Vanagon EuroVan
Previous messageNext messagePrevious in topicNext in topicPrevious by same authorNext by same authorPrevious page (October 2009, week 2)Back to main VANAGON pageJoin or leave VANAGON (or change settings)ReplyPost a new messageSearchProportional fontNon-proportional font
Date:         Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:02:28 -0400
Reply-To:     Chris S <szpejankowski@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Chris S <szpejankowski@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Swapping clock for Tach in an 84? a bit long.
Comments: To: Don Hanson <dhanson928@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To:  <6bc66ccf0910120606j195070f1rea97eac74db6fb12@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8

If you decide to get an oil pressure gauge, get the temp gauge as well. Oil pressure is nice, but because it is related to temp, you want to know when you're running low pressure for a given oil temp. For instance factory spec is 2 bar at 80C for a new engine.

Now, if you get a dual-pole sender, one pole for gauge one for light, be aware that the switch on the oil light pole has a higher cutoff than stock .3 bar. This means your low-pressure warning and oil light will come on a bit earlier and scare the heck out of you. Simply use a splitter, run it off the extension hose, and screw in your stock .3 bar oil pressure switch there.

I'm using an Audi gauge cluster which came with both oil and temp gauges. If you decide to go with a euro 5-bar gauge, beware that 5 bar is about 75 psi vs the 8psi gauge in the Bus Depot kit, so your bar gauge may read about .5 bar too low and scare the heck out of you. I'm not even going to get into running a 170C temp gauge on a 150C sender. :-) Well, my gauges were free.

Then you'll just HAVE to get an external oil cooler. Trust me, it's all addictive as heck! Let me know when you're ready.

2009/10/12 Don Hanson <dhanson928@gmail.com>

> > > On Sun, Oct 11, 2009 at 5:30 PM, Chris S <szpejankowski@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Don, >> >> You may get lucky and find a defunct '84 Wolfsburg Westfalia which came >> with a tach from the factory: >> >> http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b7/misterpolak/Hershey/03.jpg >> >> That should make the process easier. I personally prefer the lack of >> "green zone". >> > Aha! I was wondering what the extra little foil tab was for on one of my > 'parts' housings...it runs the digital clock...Which I don't have or need. > I did the speedo/odo swap only yesterday. Figured I had better see if > that instrument did work properly before I went too far. It does work fine, > with about a 2% optimistic bias on the speed and odo, but smooth and quiet. > So next will come trying the tach swap. I have three clusters. Two with > clocks. Lots of tedious 'configuring' and dropping those doilie little bulb > covers, trying to get screws to set in broken plastic, and swapping out the > clear plastic clock 'face plate'...broke one, of course. I'm going to keep > the one that's working in there unaltered so I have a 'fall-back'...I hate > it when I "fix" something so it no longer works as well (or sometimes it no > longer works, period.) as it did before my attempted 'upgrade'. > I have a plan B...one of those small aftermarket tachs along with a real > oil pressure gauge and perhaps an oil temp gauge, all in a pod somewhere. > Don Hanson >

-- Chris S. Disclaimer: "Death and serious injury may occur"


Back to: Top of message | Previous page | Main VANAGON page

Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!


Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com


The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.

Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.