Mike Murphy

No kidding these pics are great. Jack, you certainly did it the right way. Can you have too many gauges? I think not!

v8_ranch

Geez you are the king... Will you post some more pics of that and maybe a little right up on it (is there already a post somewhere for it?)? Seriously, that looks like what I have been thinking of doing, but nice to see a finished product in picture form. I wasn't sure what other gauges to use, but looks like you answered it. Do you find it too cumbersome to see the cyl head and tranny temp with them mounted behind the shifter like that. That has been one of my hangups with the extra gauges besides a VM.

JackOlsen

It was pretty quick and dirty, but it got me what I wanted. Here's the post I did on it for the Pelican Parts BBS:.

It seemed simple enough.

With my erector-set aero pieces going on the car, I'd opted to add a CHT gauge to make sure any aerodynamic improvement wasn't coming at the expense of my motor. I already had a transaxle temp gauge and one for the battery in my center console. Previously, I'd had my shop leave room for CD's and the switch for a rear 964 tail.



I no longer run the 964 tail, and I no longer carry CDs in the car, so I thought I'd expand the piece in the console for an additional gauge or two.

But with standard 2-1/16 inch gauges, it's not going to happen. There's not enough room in the cut-out for two of them to go side-by-side.

So, the only way to make it fit is to cut out the frame that goes around the storage area in the original console. While I was at it, I also cut out the back of the inner section, since I didn't gain anything from having reduced access to this area. What's more, it added weight.



I'd found a leather center console in my basement -- an old eBay purchase I'd forgotten about. Unfortunately, it had gotten wet, and was covered in mildew. It wasn't until I cleaned it up that I saw it was brown, not black. (The one in the picture above isn't mine.)

Here's a picture of my console. You can see where I chopped out the inner frame:



And here you can see the back section chopped off as well. (Crude cuts, but it's not going to show.)



Now, even with the frame taken out, you can not fit two standard gauges in the top half. So, installing four gauges was going to be out of the question. In my case, this was all right, since I need a place to keep my sunglasses more than I need a fourth gauge. I decided to add a sunglasses compartment instead. Using a drill press, I cut holes in a piece of .040 gauge aluminum.



Even after cleaning all the mildew off of the donor console, the plastic part still wasn't black enough. So I used a satin-finish paint on it:



Then I used Surflex to re-color the brown leather black:

JackOlsen

Next up, I used the vinyl off of an owner's manual pouch from my other car. Fortunately, there was twice as much vinyl as I needed, since my inexperience at this sort of thing bit me in the butt, at this point. Covering the aluminum with the vinyl was pretty straightforward:



For the sunglasses holder, I used a thinner piece of aluminum, and lined it with a self-adhesive sheet of 1/8-inch padding from an art supply store. The plan was then to gunk some adhesive where the tube for the glasses mated to the back of the instrument panel. But the adhesive I used had the unintended side effect of functioning like a solvent on the spray adhesive I'd used on the vinyl and the aluminum. My vinyl immediately started to separate from the aluminum wherever it came into contact with the new adhesive.

I had to remove all the old vinyl and go back to bare aluminum. With the time it took for the adhesives to set, it meant losing a full day.

Back to the hardware store Sunday morning, and I got some good two-part epoxy. I cut and glued a new piece of vinyl, and then used rubber bands to hold the sunglasses tube in place.



I fitted the two existing gauges, so that the gunked-on epoxy wouldn't interfere with their fitting. From the back, you can see that I used plastic tape to contain the adhesive, so the gauges could still be removed. (I'll leave the duct tape in place, but the epoxy connects aluminum to aluminum.)



And here it is, ready for the CHT gauge when it arrives:



My fabrication skills are about as limited as you'll ever find. But I think in the low light of the cabin, this will work out okay.

zorro1car

Jack, this is super work....the pictures are very helpful. Is the connecting of the CHT and the Oil temp gauge difficult, in regards to the sending unit and wiring? I really like the idea of a CHT.

v8_ranch

Yeah ditto and thanks Jack. For something so simple it is really gorgeous, and totally fits the look. That is what makes BBII the fine work of art it really is - details!

