Arif Posted February 15, 2001 Share Posted February 15, 2001 I'm looking at replacing my stock gauges and decided to go with Auto Meter. I'm trying to get a feel for what everyone else has installed in their Z and whether or not they like the way they operate, their accuracy, and installation. I haven't decided what gauges I can do without but probably the volt meter and water temp (i can use the SDS for this one) will be the first to go. I plan on using new fuel, boost, oil pressure gauges in the stock location. Does anyone know where I can buy a gauge pod that fits a 280? Also one dumb question or confirmation: the guages on the Z are electrical and not mechanical right? ------------------ http://communities.msn.com/TurboZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLKMGK Posted February 16, 2001 Share Posted February 16, 2001 The stock gauges are electrical. In my case I'm going with Phantom gauges in the stock holes. I'll be using a 5inch tach, 5inch Speedo (electric), water temp (mechanical), oil pressure (mechanical), and fuel level (electric for my GM sender). I'm not real worried about voltage and had no hole left over for it anyway. I MIGHT try to wire up an idiot light or use a Cyberdyne voltage gauge in the cigarette lighter socket. So far I've not mounted these gauges yet but that's the plan - I've yet to buy the speedo or tach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted February 16, 2001 Share Posted February 16, 2001 I've tested 1 used and 2 new Autometer electric water temp gages. The used one (Street Comp) was off by 20 degrees in the 180-210 range. So was a brand new Pro-Comp. The other new one is Mike Kelly's Phantom. I checked it last night and it was off 8-10 degrees F from 180-210. Call me picky, but that's not acceptable. I've designed a simple resistor network to recalibrate the gages to read within a degree of actual temp in the 180-210 F range, but it usually hoses the lower temp calibration. I can live with that. Also, the gages aren't voltage regulated, so they read differently depending in the supply voltage. I'm using 13.6 V as the supply voltage, as that's a common or average voltage for a car that's running with the alternator spinning above idle. It's not a huge effect, but a cheap regulator chip insid the case of the meter would be appreciated by me at least. Anybody know what other gage brand out there that might be more accurate? I'd go with a mechanical (capillary tube) water temp gage the next time around. Those are usually more accurate. As for the Volt meter, I'm going to do what Mike Kelly suggested to me months ago - get or make one that plugs into the Cig lighter. [This message has been edited by pparaska (edited February 15, 2001).] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arif Posted February 16, 2001 Author Share Posted February 16, 2001 Thanks for the info guys, Is the inaccuracy a problem industry wide or is it just Auto meter. If it's just Auto meter makes me wonder why so many people have them in their car or are not aware of the inaccuracy. Pete-are the resistors difficult to install and are they needed on all the gauges (oil pressure, fuel, etc.)? ------------------ http://communities.msn.com/TurboZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted February 16, 2001 Share Posted February 16, 2001 One (very low resistance) resistor goes in line to the sender terminal from the sender. The other larger valued resistor goes between the sender tap on the gage and ground. They can just be hooked up at the gage. The issue is you need to see what the accuracy of the gage is and how far off it is over an important range (I use 180 and 210 degrees) and know what the resistance of the sender is at the indicated and actual temperatures to determine what resistors to use. In a few days, I'll post some general equations, etc. on my site to show how to do this - some time next week. Seriously, I'd go with a mechanical water temp gage next time. They are generally more accurate and don't suffer from voltage regulation problems (obviously). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Bayley Posted February 19, 2001 Share Posted February 19, 2001 I'll agree with Pete that the accuracy of Autometer gauges can be questionable... at best. I would suggest that anyone using Autometer's should primarily use them as a reference to a normal working engine. I.E. don't use an autometer gauge to start troubleshooting; overheating/electrical/oil pressure probelms. Personally, I went with the mechanical Autometer gauges. I felt that with the full sweep, the error would be less than an electrical. Also, with an electrical type setup, there is more room for error (gauge error + sender error). However, I have seen more than a few boost gauges sitting on a showroom floor reading 5 psi of boost!!! I can't believe any company would send a product like this out the door. I don't mean to bash this supplier, but quality this bad is unacceptable in any other industry. On a good word though, they've always been happy to replace gauges for me that were innaccurate. -Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alsil Posted February 21, 2001 Share Posted February 21, 2001 I use VDO guages on my cars (my '66 Mustang, my '66 Chevy PU, my Z) and I have never had aporblem with them, accuracy wise or anything. I have a volmeter/ammeter/tach/dwellmeter combo(yes, it's hella old!) and I checked the tach I got for my Mustang, and it was dead on. Also, the one in my truck. My temp guage in my last Z was messed up, showed 225 no matter what. I checked it with another stock Z guage, and it showed 180. I got a VDO temp guage, and it read 180. I also checked it with a themometer and boiling water. I was determined to find out if my car was really running that hot! Well, it wasn't. I like the looks of the Autometers, and the fact that they make a 5" speedo and tach, but VDO does not, there's the only drawback. Maybe mix and match? I don't know, that's just the experience I've had with them. ------------------ http://zcar.netdojo.com My Upcoming Solo Album Site Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted February 21, 2001 Share Posted February 21, 2001 You know....this post is about a year too late...for me at least. I had no idea the Autometers were that inaccurate. My friend who works at an import tuning shop told me to go with the gauges from HKS, Trust, Apex, etc cuz the Autometers sucked. I thought he was just trying to sell me the import brands! Well, now I know, again, you get what you pay for. Cheap price is why everyone has them right? I think I'll start to try selling mine...whats the point of having an inaccurate gauge?? Owen ------------------ http://www.homestead.com/s30z/index.