TheSamba.com :: View topic

Wed May 17, 2006 12:20 pm

I am going to order a dakota digital cylinder head temp guage and sender for Gonzo.

I have a couple questions for those who've got them already.

1. What length sender do i need to order??

2. how does the sender mount? under a spark plug? which one?

3. do they come with a guage cup? where do you drill the holes for the mount? i tried to put in an oil pressure gauge and the screws didnt even reach to the metal on the underside of the dash.

any advice will be most appreciated.

thanks fot all that you do sambaites.

justin. :lol:

Wed May 17, 2006 12:29 pm

don't have mine completly hooked up yet but you need an 18 foot sender with a 14mm ring that goes under spark plug # 3. I ordered the single mount that screws to the underside of the dash..

My question is what fuse to use to hook up the power to the CHT. I know it doesn't need much and I've heard people talking about splicing into the one that run the iginition but I'm not sure what # fuse that is or if I should hook it upto another one....

I'll let you know what i end up doing

Wed May 17, 2006 12:59 pm

17-18' long and mounts under spark plug #3.

Power comes from the ignition "on" position on any line that is hot when the ignition is on. Perhaps the "silver socket"?

Go over here and look at mounting accessories. http://www.egauges.com/veh_make.asp

The easy way to mount the gauge in under the dash. Some use "mounting pods". I mounted mine in the dash with my handy 3 gauge gizmo that I got from busboys. Works.

Both whip 216 and germansupplyscott managed to drill their 2 1/16" holes very nicely in the dash so it looked very professional right in that sweet dash material. I am not that good and my hole saw made too rough of a cut and the little surround was required.

I used a compass and a white sharpie to figure out the center of the 3 2 1/16" holes and drilled a pilot hole for the hole saw.

I will defer to better advice from anyone who knows how to do it better.

Wed May 17, 2006 1:18 pm

Randy in Maine wrote: Power comes from the ignition "on" position on any line that is hot when the ignition is on. Perhaps the "silver socket"?

Thanks for this Randy!!!

Wed May 17, 2006 2:17 pm

cool. thanks guys.

Thu May 18, 2006 5:33 am

I connected the red or hot wire to fuse 12 which becomes hot when the ignition is turned on. The blue wire for dimming the display was hooked to a spare terminal on the light switch that becomes hot only when the light are on and I'm sure you will want to connect the blue wire because the display on these gauges is extremly bright at night, you could also connect the blue wire to the grey/red dash light wire. The ground of course can be run to any of several grounds behind the dash. I ordered the 18 foot thermocouple wire from DD and it was plenty long enough.

I've included a few pics of my gauge installation.

I made a drill template to locate the holes evenly.

Then using another template, I cut the dash material.

Then using a 2 1/16 holes saw the metal was removed

And the finished installation

Phil

Thu May 18, 2006 5:37 am

Next time I am going to take it over to Whip's house and have him install them. :shock:

That is how it is supposed to look!

Thu May 18, 2006 5:41 am

Nice looking Whip! That is sharp!

Thu May 18, 2006 6:15 am

Sylvester75Westy wrote: Nice looking Whip! That is sharp!

Can you get a red/orangish display like a proper BMW?
Colin
(that blue is retina-bending)

Thu May 18, 2006 6:29 am

Colin, Dakota Digital does offer a red display on full gauge systems, special order only......... My eyes hurt just thinking about that :D

Phil

Thu May 18, 2006 7:02 am

I just can't get over how ugly their gauges are. I really want a CHT from them because of the accuracy and response time, but MAN they need to change the look.

Not the bezels or the externals. The ugly digital numbers. They look like an old alarm clock and don't match the bezels at all.

If they sold a stealth kit that only had the numbers visible and could be added to the existing instrumentation I'd be all over it. Something that's just big enough for the numbers without all the excess space around it. Or make a digital analog-look gauge with a moving "needle".

Seriously. Instead of cutting 3 big arsed holes in my dash, I'd love to have just three small openings in my clock hole in the dash.

It's digital. They could make the display remote from the rest of the gauge.

