
Got a temp guage and sender for sale if you want. Brand new never fitted.

 

[Miles]

Thanks for the offer clyde,
but i've got all the bits i need...just cant decide where to put them

I see your point about not really being required, but I just fancy putting them in to make my dash look a bit different from standard

 

[MMMC]

Gauges are cool...there's plenty of other stuff to be paranoid about - enjoy the gauges!

 

[aircoolerej]

I have a tach, oil temp, oil press, volts, amps, clock (VDO) and cyl head temp I'm Ron Van Ness-ing on my dash. A small fortune in gauges.

Now looking for the right pods, although I have enough dashes to cut into the current one and put 3 of them under the radio. Then I use an A-pillar quad gauge pod on top of the dash which allows me to put them in the center and angle them to my view.

Just thinking out loud.

 

[Gadget Boy]

i thought long and hard about where to put my gauges as i didnt want them to be intrusive but to compliment the bus :wink:

You can see them very well from the drivers position :wink: [/img]

 

[lobus]

I had a big think about my gauges position as well (my brain still hurts from that) but in the end I thought that they were going to be permanent so they should be in the dash. I'm not too keen on the tacho sitting up top, but I've got the correct clock and it matches the speedo so it had to go somewhere. I was really only after the oil temp gauge and put the others in while I was at it. I made a right mess of the dash and have another one that is done properly and ready to fit. I just have to get focused and do the job. this is an old pic and I've now got a genuine 71 tripmeter speedo with the stainless ring in the centre. I'm very pleased with that pickup.
I actually bought a microbus that had the speedo in it, then swapped em over and sold the bus again, all in about 10 days!

 

[Miles]

This is great stuff...thanks for all the ideas. I have to say my favourite so far is gadget boys layout, and I'm loving that parcel shelf too. Do you mind if I ask you where you got it from?

 

[Gadget Boy]

dude cheers :wink: Got it from Jk but make sure you check yours as ther in boxes and sum i.e the weaving etc is better than others i was at Bvf and took my original 1 back .

Also if you look at the gauges each one is exactly spaced apart from the next and the faces all sit at exactly the same angle ...........

Not that im anal :shock: took 2 days just to fix em in .

UPDATE :shock: :shock:
since i fitted these gauges ive also fitted a Vdo oil temp gauge and dipstick sender in the glovebox. So when the glovebox door is open the gauge looks right at you @ 45 degrees . Also the autometer gauge IS NOT ACCURATE as it is drilled and tapped into the case .

The vdo gauge is in the dipstick tube and is the most accurate gauge .DO NOT buy the sump sender as a) You can rip it out off roading b) it will pick up on the heat of the case before the oil therefore giving a inaccurate reading

Hope this helps also my bus runs at 110 degrees down the motorway on very hot days usally at 90degrees on cool days

Gadget

 

[lobus]

That is an interesting point you make about the case retaining the heat Gadget, my sender is drilled and tapped into the case at the rear. My mechanic is of the other school of thought, he thinks the dipstick sender is less accurate. I can't remember his reason, but he put my sender in horizontal so it has no effect on the ground clearance. I'm 100% in agreement about the sump one though. They are bound to end in tears.
Next time I pop in I'll check out what his reasoning was.
My mate has a beetle cabrio with a 1916 and he uses the didpstick sender as well.
Maybe we should start a poll on what we are using.
I'm not fussed if it reads a little innacurate, I just like having some idea of what is going on back there.
I went on a trip once and the speedo cable died, it was pre gauge fitted time so all I had for cockpit info was the fuel gauge!
Oh and the dial on the radio as well...haha.