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alsil Posted February 22, 2001 Share Posted February 22, 2001 Yea, but it's 4". Check out: http://www.vdona.com/Homepage/homepage.html The whole line is there. The cockpit series in black or white has a 4" Speedo or tach. Now you got me thinking about it!!!!!! AL ------------------ http://zcar.netdojo.com My Upcoming Solo Album Site Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLKMGK Posted February 22, 2001 Share Posted February 22, 2001 Well, I looked at LOTS of gauges before going with Autometer. The import stuff is really cool and the lit up numbers as opposed to lighting the whole gauge on some of them is really nice - not to mention peakhold functions in some lines. However I could never find a good speedo and tach - they were all either butt ugly, too small, or read in metric. VDO - size problems and again butt ugly in many cases! I knew I wanted an electric speedo so there's no cable garbage with the T56 to worry about and I wanted an LCD trip - Autometer finally has it. So far as accuracy goes - I use gauges to judge what's normal and what's not. I'm also using mechanical gauges for the full sweep - on the Z it really shouldn't be THAT hard to install them. It is very disappointing to hear that they're not accurate and I have to wonder if it's the senders that are flakey or the gauge itself. Pete - did you try more than one sender? Might be interesting to compare one gauges readings at various voltages with another. Very disappointing that they reference their readings from input voltage too - how hard would it have been to take care of that problem? Sheesh! Hrm, has anyone tried sending their support folks E-mail about this? Unlike Energy Suspension Autometer actually answers their mail! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted February 22, 2001 Share Posted February 22, 2001 I haven't compared the three sender's resistance/temperature data to each other. I'll do that. I figure if they can't make them and sell them calibrated, I doubt I'd have much luck getting them to send me another that's any better. I KNOW I can calibrate them myself, so I just do it that way. I'll have a page up on how to do it in a few days, if anyone is interested. ------------------ Pete Paraska - 73 540Z - Marathon Z Project pparaska@home.com Pete's V8 Datsun 240Z Pages Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drax240z Posted February 22, 2001 Share Posted February 22, 2001 I was just about to ask if anyone had anything to say about the VDO gauges. I've been looking at them in the summit catalog for a couple reasons. A) their prices are good, comparable or better than the autometer stuff. and I simply like the look/layout of them more than the autometers. I still haven't decided whether I'd go with white or black face. Oh yeah, I seem to remember looking at a VDO website and seeing 5" speedos and tachs too. ------------------ Richard Lewis 1972 240z - L28TURBO transplant ongoing! Drax's 72 240Z Turbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awd92gsx Posted April 2, 2002 Share Posted April 2, 2002 Quick question...if I decided to go with an Autometer electric speedo...how do they connect to the tranny? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted April 2, 2002 Share Posted April 2, 2002 Bill, The electric speedo requires a VSS (vehicle speed sensor) to drive it. It basically counts pulses and you calibrate it by pushbutton by putting the speedo into 'learn' mode, then drive 2 miles exactly press the button again and it stores how many pulses it counted and voila calibrated. Someone must make a speedo cable to VSS setup of some sort I would think. The VSS goes where your speedo drive normally would, and while I havn't seen the inside, I'm assuming it is a pickup/ magnet sort of thing. Sorry I can't tell you who makes such a thing to convert non-electric speedos to electric. Regards, Lone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awd92gsx Posted April 2, 2002 Share Posted April 2, 2002 Well...damn. Does Autometer make a mechanical speedo that works in the Z's? I've seen people with Autometer speedos...how do they get them to work? Sorry for the seemingly basic questions!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted April 2, 2002 Share Posted April 2, 2002 Absolutely. They have mechanical drive speedo and even tachs, they look the same, just use mech. drive, despite the reported inacurracy they're nice looking units that work alright. Regards, Lone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awd92gsx Posted April 3, 2002 Share Posted April 3, 2002 Thanks for that very helpful info. I'm assuming the mechanical speedo will connect to the factory cable somehow? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted April 3, 2002 Share Posted April 3, 2002 Yes, the mechanical 5" Autometer speedo will connect to the JTR or Datsun cable. Since I'm using a Tremec 5spd, I removed the GM speedo adapter it came with from darkhorse performance, and I'm using a 1967-68 Mustang auto trans speedo cable. It's a little long, but works fine. Just a tip for anyone using a Ford type tranny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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