Guages

[bucketkids]

I have been looking and reeding all I can about guages but the more I read the more confused I get. I think electric would be the way to go as wires are easier to run than cables, tubes, etc... I want a six guage kit that is good. It seems I have read alot of negatives on Dolphin guages and as they are about 1/2 price I can understand. The other thing I am confused about is how the electric speedometer. how does it work? is there a sending unit that doesn't come in most kits? Thanks for any input.

 

[putz]

Electric speedos have a sender some come in kits others don't. Nice thing about electric speedo they are easy to calibrate. No gear changes required in tranny.

 

[Francis Blake]

If you want to run an electric speedometer your trans has to have an electric sending unit. you can tell the difference by looking at the hook up the cable type will have a place for the cable to be inserted with a threaded place for the housing to screw onto the electric will have a place to attach the wires and if I remember right there will be a cover for it. Hope this helps

 

[hotrodman]

I have been looking and reeding all I can about guages but the more I read the more confused I get. I think electric would be the way to go as wires are easier to run than cables, tubes, etc... I want a six guage kit that is good. It seems I have read alot of negatives on Dolphin guages and as they are about 1/2 price I can understand. The other thing I am confused about is how the electric speedometer. how does it work? is there a sending unit that doesn't come in most kits? Thanks for any input.

I have Autometer gauges (antique beige)- electric- and I'm very happy with them. The speedo works with a 3 wire sender that fits where the cable drive would go (driver side on a TH 350). Good instructions included on calibration (although I ran mine out of the box and was only 2 MPH off. TIP: separate your speedo & tach wires from all the other gauge wires to avoid interference.

 

[bucketkids]

OK Thanks guys. The sending unit is what I was most concerned about. I will run wires seperate. THX

 

[LKE]

I have ran both electric and mechanical gauges, and I will only use electric now. They are just so much easier to hook up. For the speedo, get the electric of you have the choice. They make it so easy to calibrate. If you do go with a mechanical speedo, you can get an external calibration box from a speedo shop. I bought one in june of this year for about $80. So when you look at the cost diff between the elec and mech speedo's, and take into account the cost of the calibration box, the are about the same cost.

 

[Hotrod46]

I'm running VDO Series 1 electric speedometers in 2 cars. One has been in service for about 10 years or so and has never given me any trouble. Very easy to calibrate as others have said.

There are several methods to get the calibration right, I like to use a GPS navigation unit to get an exact speed. It's easy then to adjust the speedo to match the GPS. The VDO units have enough adjustablity to get the pulses per mile exactly right. Mine are dead on the money (verified by radar

).

A sender is available that attaches to the transmission just like a speedometer cable, but if you're running a late model trans with a speed sender built in, you may be able to use that instead.

I've also read about folks using the anti-lock brake sensor built into some rearends as a speed sensor, but don't have any details.

A bonus is that I'm also using the speedometer sender to feed the cruise control a speed signal.

Just like LKE, I won't use anything but an electric speedo any more, if possible.

Mike

 

[409T]

I've always used mechanical speedometers because I like to have the trip odometer that I can reset to zero. I don't believe that electronic speedos have this feature. Some one please chime in here if I am wrong.

Jeff

 

[Lee_in_KC]

My Auto Meter electronic speedo has a resettable trip odometer.

 

[GT63]

I've always used mechanical speedometers because I like to have the trip odometer that I can reset to zero. I don't believe that electronic speedos have this feature. Some one please chime in here if I am wrong.

Jeff

Nearly all of the new Electric Speedometers have a resettable trip meter.

 

[gfigms]

I went with the Stewart Warner Winged 6 gauge set ... wish I had not. I went through 4 electric speedometer before I got one that would work. First one would not go into calib mode, second one had to be re-calib every time you shut the car off, third one the odometer could not be read, forth one finally worked. It does not have a trip meter ... wish it did.

The temp gauge that came with the set had a sending unit that would not fit a small block Ford no matter where you tried to put it and I could not find an adapter bushing anywhere. Tried to get the specs on the sending units (ohms, etc.) and SW would not release them so I could find a sending unit that would work with the gauge and the SBF. Gave up and went with a mech gauge. Will change all the gauges out some day and will do a much better job of researching.

 

[bucketkids]

What a shame, sounds like stewart warner went to pot. When I was a kid that WAS the guage. glad I asked for advice here before purchasing. I would have never thought about asking if a speedo in todays world had a trip odometer. Once again, This forum has saved me alot of time and money. Thanks guys.

 

[EX JUNK]

What a shame, sounds like stewart warner went to pot. When I was a kid that WAS the guage. glad I asked for advice here before purchasing. I would have never thought about asking if a speedo in todays world had a trip odometer. Once again, This forum has saved me alot of time and money. Thanks guys.

I too, had a problem with my SW speedo. Came to find out that they are made in Mexico. Only their competition gauges are made in the States or so I was told at Louisville two years ago by their Rep.

Jim

 

[Hotrod46]

I've always used mechanical speedometers because I like to have the trip odometer that I can reset to zero. I don't believe that electronic speedos have this feature. Some one please chime in here if I am wrong.

Jeff

The VDO speedo's I'm using both have trip meters.

Mike

 

[LarryH]

I went with the Stewart Warner Winged 6 gauge set ... wish I had not.

I was seriously looking at those. Guess i'll go with VDO instead.

 

[gfigms]

The biggest issue I found with SW was they are "sales only" ... no tech support. They have farmed that out to several companies and my dealing with these other companies left me with the impression they were not too keen on the SW products. Even they had trouble dealing with SW getting any type of technical information.