Gauges - Your observations, suggestions please

[Inprimer]

I will be going to the Knoxville NSRA show in a couple of weeks and plan to shop for gauges for my deuce project.  With the many choices out there I'd welcome the opinions of folks on this board regarding what is good, bad and/or ugly about the various brands.  I guess I have a bias towards SW gauges, simply because they are what I associate with hot rods, having grown up in the 50's when they were about all you saw.  Are there better alternatives in terms of accuracy, reliability, warranty, ect.?

Lets hear your opinions.

Thanks.

I have Dolphins in my vert ,good company, had "trouble with oil press guage wrote to them, sent me new guage and sending unit also returned old guage. turned out I had tired oil pump. Only prob is at night when temp drops quickly,( with top down) guages  steam up from inside and hard to read. once lenz warms up they clear up. I also have electronic speedo works great, beats trying to figure out tranny  tooth combo.

[enjenjo]

Only prob is at night when temp drops quickly,( with top down) guages steam up from inside and hard to read. once lenz warms up they clear up.

I've had the same problem with SW, and VDO guages, sometimes only one in a set. My theory is dust on the inside of the lens, but I have no way to prove it.

[Skip]

Forgot what brand they were but when I went to install them (the customer already had them) I noticed a very disturbing mechanical deficiency in the design.

The plastic cup that fits over the back is installed before the wires.  Once the cup is in place, the wires are attached and the whole shebang is tightened up.  The problem is the plastic.  It's not strong enough and the terminals tend to loosen up as the plastic gives way.   .....and the manufacturer doesn't supply enough nuts to double-nut the terminals.  Since they're an odd size thread, you're stuck with instruments that intermittently stop working when the wires jiggle on the back.

As for VDO, those push-on connectors are an absolute nightmare.  The wires all stick out straight from the back of the instrument and the back side of the dash winds up looking like a rat's nest.  Give me the old nut on a stud instrument, not a push on terminal spiked hairdo.

[Ed ke6bnl]

I will be going to the Knoxville NSRA show in a couple of weeks and plan to shop for gauges for my deuce project.  With the many choices out there I'd welcome the opinions of folks on this board regarding what is good, bad and/or ugly about the various brands.  I guess I have a bias towards SW gauges, simply because they are what I associate with hot rods, having grown up in the 50's when they were about all you saw.  Are there better alternatives in terms of accuracy, reliability, warranty, ect.?

Lets hear your opinions.

Thanks.

I have Dolphins in my vert ,good company, had "trouble with oil press guage wrote to them, sent me new guage and sending unit also returned old guage. turned out I had tired oil pump. Only prob is at night when temp drops quickly,( with top down) guages  steam up from inside and hard to read. once lenz warms up they clear up. I also have electronic speedo works great, beats trying to figure out tranny  tooth combo.

I haven't installed my dolphin guages yet but herd that they may have this problem and I called the supplier of the guages and he was honest and said that this does occure and that it clears up soon after warming up I like the honesty thought instead of a bunch of mumble gumble. Ed ke6bnl

[47wood]

VDO have been reliable around here ...also there are some Dakota Digital in the area too.  As previously posted, service is the key because if you do much you'll have a problem sooner or later.  Cal  

[Skip]

I remember what the brand was.  Daytona.

Went over to a body shop last night to finish a car I'd started about 15 months ago (it's painted now and ready for the finishing touches) and he had the dash out.

ALL of the nuts on the back of the gauges were loose.  The plastic had sagged and the connections were all flopping around.......and he hasn't even started driving the car yet.