Real Coolant Temp Gauge...

[asubimmer]

My temp gauge like a ton of people's sucks. It works okish but it jumps around. I was thinking about putting some aftermarket gauge that has real #'s in where the factory one is in the cluster. I would rather know the temp than blue, middle or red. Where would be the best spot on the m50 to put the sensor. I am not running the TB heater so maybe there?

[PiercedE30]

why not just replace the sensor for the gauge with the new sensor?

[BeirBrennerE30]

why not just replace the sensor for the gauge with the new sensor?

agreed.... swaping a VDO vision gauge for the stocker is easy and looks about as stock as you can get

[asubimmer]

I was under the impression that the aftermarket sensors were bigger than the stock one so it won't screw in?

[So Live]

You should take all aftermarket VDO gauges and put them in place of all the oem gauges. That would be killer.

http://www.egauges.com/vdo_mult.asp?Type=Speedometer&Series=Vision&Units=E

http://www.egauges.com/vdo_mult.asp?Type=Tachometer&Series=Vision&Units=E

http://www.egauges.com/vdo_mult.asp?Type=Elec_Engine_Temp&Series=Vision&Units=E

And one of these inplace of the fuel level:

http://www.egauges.com/vdo_mult.asp?Type=Outside_Temp&Series=Vision&Units=E

:)

[asubimmer]

I can get VDO's really cheap, but I am considering the autometer carbon ultra lights. I would just replace all the gauges but some talk of the alt not charging when you remove the cluster? And I would like to have a workin odo to keep track of the motor, but I guess its not the end of the world cause at 69k it should be fine for a LONG time.

[matt]

My temp gauge is AWESOME. When I changed thermostats from a 92C to an 80 or whatever the lower one is, the gauge read 1-2mm cooler. That's pretty damn good resolution.

I would get an oil temp gauge.

[asubimmer]

I'm going to get an oil temp, volt, and fuel pressure also. But those won't be added in the cluster ;)

[equate975]

The VDO sender in no way no how will fit in the TB coolant hole on the block. I spent about 3 days trying to figure out a way, then let my machinist dwell on it for a while and I even stumped him.

Problem is the TB nipple is a m16 thread, the VDO one is NPT and tapered. The problem is that its REALLY close to fitting (with the supplied adapters) but far enough off not to work. If you were to make such an adapter it would be VERY thin and probably break if not impossible to realisticly make.

EDIT:

What it comes down to is you have to work with 3 different conversions, metric, to NPT, and tapered to boot. The only way I can see to make it work is to drill the hole out bigger, but then you might as well just drill a new hole. Even with that the amount you widen it might be too much.

[BeirBrennerE30]

drill and tap where the gauge sensor is supposed to go... you dont need the e30 gauge one anymore...

[static]

if only my smallish steering wheel + lowered column would clear the gauges, i'd do a custom cluster in a heartbeat