More than you need to know about gauges

[Igor Kessel <four_rings@worldnet.att.net>]

Gisli Ottarsson wrote:
> 
> Igor:
> 
> I noted with interest the following message and have been awaiting
> some kind of follow-up, either from you or some other interested
> party.
> 
> Did you, or anyone you know of, purchase one of these gauges?  If so,
> can you report about quality and ease of installment?
> 
> I am interested in getting more reliable boost numbers than what is
> provided by the in-dash boost gauge in my '87 5kcstq without adding a
> big and ugly gauge.  Oil pressure info would also be useful.

Gisli,
your car has black instruments and the cluster itself is too small to
build in any aux gauge so why do you want to pay ~$150 for a fancy white
faced gauge when you can have an excellent one for $13 to $20? I've had
them in my '85 5000s, '89 200TQ and now in my wife's '98 A4TQ. 
The only reason why I am excersizing alternatives for my '97 S6 is
because its OEM instruments are white faced and I am obsessed with an
idea of building in the boost gauge in place of one of the blanks in the
huge S6 teardrop cluster. 

VDO 52mm DIA:

Boost gauges:
VDO  150 121 -30" Hg to +25psi
VDO  150 921 -30" Hg to +25psi and -1 bar to +1.5 bar
VDO  150 061 -30" Hg to +15psi

Electrical Oil pressure:
VDO  350 040 [0 to +80psi] "Oil"
VDO  350 066 [0 to +80psi] "Oil" w/symb
VDO  350 080 [0 to +5 bar] "Bar"

M10x1mm Sender for the above:
VDO  360 001 [0 to +80psi]


M10x1mm "T" adapter for the above to retain the OEM idiot light:
VDO  240 850

Stand alone housing for the gauges:
VDO  240 100 [75mm in depth]
VDO  240 100 [97mm in depth]

Autometer makes similar ones but I would go with VDO coz 
a) they are German
b) they are OEM vendor for Audi 

Either installation is very easy.
1. Boost gauges.
Definitely get the one with the negative range (see above) coz it will
give you an excellent troubleshooting ability of the general engine
health.

Tap a "T" to the vacuum hose to the brain, located behind the cover of
the pass side kick panel. This will give you a damped, vibration-free
reading. Not so if you tap it directly to the IM.

2. Oil pressure gauge.
Remove one of the OEM idiot light senders. Put in the "T" (see above).
Screw in the gauge sender and the OEM sender into the "T". Wire up.

In my long gone '85 5000s I installed the small 1.5" Autometer oil
pressure and voltmeter gauges. For those I used the 4 blanks in the
centre console. I removed the blanks and milled two tiny plastic face
plates with round holes for the gauges. The final look was
_outstandinly_ OEM. You can't do this on your car coz these positions
are occupied by the trip computer. Pity.

BTW, go for the voltmeter too. Indispensable.
VDO 332 041 [8-16v, w/colour band]
VDO 332 042 [8-16v, w/colour band and symbol]

Some linx:
VDO: http://www.vdona.com
Autometer: http://www.autometer.com


For the best prices known to me talk to Ron at Gilmore Distributing
(thanks to James Marriott for the tip): http://www.gilmoredist.com/

Here's the link to my old rudimentary page (excuse the crappy look),
where you can see the gauges mounted in the LF corner:

http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Garage/8949/homepage.html

I have hundreds of pix but no scanner which cripples the deployment of
the real site.

-- 
Igor Kessel
Two turbo quattros.