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mondshine Samba Member

Joined: October 27, 2006 Posts: 2818 Location: The World's Motor Capital
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Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2025 3:28 pm Post subject: Re: Any accurate NON digital readout cylinder head temp gauges? |
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I find it hard to believe that Westach would not ship to the UK.
It certainly would not hurt to ask.
I have used Westach products in several VWs, and always purchased then directly from Westach.
Good luck. |
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Ben Middleton Samba Member

Joined: April 11, 2016 Posts: 242 Location: England, UK
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Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2025 6:33 am Post subject: Re: Any accurate NON digital readout cylinder head temp gauges? |
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Thanks for the pic! Sorry if I wasn't clear but because I am in the UK, the availability of most of these US-made gauges is limited. There are some second-hand Westach products for sale in the UK at the following link but I wanted to know if any of these were the correct ones for this application:
Skycraft:
https://skycraft.ltd/collections/cht-egt |
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mondshine Samba Member

Joined: October 27, 2006 Posts: 2818 Location: The World's Motor Capital
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Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2025 6:09 am Post subject: Re: Any accurate NON digital readout cylinder head temp gauges? |
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Westach is still in business; https://www.westach.com/
The gauges in my 181 look like this:
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Ben Middleton Samba Member

Joined: April 11, 2016 Posts: 242 Location: England, UK
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Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2025 5:56 am Post subject: Re: Any accurate NON digital readout cylinder head temp gauges? |
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| raygreenwood wrote: |
| mondshine wrote: |
Just to throw some gas on the fire...
I have been using Westach gauges for over 20 years in various ACVW's.
For CHT, none of the Westach gauges are cold junction compensated, even the TSO stuff. They are calibrated for a 75ºF cold junction.
All Westach CHT gauges use a Type J thermocouple with 48" leads, which is long enough to reach from #3 to under the rear seat bench. Having the cold junction inside the car's interior will limit the cold junction error to ~25ºF, because by the time the engine warms up enough for CHT to be of interest, it's usually between 50º and 100º inside the cabin. Then, you do the arithmetic in your head to get the CHT.
Uma makes some nice instruments as well.
It seems to me that I have read someplace that Uma CHT gauges are cold junction temperature compensated. However, after looking through the Uma catalog, I have seen no mention of cold junction compensation. So who knows?
In any event, once you become accustomed to what is "normal" for your car under various conditions the CHT gauge will alert you when something abnormal is happening. |
Thats interesting!
As noted earlier in this thread, at least two people I know with aircraft and using the Westach gauges "Swear" theirs were compensated.
It makes me wonder whether they are just plain wrong or whether the gauges were set up compensated for them by a service, the seller etc.....or with a widget like at the link below.
I will have to see if I can get ahold of them at some point....but its nice to know.
I have always figured that if I cannot find what I need....I still like the Westach units and could simply live with short mental arithmetic like you mention
Here is that link. I may have posted this before. It shows circuit schematics for three different methods of building a cold junction compensator. The parts are cheap at digi-key.
https://www.maximintegrated.com/en/design/technical-documents/app-notes/4/4026.html
Ray |
I'm in the UK, so I'm struggling to find any of the recommended gauges brand new. Do you know if any of the ones on the following website are suitable? They do seem to have a few Westach gauges:
https://skycraft.ltd/collections/cht-egt |
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wheel607 Samba Member
Joined: May 30, 2004 Posts: 1878
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Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2022 7:33 am Post subject: Re: Any accurate NON digital readout cylinder head temp gauges? |
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| I used the Harley Davidson Stewart Warner greenline guage and with the motor running I shot the head where the sending unit is installed and after 5 minutes running, it was only 7 degrees off. I think, that is pretty good. Only use it for comparisson. I got the Harley sender that goes into the head.....welded up a boss, then screwed it in. I really dont like the looks of the new style digitals. I wanted something old school. REMEMBER comparisson only. |
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raygreenwood Samba Member
Joined: November 24, 2008 Posts: 23381 Location: Oklahoma City
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Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2022 7:23 am Post subject: Re: Any accurate NON digital readout cylinder head temp gauges? |
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| mondshine wrote: |
Just to throw some gas on the fire...
I have been using Westach gauges for over 20 years in various ACVW's.
For CHT, none of the Westach gauges are cold junction compensated, even the TSO stuff. They are calibrated for a 75ºF cold junction.
All Westach CHT gauges use a Type J thermocouple with 48" leads, which is long enough to reach from #3 to under the rear seat bench. Having the cold junction inside the car's interior will limit the cold junction error to ~25ºF, because by the time the engine warms up enough for CHT to be of interest, it's usually between 50º and 100º inside the cabin. Then, you do the arithmetic in your head to get the CHT.
Uma makes some nice instruments as well.
It seems to me that I have read someplace that Uma CHT gauges are cold junction temperature compensated. However, after looking through the Uma catalog, I have seen no mention of cold junction compensation. So who knows?
In any event, once you become accustomed to what is "normal" for your car under various conditions the CHT gauge will alert you when something abnormal is happening. |
Thats interesting!
As noted earlier in this thread, at least two people I know with aircraft and using the Westach gauges "Swear" theirs were compensated.
It makes me wonder whether they are just plain wrong or whether the gauges were set up compensated for them by a service, the seller etc.....or with a widget like at the link below.
I will have to see if I can get ahold of them at some point....but its nice to know.
I have always figured that if I cannot find what I need....I still like the Westach units and could simply live with short mental arithmetic like you mention
Here is that link. I may have posted this before. It shows circuit schematics for three different methods of building a cold junction compensator. The parts are cheap at digi-key.
https://www.maximintegrated.com/en/design/technical-documents/app-notes/4/4026.html
Ray |
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mondshine Samba Member