Mine will be a little different as I am not quite ready to give up my AC (my 83 is my mostly daily driver). Is the sensor for the tranny temp inserted through a modified drain plug or something. Was it a kit, or one off?

Thanks

JackOlsen

Thanks. The CHT sender couldn't be simpler. It's a thin washer-type sensor that goes at the base of one of the spark plugs. The sender for the trans temp gauge was put in by my shop when we put in the cooler. It goes in a threaded hole, and I'm not sure if it was drilled and tapped, or if it was in an existing fitting. The quick-and-dirty way to do it would probably to get a lower-range (like up to 300F or 350F) CHT type gauge with the washer-type sender and use that on the tranny.

I put the AC controls up on the dash, which seemed to make more sense anyway. I eliminated the temperature control dial (when is a 911's AC too much?), so there was just the rotary-type on/off-and-fan-velocity switch.

Although more recently, I pulled the AC altogether. I'm adding a 'water-cooled' (think seat-pumbed cool shirt) solution for this summer.

Edgy01

Very nice job, Jack. It looks like you're as **** as me with these things.

v8_ranch

[QUOTE=JackOlsen]I put the AC controls up on the dash, which seemed to make more sense anyway. I eliminated the temperature control dial (when is a 911's AC too much?), so there was just the rotary-type on/off-and-fan-velocity switch. [QUOTE]

Now you got me going... are there pics of this on your photo links at bottom of screen. If not could you post one? I will look myself in a bit, but need to get going. You really have inspired me here to make this project closer to the top of my list. Are the gauges ytou used for CHT and TT standard vdo's? I have seen some on ebbbba3746257Y, but was not sure about sending units.

You need to bring that beast of yours out here to Tennessee for a Dragon run! Bring some weather with you please. I miss San Clemente!

Eric_P

That looks great. I think I'll do the VM and CHT, stacked on the left, with some kind of glasses/junk holder on the right.
Thanks for the great pics, seems we're all inspired!

marks914

Hey all,
Just started looking around here and I stumbled across this post, thought I would add to it.
I have been doing the quad gauges for a while now, and I had some customers asking me for a solution to their missing voltmeter and head temp. That looks factory. Anyone interested?
As you know a CHT is not cheap, these cost me a decent amount to make, but I am trying to keep the cost below $250 (with your core)
What do you think?

It fits in the clock hole, it was made from a old fuel gauge and fitted with a VDO CHT and VDO voltmeter.
Included is a 14mm CHT sender and leads.


i am also working on a tach with a voltmeter in it as well, it will probably include new tach guts, i am having difficulty getting one to fi in there with the stock guts

Mark









http://memebers.aol.com/bigmarkdesign/products

Mike Murphy

Mark - looks great. I'm sure some people will be interested.

justinsrx7

Hi Mark,

Your workmanship looks awesome. I really like the idea of a voltmeter as part of the tach so that I don't alter the original look too much. Please keep me posted on progress with that project.

For the VDO CHT and VDO voltmeter that fit in the clock hole, you mention the price with our core. You also mention an old fuel gauge. Does that mean we would need to get an old fuel gauge, send it to you with $250.00 to get this gauge built?

Thanks Mark!

theiceman

yeah i was wondering the same thing as I would like to keep my clock intact for resale or even to mount as a desk clock.

marks914

Yes, that is right. it cocst me about $180 ans 3 hours to make this piece, not including the core. Dont forget in addition to the gauges themselves, there is a new lens if needed) printing the faces, the front cover bezel, and I also have to use an adapter plate on the back to properly space the gauges down in the can. Plus three hours of refinishing the inside of the can, trim rings, wiring, installing the gauges, etc. Not to mention the scrap I had in Rand D. The 911/912 fuel gauge core prices fluctuate so much that I cannot gaurantee a price. this is how I have been doing the quad gauges.

What is really nice is it not only looks factory, but the rest of the gauge is completely refurbished as well.