Help me make a decision here - Combo gage or stock Options

[Mikey914]

I acquired a pretty stock 1.7 that had been retrofitted with a 911 combo gauge. It looks well done. I did procure a correct gauge to replace it but now I'm thinking leave it.

What would you do?

I like the idea or originality too.
Pics to follow.

[RickS]

I am in the “information is power” camp, especially with an air/oil cooled car. Just a week ago my alternator light came on and saw that my Voltage gauge was sitting firmly at 12 rather than the usual 14.5. Also when I first added my 6 I could watch the oil temp to make sure the cooler was operating correctly and at high speeds I wasn’t hitting above 210.

Is it distracting? I don’t find the full gauge compliment in my 911 distracting with the .5 sec it takes to check things out compared to the repair costs associated with a rebuild. Same goes for the teener.

[GregAmy]

I don't mean to be combative in any way, but these are the types of things I think a lot about all the time, when designing instrumentation and gauging on my race cars and an experimental airplane builds. And I like the debate on the topic.

Your statement below caught my eye:

....Just a week ago my alternator light came on and saw that my Voltage gauge was sitting firmly at 12 rather than the usual 14.5.

So what you're saying is that you recognized a charging system failure not by the gauge that told you it was at 12V, but by an idiot light that caught your eye. And then you looked over at the gauge, which told you the same exact information (charge bad). And that's my point.

And then you wrote this:

Also when I first added my 6 I could watch the oil temp to make sure the cooler was operating correctly and at high speeds I wasn’t hitting above 210.

...implying that you were using your oil temp gauge as a binary good/bad system: below 210 is good; above 210 is bad.

Would not a light at 210 degrees do the same thing?

There is merit to watching and evaluating trends, but the human brain doesn't really work well as a data acquisition device. When otherwise occupied we're much better with binary good/bad situations. We even use our speedos are binary devices: 70 good, 75 bad. Less than 70 really, really bad, pick it up!!

Automobile manufacturers know this. If your car has a water temp gauge (most do) you'll notice that it's always solidly vertical. Have you ever watched it get there? It's pretty much a binary condition: as soon as the water temp rises to the correct desired range the needle will work quickly to that TDC level.

VW figured this out in the 80s with the Rabbit GTI. They put in aux gauges and started getting complaints from owners that the gauge fluxuated left and right as they were driving around. The Germans were perplexed; after all, no engine coolant or oil reaches a set temperature and stays there constantly, why are people complaining? But the complaints persisted to the point where VW adjusted the electronics in the gauge to where it stayed solidly vertical within the desired range, in effect turning the gauge into an idiot light. And the water temp gauge on my 2011 GTI stays solid vertical all day, whether I'm driving in snow like today, or cruising across the desert last year.

You like gauges? Get 'em, enjoy 'em. But I strongly disagree that they're necessary for safe operation of any equipment. If you want data acq, get data acq (it's actually quite affordable now). Me, I'll pay attention to the driving and watch for attention-grabbing lights to tell me when something's wrong... - GA