Joined: October 27, 2006 Posts: 2818 Location: The World's Motor Capital
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Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2022 4:50 am Post subject: Re: Any accurate NON digital readout cylinder head temp gauges? |
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My Fluke 87 meter does not have a thermocouple socket.
I measure thermocouple MV output with standard leads clipped onto the thermocouple wires.
Plotted on a graph, the thermocouple output looks pretty linear. |
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chrisflstf Samba Member

Joined: February 10, 2004 Posts: 4199 Location: San Diego
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Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2022 5:09 pm Post subject: Re: Any accurate NON digital readout cylinder head temp gauges? |
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| What kind of connector is on the thermocouple on the meter end? A Digital milivolt meter gauge sounds interesting. |
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mondshine Samba Member

Joined: October 27, 2006 Posts: 2818 Location: The World's Motor Capital
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Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2022 3:27 pm Post subject: Re: Any accurate NON digital readout cylinder head temp gauges? |
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Just to throw some gas on the fire...
I have been using Westach gauges for over 20 years in various ACVW's.
For CHT, none of the Westach gauges are cold junction compensated, even the TSO stuff. They are calibrated for a 75ºF cold junction.
All Westach CHT gauges use a Type J thermocouple with 48" leads, which is long enough to reach from #3 to under the rear seat bench. Having the cold junction inside the car's interior will limit the cold junction error to ~25ºF, because by the time the engine warms up enough for CHT to be of interest, it's usually between 50º and 100º inside the cabin. Then, you do the arithmetic in your head to get the CHT.
Uma makes some nice instruments as well.
It seems to me that I have read someplace that Uma CHT gauges are cold junction temperature compensated. However, after looking through the Uma catalog, I have seen no mention of cold junction compensation. So who knows?
In any event, once you become accustomed to what is "normal" for your car under various conditions the CHT gauge will alert you when something abnormal is happening. |
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Richard Roth Samba Member

Joined: April 03, 2004 Posts: 952
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Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2022 7:52 am Post subject: Re: Any accurate NON digital readout cylinder head temp gauges? |
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Does anyone have any knowledge or schematics of how this type CHT gauge is supposed to be wired ?
It uses the ring type sender under the spark plug.
_________________ The problem with reality is that there's no background music !
1966 Empi GTV MKIV
1954 Kabriolett Beetle
1953 Porsche 356 1500S
1957 Cable brake standard model
1962 cable brake standard model
1956 23 window Samba
1960 Austin Healey 3000
1961 Corvair Greenbrier |
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mikedjames Samba Member

