Amp meter gauge, anyone add an amp gauge?

Long ago I was planning on building a three-wheeled car, an homage to the Morgan my dad had and I found this gauge on eBay. It has a single pnumatic fitting on the back so getting it to work would be a trick. A bit silly, but living in Hawaii I thought it would look appropriate even though it would not be functional. Too large for an E9 however as I think it was designed for a truck or off-road vehicle.

Funny, that link that jjs2800cs posted for an hour meter had VDO air pressure gauges at the bottom of the page.

Sand-Mud-Coral-Hiway-guage.jpeg
 
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jjs2800cs said:
Getting some really great ideas and info. Also some nice installations.

After IAN, my power was out for almost a week. My portable generator has an hour meter on it. Don't know if I have ever seen a street car with an elapsed hour meter for engine running time. "To fill a hole" I might look at a hour meter. Since the car is being totally restored, might be an interesting item to track along with the mileage after the rebirth.

I also like the idea of some sort of voltage sensor to track max and min values.

THANKS
Jjs2800cs
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Hour meter is common on vintage race cars, for some engine life is often specified in hours (2 digits for Lotus, 3 digits for Alfa).
 
My GMC pickup shows the hours in the odometer read out when pressing the trip reset button twice with the engine off. I always record hours when I document a service or repair, but only because I'm a little OCD. I can't think of a use for that info.
 
giannicsl said:
Nice and interesting discussion.

Question ?

How do you operate your VDO instrument to measure engine oil temperature??
Where and how did you connect the sensor?
What sensor did you use?
Do you have a diagram or a drawing of how and where to put the sensor??
Thank you
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VDO makes two types of gauges to do this. They have a capillary gauge, which I am not familiar with, but which you examine here: https://www.vdo-instruments.com/ins...oil-temperature-gauge-with-144-capillary.html

The other gauges they make are electric. This is what I am using. I installed a sensor like this (although my sender does not have the Bosch/Tyco formed connector, but instead merely has a tab for a wire with a quick connect fitting) -
https://www.vdo-instruments.com/sen...5-266f-130c-41-8-ohm-with-tyco-connector.html. I installed this by drilling and tapping a hole into the side of the oil filter canister housing. This only works on the m30 style canister housing. If you look at the housing when its installed on the engine, there is a boss on the side of the housing that makes a nice location for the sender. In the third picture in this post, you can see the boss with a hole in it that I used to locate my gauge. https://e9coupe.com/forum/threads/progress.31902/post-291513

I enlarged that hole, punched through so the sender would contact engine oil, and tapped the hole to accommodate the m12 x 1/5 thread on the sender. I then wired the sender to the gauge.

This does not work on a top bolt housing. If you change to a top bolt housing, there is not enough depth for the sensor to install without leaking (and yes, I know this because I tried it and destroyed a housing). The check valve inteferes with the installation of the sensor. Here is a picture of the check valve: https://e9coupe.com/forum/threads/progress.31902/post-292343

Another option I looked at was a sender that installed in place of the oil drain plug. I did not use this type of sender, and I don't see it in VDO's catalog any more.
 
Anyone install a wireless tire pressure monitor?

Here is another option for useful information. I suppose one could fit the receiver in the 2" typical gauge opening, maybe 3d printing a housing.


Comments? There are several types available.

Jjs2800cs
 
I am not a fan of tire pressure monitor systems. I think you would be adding needless complexity for little gain.
 
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