Replacement Gauges

These are about $600 - 700. Now you know why I am considering aftermarket ones. They should still be available from the dealer.

Here is a photo of these. I think they should drop directly in, but have not verified that. If only the tach - redline was straight up, as ought to be!

_______________

From: Matthew Harrell (mharrell@bittwiddlers.com)

    > My tach is stuck at 2,600 RPM.  Goes to zero when the engine is shut off, but 
    >as soon as it goes past 2,600, it sticks there.  On the odd occassion, it starts 
    >to work agin, but soon sticks again.  

...mine wasn't stuck - it would rise consistently but never go down. I ended up pulling the tach and replacing it with one from a '93 that a list member sold me. My dead tach went to Dave Disney who wanted to inspect it. If it's the same problem mine had it should be repairable - he said it was full of cracked solder joints.

So, I would take it out and check the solder joints. Dave said he'll do a writeup when he gets a chance.

From: Wade Lanham (wadelanham@hotmail.com)
Subject: Re: (rx7) [3] Aftermarket guages in stock location

    >Since my oil pressure gauge and tach are both out, and the temp gauge is
    >nearly useless (still haven't installed the Matthew Severson interpreter),
    >I am starting to think it may be cheaper, more reliable, and more accurate
    >to just replace everything with mechanical gauges.

I'm sure it would be more expensive, less reliable, and less accurate. :) Unless of course you buy super quality gauges, and then it might only be more expensive, but I have never seen any truly high quality aftermarket gauges. They all tend to go bad after awhile.

    >This would involve removing the entire gauge cluster, fabbing a new panel,
    >hooking up all the gauges, and installing.
    >
    >Can anyone think of possible drawbacks, like:
    >
    >     o Error codes from the ECU not sensing the
    >       gauges?

I don't think this is an issue.

    >     o ECU needs to see the gauges to make the
    >       engine run properly?

Don't think this is an issue.

    >     o Not enough room behind the gauges for
    >       mechanical ones?

No problem, gordon replaced all his with Autometer gauges. IMO it looks jakey, though, and I don't think Autometer gauges are very good quality (they don't look like it, and my boost gauge went bad after 2 years).

    >     o Reduced resale value from non-standard
    >       gauges? (Not too worried about this one...)

Probably, just like everything else you've done to your car.

    >Anyone attempted something like this?  I have seen the HVAC control

Talk to gordon about details on the issues.

    >relo like Wael and others have done, but this is probably a bit more involved.
    >
    >Anyone know of a shop at which to get the panel done?  Duane?
    >
    >Looks like I have a winter project :-)

Again, I'd recommend fixing your tach, installing the temp gauge fix, and installing a new oil pressure sender. The result will look better for sure, and will probably be more reliable (again, no aftermarket gauges I've seen have truly been high quality), and it would certainly cost less. It would also be a heck of a lot easier.

_______________

From: Jay Hanacek (JayH@Aircomech.com)

There is plenty of room behind the cluster for mechanical gauges. I know Gordon has an autometer setup in his car (I have pics if you would like) and I have an SPA gauge in the stock loacation. There is tons of room behind the cluster if you remove all the electronics for the stock gauges.

Why not go with a stand alone dash system like Corsa or something (I can give you links this afternoon).

_______________

From: Steve Cirian

Gordon Monsen kindly allowed me to use some pics of his dash, with aftermarket gauges installed in the stock locations:

Some carbon fiber faced ones that might look nice:

_______________

From: Steve Cirian

The following are pics of the rear of James Forbis' dash, with aftermarket gauges installed in the stock locations, plus wiring:

_______________

From: Steve Cirian (steve@ScuderiaCiriani.com)

Gauge		Source		Reliability	Accuracy	Cost
========================================================
Tach		Factory		Poor		Very Good	$750
Tach		Aftermarket	Good		Very Good	$113

Oil Press	Factory*	Poor		Good		$120
Oil Press	Aftermarket	Good		Very Good	$ 50

Water Temp	Factory		Good		Poor		unknown
Water Temp	Aftermarket	Good		Very Good	$ 83

Boost		Factory		N/A		N/A		N/A
Boost		Aftermarket	Poor		Poor		$ 66

Speedometer	Factory		Good?		Very Good	unknown
Speedometer	Aftermarket	Good		Very Good	$218

Fuel Level	Factory		Good?		Good		unknown
Fuel Level	Aftermarket	Good		Good		$ 52

* = oil pressure sender

Notes:

• Prices shown approx.
• Autometer Carbon Fiber Ultra Lite gauges for pricing purposes.
• Installing factory replacements would probably be very straight forward. Aftermarket ones may be some effort.

Any opinions on this comparison?

______________

Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2001 15:25:34 -0500
From: "Donnie Garvich" (dgarvich@hotmail.com)

I've been out of town for the past few days and I haven't finished checking up on my email yet. But if no one else has replied to you on this, here's at least a little information.