Joined: July 02, 2012 Posts: 3415 Location: Hamble, Hampshire, UK
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Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2020 4:48 am Post subject: Re: Any accurate NON digital readout cylinder head temp gauges? |
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I have been playing around with GM dashboard dial stepper motors, 0.5 degree resolution.
They seem to work quite well attached directly to GPIO pins of a microcontroller, running off 3.3 volts.
I am slowly working through making a replacement fuel gauge for a Late Bay with the hot wire fuel gauge that rots away.
Which has illumination based on a WS2812 LED module so the backlight colour can be changed , or change colour based on fuel level.
So you can have an analog input, or listen to e.g. PLX MFD traffic.
So rather than using moving coil meters, use stepper based meters. _________________ Ancient vehicles and vessels
1974 VW T2 : Devon Eurovette camper with 1641 DP T1 engine, Progressive carb, full flow oil cooler, EDIS crank timed ignition.
Engine 1: 40k miles (rocker shaft clip fell off), Engine 2: 30k miles (rebuild, dropped valve). Engine 3: a JK Preservation Parts "new" engine, aluminium case: 26k miles: new top end.
Gearbox rebuild 2021 by Bears.
1979 Westerly GK24 24 foot racer/cruiser yacht Forethought of Gosport.
1973 wooden Pacer sailing dinghy |
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crocteau Samba Member

Joined: March 31, 2005 Posts: 1238 Location: Philaburbia
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Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2020 5:26 pm Post subject: Re: Any accurate NON digital readout cylinder head temp gauges? |
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| raygreenwood wrote: |
Very nice!
So what gauges are we looking at in your pictures....from left to right?
Ray |
Thanks, Ray! With apologies to the OP for stretching the topic, if you think it may be applicable to the accuracy question, and if you have time to consider it, I'd appreciate your thoughts on use of the diyautotune CAN-EGT to drive non-temperature compensated gauges, maybe with a trimpot to set the signal level. I can do the simple arithmetic for ambient cold junction correction in my head, but it's taking longer as time passes
Westach: CHT/EGT, Oil Press/Temp, Fuel level/AFR, Amps/Volts, Tach.
Details are clearer if you zoom in on the daylight photo below.
Charley
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Floating VW Samba Member

Joined: April 28, 2015 Posts: 1628 Location: The South Zone
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Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2020 4:24 pm Post subject: Re: Any accurate NON digital readout cylinder head temp gauges? |
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| raygreenwood wrote: |
Hey...just thinking here....but the REALLY nice bezel lights that UMA uses.....are actually....simple PMMA "side-glow"....fiber optic strands. These come in diameters from about .060" to like 0.55"....and its dirt freaking cheap. You could put a ring around the inside of the bezel and light this with a high intensity LED with whatever color you want as a filter.
Like 3.25 feet for $5.99
https://www.amazon.com/3-28ft-Plastic-Optic-Source...8MSK6139BE
Ray |
Not a bad idea- thanks for the heads up, Ray. _________________ "It's time you started treating people as individuals, rather than mathematically predictable members of an aggregate set, regardless of how well that works." |
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raygreenwood Samba Member
Joined: November 24, 2008 Posts: 23381 Location: Oklahoma City
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Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2020 2:05 pm Post subject: Re: Any accurate NON digital readout cylinder head temp gauges? |
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| crocteau wrote: |
Just wondering if it would be feasible to use something like this CAN-EGT module https://www.diyautotune.com/product/can-egt-8-channel-thermocouple-interface/ to get the desired thermocouple temperature compensation and drive the gauges of choice? Apparently it's designed for MegaSquirt applications, but the description says " ...send a 0-5 volt signal based on the thermocouple inputs to work with external gauges." Its has eight inputs for K-type thermocouples, but if that's not an issue then it might provide more bang for the buck (350 vs 8x59=472). Of course it's more satisfying to personally fabricate something useful
I'm with you on the scale graduations, and for me the lighting kits work fine in the custom combinations that Pete at Westach can set up.
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Very nice!
So what gauges are we looking at in your pictures....from left to right?
Ray |
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crocteau Samba Member

