Bought myself a set of gauges from an audi to fit in the van, anyone have advice on the best place to fit them, tried holding them up under the dash to get an idea, but the only place where the would fit (without getting in the way of the handbrake or the gear lever) would be under the glove box, is there a tutorial on how to wire them up? any pics...anyone ?
You could put them to the right of the steering column. My dad had a few fitted but said he spent more time watching them than the road. Needless to say they are not fitted anymore
mine are by the steering colum but i wish i hadn't got a cylinder head temp one i spend far too long looking at it - worry guage is about right!
Best place for them is back in the box!! We got oil pressure and oil temp fitted and I spend most of our journeys flicking between looking at the road and the gauges! Not a good idea. They will make you worry every time the temp goes up and the pressure goes down. Before the gauges were fitted, the temp and pressure fluctuated and all was well because I paid attention to how the van felt and sounded. Im seriously considering removing the wiring and going back to listening and feeling (and enjoying the driving rather than worrying!!) They do look nice though!! >
^ what they said. If you're going to keep one, I'd suggest keeping oil temp. You can drive this from a VDO dipstick sender.
to be honest i wouldnt bother fitting those gauges put them back on ebay as said you will be forever watching them and the oil pressure gauge is the only one worth fitting, as the voltmeter is pointless your either charging or you arnt and you charging lights on, the oil temp gauge is too higher reading to be of any use! you oil will be braking down around 120 degree's so a gauge the reads 170c is to high (150c is more than enough) plus that gauge needs a audi specific blue sender for the higher reading gauge so a dipstick sender will need read incorrectly with that gauge. sorry to be the bearer of bad news :'(
I put mine to the right of the steering column As others have said you can spend time looking at them, but when fitted here they are out of line of normal sight so you might be ok
Hello mate, I've just been through the same dilemma (two VDO dials in this case, a rev counter and water temp sensor for Scooby conversion). I didn't want them on top of the dash or below the dash. Because, IMO, they'd look like an 'after-market' / add-on accessory there. I wanted them in the dash, below the stereo. Because, they look so natural there. But I guess yours are like mine, 52mm. Which makes them too tight a squeeze to get them in below the stereo. So, I'm going to raise the stereo hole a little (so it sits in line with the rest of the dash), leaving a slightly bigger area to house the gauges beneath. There's a bit of cutting and welding and filling involved but at least I'll get the gauges where I want them.
im putting a alternative engine in my bay at the min so i frenched the dash where the radio used to be (using ipod so dont need a head unit anymore) and put 3x 52mm gauges in there im going to paint it in wrinkle paint when done so it looks stock O0
A big thankyou for all the comments advice and pics recieved, after much deliberation I have decide to go ahead and fit them, as said the battery indication does not serve any real purpose but its part of the console so I'll just wire it in, I will do the boiling water test to asses the temperture trend, undecided as to where to fit them yet, the best place would be below the stereo, but this means a bit of cutting and welding, or the easy option would be to the right hand side of the dash, under the steering column as in Westy's pic, thats maggie off the road for the winter time, got the gauges to fit, Ive also bought a pair of front seats from a Saab to get re-upholstered and fitted, sound proofing the cab, new sun visors.......and get her ready for an mot in February............. the list goes on !!
A little tip for the wiring is run one or more multicore cables from front to back so you can use a few of the cores for the gauges and have a few spare for future use. You need to run a wire anyway so you might as well plan ahead. I ran 4x 4 core cables and am just about to start on the third cable out of the 4, but seeing as they are already fitted it's no hassle to use one of the wires as required.
