buckshotbishop
Old Soul
looking to get some gauges just for insurance. oil pressure, water temp, rpm, and something else but i cant remember right now. what do you suggest electric or mechanical gauges?
aftermarket gauges newb
- Thread starter buckshotbishop
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pauly v.100
Well-Known Member
Speedhut electric
grimreaper
Cross Member
You talkin' digital vs analog or electric vs mechanical? I love to see the needles move.
buckshotbishop
Old Soul
electric vs mecanical
CrazyPete
Well-Known Member
analog all the way
grimreaper
Cross Member
Would the other gauge be vacuum or volts? The tach will almost surely be electric (unless youve got a mechanical drive distributor), the oil and water temp wouldbe mechanical for me but high quality electric work well too. Volts will obviously be electric and vacuum will almost surely be mechanical. A vacuum gauge can tell you a lot about what is going on with your ride.
+1 on Speedhut. I went with the Revolution gauges. If you're on a tight budget, probably not the route you want to go.
Mopar to ya
Well-Known Member
I got tired of speedometers breaking, oil lines rubbing through, etc... I went to all electric gauges and I have never been happier. No noise, accurate, easy to install. Just don't put the colored condoms over the bulbs like I did. Mopar at idle doesn't give enough juice to light them bright enough to see well.
magnumdust
Well-Known Member
That's what i went with. Worth every penny.
PanGasket
has cork sides
electrical. much easier to trouble shoot. Get you a set of Stewart Warner or Autometer stuff. Stewart Warner stuff can be pretty cheap and reliable. NEVER buy Equus stuff. I bought one of their tachs, it was good for cam break-in and that was it, it was dead after about 3 weeks and would only read between 1-2k RPM. If you were at 4k RPM, it said you were still at 2.
Mechanical temp gauge seems like a real pain to install to me and electrical is just as dependable, if not more so, as long as your connections are tight and correctly done.
Mechanical oil gauges mostly come with plastic lines that rub thru and they leak, or they bend and leak, also, that plastic line can't just be cut down to whatever length, you are stuck with 6ft of it to roll up at some point and hide. If you wanna get out of being stuck with the plastic line, you have to buy a pre-made steel braded line or make an AN line. Or you can just go electrical and spend about 20 minutes wiring it up and the only leak you will have to worry about is at the sending unit. which you will also have to worry about with a mechanical gauge.
Just my 2 cents, not trying to say mechanical sucks completely. But it seems like the electrical stuff is just as reliable and pretty easy to trouble shoot.
Mechanical temp gauge seems like a real pain to install to me and electrical is just as dependable, if not more so, as long as your connections are tight and correctly done.
Mechanical oil gauges mostly come with plastic lines that rub thru and they leak, or they bend and leak, also, that plastic line can't just be cut down to whatever length, you are stuck with 6ft of it to roll up at some point and hide. If you wanna get out of being stuck with the plastic line, you have to buy a pre-made steel braded line or make an AN line. Or you can just go electrical and spend about 20 minutes wiring it up and the only leak you will have to worry about is at the sending unit. which you will also have to worry about with a mechanical gauge.
Just my 2 cents, not trying to say mechanical sucks completely. But it seems like the electrical stuff is just as reliable and pretty easy to trouble shoot.
DusterKrazy
Well-Known Member
It depends on which gauge. I prefer mechanical because if there is an issue with your electrical system, I don't think electric gauges are going to read properly or they could get damaged if there is a sudden spike in the system. Anything can happen and never say never.
The one gauge I could go either way on is the oil pressure gauge. Using the nylon (plastic) tubing is bad idea waiting to happen. It tends to kink, get brittle and then break. I don't know anyone who is excited about oil on their legs/carpet or floor pan. I been there, done that and washed the t-shirts from the result of it. Never again.
Using one with a stainless line or copper line is a good alternative.
Just buy good gauges and it won't matter which route you go. It doesn't make sense to buy a cheap/inaccurate gauge for something you have your time and hard earned dollars in. Find some good used gauges and go that route. I may be cheap but I do believe in getting the best thing that I can afford lol
The one gauge I could go either way on is the oil pressure gauge. Using the nylon (plastic) tubing is bad idea waiting to happen. It tends to kink, get brittle and then break. I don't know anyone who is excited about oil on their legs/carpet or floor pan. I been there, done that and washed the t-shirts from the result of it. Never again.
Using one with a stainless line or copper line is a good alternative.
Just buy good gauges and it won't matter which route you go. It doesn't make sense to buy a cheap/inaccurate gauge for something you have your time and hard earned dollars in. Find some good used gauges and go that route. I may be cheap but I do believe in getting the best thing that I can afford lol
grassy
Well-Known Member
You couldn't pay me enough to put a mechanical oil pressure or water temp gauge in my car...i like my engine too much...
440plus6
Well-Known Member
Back in the "old days" it was mechanical all the way as they were much more accurate. However, given advances in the electrical gauges and the potential issues if something in a mechanical gauge breaks, I'm doing electric now.
Mopar to ya
Well-Known Member
My Autometer gauges are great. The fuel gauge was matched to the ohms of my OE sender and I had no wires to run. I tapped off the original in dash plug for the oil sender, fuel sender and temp sender. I had to run wires for the electric speedo sensor though, and I already had tach wires run because I had a column mounted tach that I changed to in dash.
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