Boujght some NEW gauges...

[My52Chebby]

Here is the set I had purchased a few years ago.



A while back I showed you I spun a pair of adapters out of stainless to fit the TPI-Tech gauges to my dash...



I had ordered a set of TPI-Tech gauges a few years ago and they were state of the art back then but I recently came across a new set by Dakota Digital that just blows them out of the water. With the TPI set, I made special adapters to fit the gauges in the stock holes in the dash, the gauges are smaller than the stock gauge openings in the dash (1st compromise), adapters are shown above, they're stainless and I spun them on my lathe. The TPI gauges had the speedometer in one gauge and water temp, oil pressure, fuel level and voltmeter in the other gauge. Rumpums could be viewed in the small "information center" where the mileage usually appears, but no tachometer needle (2nd compromise). What follows may seem like disjointed information but the reason will become apparent soon enough. I also had to find a place to locate the left and right flasher and high beam indicators. To do that, I bought this cute little unit with a block containing three LEDs (green-blue-green) and three fiber-optic strands coming out of the block to locate in 1/16" holes somewhere on the dash around the gauges (3rd compromise). I had also bought a Lokar shifter boot that showed the PRNDO in a small LED window framed in the boot base (4th compromise).

Now for a short description of the new Dakota Digital gauges. They are digital/analog, but that I mean, they are completely digital but using stepper motors for the needles, for all intents and purposes, they LOOK analog. The speedometer gauge also incorporates the smaller fuel level and voltmeter gauges. The full face tachometer gauge incorporates the smaller water temp gauge and oil pressure gauges. The left and right flasher and high beam indicators are somewhere on the speedometer gauge face. BOTH gauges have an "information center", one can display miles whereas the other can display some other info like the clock, trip odometer, resettable service messages, hour meter, 0-60 mph (or 0-100 kph), 1/4 mile timer, etc... The gauges can also tell you when you're in cruise mode, parking brake is on, check engine. The instructions state that for the gauges to display the transmission position info, a special adapter is required. I checked before ordering and the Lokar unit that I had already purchased is produced by Dakota Digital and is the same unit used for these gauges. I will eventually be selling the TPI gauge on eBay...

Here's what the new gauges look like mocked-up in my truck's dash.



I love this technology... All connections are with phone-like jacks between the gauges and to the modules... LOVE it...

My52Chebby

[Crosley.In.AZ]

your old gauges look fine... the new ones sure look very nice.  wait a few more years , see what comes out..

When I was building my 48 Chev truck back in the 1990's ... nothing was available like that or your old gauges

[enjenjo]

You have any tips on metal spinning?

[My52Chebby]

Your first attempt SHOULDN'T be stainless... It's the hardest metal to shape by spinning. You have to bring the metal to white hot (I have a jewelry kiln) and then cool it slowly in a bucket of sand, place it on your buck on the lathe and use a bronze (brass will do) drift to push against the spinning piece.

In my case, I had to repeat the heating process (annealing) on each piece twice in order for the adapters to snug firmly against the buck.

I had bought a book on metal spinning but it was mostly on how to construct the bucks. Most of my info on metal spinning came from YouTube.

Good luck...

My52Chebby

[Uncle Bob]

Usually when someone says "Dakota Digital", the first thing that comes to mind are the Tokyo by night displays.............I'm in the consumer camp that doesn't care for that style.  These I like, a smart move on their part.

Looking at what is done on new cars, the purely digital numeral readouts didn't have much popularity with the general public either.  I'm sure there are some who either like it, or don't care which system is used, but most new cars have gone back to the analog look, probably using digital guts similar to these gauges.  It's interesting to me that over the decades various attempts at different displays have come and gone (drum style readouts, sliding, colored bars,.....) but the dial face/needle just keeps coming back.  I wonder if it's the spatial orientation of the needle position that fits the brain pattern better than just the single data point of information?

[Harry]

Something like digital watches. A big fad, long gone.

[Carnut]

Yeah and same type of experimentation has also been going on in Aircraft panels.

As usual not all folks are oriented the same way and there is speculation that some accidents were because of differences of opinion between pilots and panels.

Does seem like a lot of modern folks still like 'steam gauge' style.