Thu May 18, 2006 7:07 am

whip618 wrote: Colin, Dakota Digital does offer a red display on full gauge systems, special order only......... My eyes hurt just thinking about that :D

Phil

Really? I'm not talking about the Pontiac wannabeeBMW idiotlook, but rather the genuine muted orange/red. I've been driving a BMW for 26 years and find that the quick scan from road-to-gauges-to-road works much easier in red. Blue is a tough color for the retina because its wavelength scatters so readily that the eyes cannot focus as easily.
I noticed this particularly with blueblocker sunglasses, much easier on the eyes.
Colin

Wed May 30, 2007 10:05 am

I like the look of the VDO gauges any day over those!

Wed May 30, 2007 10:45 am

Phil
That is really a tight set up. Nice job!

Wed May 30, 2007 11:27 am

DurocShark wrote: I just can't get over how ugly their gauges are. I really want a CHT from them because of the accuracy and response time, but MAN they need to change the look.

Not the bezels or the externals. The ugly digital numbers. They look like an old alarm clock and don't match the bezels at all.

If they sold a stealth kit that only had the numbers visible and could be added to the existing instrumentation I'd be all over it. Something that's just big enough for the numbers without all the excess space around it. Or make a digital analog-look gauge with a moving "needle".

Seriously. Instead of cutting 3 big arsed holes in my dash, I'd love to have just three small openings in my clock hole in the dash.

It's digital. They could make the display remote from the rest of the gauge.

I have to agree on the ugliness factor commentary. Like square pegs in round holes, spatially & aesthetically inappropriate, unless they only expect to sell to folks who are replacing analog gauges housed in previously-carved 2 1/16" holes.

Not ready to displace my 3 1/8" VDO tach from the 'clock hole', however. I'd be OK with just the CHT being a small rectangular readout; many places around the cluster that could be cut out/adapted for that. For quick readings, I much prefer analogs, if the accuracy/reaction time of a CHT or EGT is the same. Otherwise, there's gotta be a more logical digital CHT display available for that function.

OTOH, as round gauge mounting technique goes, whip618's are really well done.

J.R.
68 Westy
(+ others)

Wed May 30, 2007 5:42 pm

What's the 181 measuring? Oil temp after the cooler? And 254 is just leaving the oil pump?

When you get older, the reds go out of focus first, at least for me. The taillights at night are all just smeared out of focus. Blue is better.

Wed May 30, 2007 8:21 pm

Can anyone let me know what you would preset these gauges for

low and high

Oil Temp (no low obviously) High?

Oil Pressure (low) (high)

CHT again no low (high 400?)

By highs I'm not talking the certain death number.. I'm talking the number were you should start getting worried and maybe ease off the throttle or pull in for a nice cola icee.

Fri Nov 16, 2007 10:47 am

Is there something special about the wiring coming from the bi-metal sender ring which then hooks to the head temp gauge?
The reason I ask is that I've already run my tach wires and a spare set of wires through a rigid conduit, water line, from the engine compartment to the cockpit and I won't be able to get another pair through it but if I can get a shorter sender lead and connect it to the existing spare pair to then hook to the gauge it would be quicker and cheaper.

Fri Nov 16, 2007 11:03 am

Phil...I know you weren't fishing for compliments but...you're getting another one. Awesome looking job.

8)

Fri Nov 16, 2007 11:42 am

CatfishCalhoun wrote: Is there something special about the wiring coming from the bi-metal sender ring which then hooks to the head temp gauge?
The reason I ask is that I've already run my tach wires and a spare set of wires through a rigid conduit, water line, from the engine compartment to the cockpit and I won't be able to get another pair through it but if I can get a shorter sender lead and connect it to the existing spare pair to then hook to the gauge it would be quicker and cheaper.

No good. If I recall correctly the sending unit out of #3 cylinder meets up with the "sending block" mounted on my firewall just under my double relay. From there the the 18' long sending unit wires (unique to the DD set up) have to be run to the gauge mounted at the dash. I ran all of my 14 guage sending unit wires (OT, OP and Tach marked on both ends) + the 2 DD CHT gauge wires into a 3/8" wiring loom and secured that to the bottom of the bus using wire ties about every 6" or so.

The secret to getting your money's worth out of the gauge through a long life is to install it on the cylinder head as described here http://www.germansupply.com/xcart/customer/home.php?gspage=customer/main/tech/cht/cht_install.tpl