Joined: March 31, 2005 Posts: 1238 Location: Philaburbia
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Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2020 10:11 am Post subject: Re: Any accurate NON digital readout cylinder head temp gauges? |
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Just wondering if it would be feasible to use something like this CAN-EGT module https://www.diyautotune.com/product/can-egt-8-channel-thermocouple-interface/ to get the desired thermocouple temperature compensation and drive the gauges of choice? Apparently it's designed for MegaSquirt applications, but the description says " ...send a 0-5 volt signal based on the thermocouple inputs to work with external gauges." Its has eight inputs for K-type thermocouples, but if that's not an issue then it might provide more bang for the buck (350 vs 8x59=472). Of course it's more satisfying to personally fabricate something useful
I'm with you on the scale graduations, and for me the lighting kits work fine in the custom combinations that Pete at Westach can set up.
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raygreenwood Samba Member
Joined: November 24, 2008 Posts: 23381 Location: Oklahoma City
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raygreenwood Samba Member
Joined: November 24, 2008 Posts: 23381 Location: Oklahoma City
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Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2020 8:02 pm Post subject: Re: Any accurate NON digital readout cylinder head temp gauges? |
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| Floating VW wrote: |
| [email protected] wrote: |
Hmmm...., never thought about a different level of illumination.
How did you go about painting the face? Is it an open gauge, or did you disassemble it? |
A very sharp permanent marker and a steady hand. The gauge is fully closed, but it's very easy to disassemble.
Here you can see the difference in brightness between the CHT gauge (on the far left) and the rest of them. It's not terrible, but it is definitely noticeable:
When I switched all my dash lights to red LED, I had the same problem with the speedometer- it didn't have the same level of brightness as the rest of the gauges. The solution is simple: just paint the case a reflective silver and stuff more lights inside it, so I'll probably do the same to the CHT gauge as soon as I get around to it.
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Hey...just thinking here....but the REALLY nice bezel lights that UMA uses.....are actually....simple PMMA "side-glow"....fiber optic strands. These come in diameters from about .060" to like 0.55"....and its dirt freaking cheap. You could put a ring around the inside of the bezel and light this with a high intensity LED with whatever color you want as a filter.
Like 3.25 feet for $5.99
https://www.amazon.com/3-28ft-Plastic-Optic-Source...8MSK6139BE
Ray |
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raygreenwood Samba Member
Joined: November 24, 2008 Posts: 23381 Location: Oklahoma City
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Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2020 7:56 pm Post subject: Re: Any accurate NON digital readout cylinder head temp gauges? |
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| mondshine wrote: |
My Westach quad, as shown earlier in this post used a thermistor for OT, a transducer for OP, and a thermocouple for CHT.
Some of the very old Westach quads, seen on eBay from time to time, have two "Amphenol" style connectors on the back; rather than the Molex style pins. I believe these are TSO, but the availability of senders could be a problem, especially considering that Westach no longer supports that stuff.
I wonder if Westach is "on the way out". |
May be.
Sometimes I see this in a whole range of related industries that first...they lose manufacturing market share here in the US due to competition...and/or they themselves not keeping up with the jones's....no new designs in decades etc. Then to keep up...they shift a portion of tbhe production off continent. Either just components or components and assembly.
Then...through personnel losses or quality issues.... they lose the ability to produce a product that can be calibrated to an industry standard. I just dont know.
The main company is Westberg mfg. Hard to find much info.
They still make really nice gauges though for the money. Ray |
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Floating VW Samba Member

Joined: April 28, 2015 Posts: 1628 Location: The South Zone
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Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2020 5:59 pm Post subject: Re: Any accurate NON digital readout cylinder head temp gauges? |
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| raygreenwood wrote: |
| And...the square pattern mounting was difficult for me to get my head wrapped around. I figured if I bought one ...I would trim off the ears and find or make a round bezel. |
Yep, that's what I did- trim the ears off the square bezel and fit a round one to it. It was a lot easier to do than I thought it would be.
| raygreenwood wrote: |
| I liked the Westach 2DC8 a little better. Its round....and I am sure the lighting is probably not much better....but the increments are 25*F between 100* marks. It goes to 700*F |
I looked at that Westach gauge, but I also didn't see anything about it being temperature compensated, which was a deal-breaker for me. The smaller increments in that Westach are nice, but I think the aesthetic of the Micro 1000 is a little cleaner. _________________ "It's time you started treating people as individuals, rather than mathematically predictable members of an aggregate set, regardless of how well that works." |
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Floating VW Samba Member

Joined: April 28, 2015 Posts: 1628 Location: The South Zone
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Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2020 5:58 pm Post subject: Re: Any accurate NON digital readout cylinder head temp gauges? |
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| [email protected] wrote: |
Hmmm...., never thought about a different level of illumination.
How did you go about painting the face? Is it an open gauge, or did you disassemble it? |
A very sharp permanent marker and a steady hand. The gauge is fully closed, but it's very easy to disassemble.
Here you can see the difference in brightness between the CHT gauge (on the far left) and the rest of them. It's not terrible, but it is definitely noticeable:
When I switched all my dash lights to red LED, I had the same problem with the speedometer- it didn't have the same level of brightness as the rest of the gauges. The solution is simple: just paint the case a reflective silver and stuff more lights inside it, so I'll probably do the same to the CHT gauge as soon as I get around to it.
_________________ "It's time you started treating people as individuals, rather than mathematically predictable members of an aggregate set, regardless of how well that works." |
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