new integrated console for gauges and radio

[Stefan]

I guess I would be the only one to dare point out that this set-up with so many gauges does not look good in the E9 driving atmosphere
To be honest it does not fit keeping the E9 interior period correct at all. All the extra unnecessary gauges was hot in about early/middle 1980.
Less is more as the German E9 designers in the late 1960 said!

 

[rsporsche]

deQ,

once again you have outdone yourself. the design and workmanship is perfect. i originally thought that you should use pushbuttons instead of the switches ... but the jag switches look excellent with the black and chrome.

 

[Gazz]

Lucas......Jaguar.......these are meant to be functional right? ;-)

RE Stefan's comments - didn't the Alpinas have extra gauges?

 

[jmackro]

I guess I would be the only one to dare point out that this set-up with so many gauges does not look good in the E9 driving atmosphere To be honest it does not fit keeping the E9 interior period correct at all. All the extra unnecessary gauges was hot in about early/middle 1980.

Not to take anything away from deQuincy's workmanship, but I kind of see Stefan's point.

The e9 did come with a water temperature gauge, so why add a second one?

I have always found engine oil temperature and water temperature to be pretty closely correlated - having second gauge for oil temp does seem redundant.

A dedicated gauge for voltage? I could take it or leave it. The alternator "idiot" light does a pretty good job of monitoring the charging system. Unless the voltage regulator goes berserk and starts putting out 18 volts, the voltage gauge doesn't tell you much more that the light does. Plus the "charge" light is in your line of sight, while a voltage gauge down by the gearshift really isn't noticeable. If you had an electrical problem, you'd probably smell it before you noticed that the voltage gauge showed something out of whack.

I can definitely see the need for an oil pressure gauge. It always seemed odd that BMW allocated real estate on the e9 dash for a clock, but not for an oil pressure gauge.

 

[rsporsche]

i learned to appreciate oil temperature gauges on the e30 m3 and the 911. when the coolant gets up to temperature, the oil often isn't there yet.

 

[jmackro]

i learned to appreciate oil temperature gauges on the e30 m3 and the 911.

Well yea on a 911. A "water temperature gauge" on an air-cooled car wouldn't tell you much!

when the coolant gets up to temperature, the oil often isn't there yet.

OK, but what do you do with that information? Pull off to the side of the road until the oil warms up? I'm just not getting what action you would take based having both coolant and oil temp gauges.

 

[deQuincey]

Hoping to shamelessly steal DeQuincy's design, I am planning oil temp, oil pressure, voltage and air/fuel mix.

DeQ - where exactly did you have a problem with your first prototype? I suspect the cross support behind the face and above the gauges was too deep?

excellent news, my dear !
very good to see that you are on the way, feeling happy about what you are doing, and the job looks very good indeed !

i will soon post a pic to explain better, but the question of intereference is probably unique to my car, as i am probably the only guy that is having a non AC looking central console setup, but whith AC,

just behind the front heater grilles there is an horizontal evaporator that takes some of the vertical space inside the console, this means that when i placed the first console the gauges touched the front of the evaporator not allowing the console to seat in its place

so i had to slightly modify the angle and the height of the gauges

 

[deQuincey]

I guess I would be the only one to dare point out that this set-up with so many gauges does not look good in the E9 driving atmosphere
To be honest it does not fit keeping the E9 interior period correct at all. All the extra unnecessary gauges was hot in about early/middle 1980.
Less is more as the German E9 designers in the late 1960 said!

very good point, stefan, i must admit that you are right, i also think that the pure design of the e9 dashboard, so elegant and eclectic is now somehow disturbed by all these things

i recognise that the best looking interior IMHO is the RHD coupe (for the wooden front rail) without AC and even without a radio, that open hole under the heater grilles, and the sight of the wooden tray underneath confronted to the simple lines of the gearshift console and embeded into the two black vynil walls is so cute !

but i need the gauges, you know, my car is not a garage queen when is out from the garage i feel safe when i see that those four indicators are giving me feedback of a well functioning engine, they are not there for show purposes, they do have a function, so i decided to live with a not so pure design in this case, but nonetheless do it in style

unfortunately vdo is not selling the very nice more period correct line of gauges in europe (with metric scale), my first gauges were too big and the two scale (euro/us) made them too much crowded with numbers, additionally the vdo came with a sort of diode light that lights the needles, these motometer ones have a single 2watt bulb, they look better

as to the jag switches i agree with scott and others, they are cool, and the switching sound, clack-clack, is so nice,...moreover the story of how i got those is so beautiful...(will tell later)

not sure about the leather when confronted to the shiny vynil, we will see soon

hope that the chromed radio fascia will put a bit of colour there

thanks for all the comments, i appreciate specially those who disagree they keep my brain sharp !:wink:

 

[deQuincey]

OK, but what do you do with that information? Pull off to the side of the road until the oil warms up? I'm just not getting what action you would take based having both coolant and oil temp gauges.

just to tell what i do, until the oil temp is not enough, <80 C, i do not squeeze the power out from the M30, and never rev up more than 3500

then while driving i look to the variations of temp in both the water and oil, funny to check how they behave when going up-down hill, highway at high speeds, ...

incidentally would love to have gearbox and diff temps too, but there is no more space, ...;-)

 

[Stevehose]

Same here, I installed a volt, oil pressure, and afr gauge (for the triple webers), tried to keep it as tasteful and period correct as possible (following the Alpina theme). The volt meter diagnosed a failing regulator, and on my trip to Amelia I noticed afr was going lean-found a blown out o-ring on one barrel's accel pump cover screw. I am hoping the oil pressure gauge stays right where it does, if not perhaps it will alert me before the oil light says it's too late.

but i need the gauges, you know, my car is not a garage queen when is out from the garage i feel safe when i see that those four indicators are giving me feedback of a well functioning engine, they are not there for show purposes, they do have a function, so i decided to live with a not so pure design in this case, but nonetheless do it in style

 

[m73]

Gauge count...

Nice work...not trying to thread jack...but per previous comments, I would say the IP of vintage BMW's reads like this:

1) speedo = law
2) rev counter = smile on drivers face pushing the silky six
3) fuel/water = keeps an eye on precious fluids
4) lights = emergencies only!
5) clock = you have a date/appointment or timed section on autobahn (special stage)

One would think the engineers thought more gauges would be disrespectful to all their hard work and unnecessary. Of course w/ racing gauges are needed to communicate info to driver and hence to others if something goes wrong.

MF

 

[jmackro]

thanks for all the comments, i appreciate specially those who disagree they keep my brain sharp

deQuincey:

OK good, glad you appreciate my propensity to debate. I don't really disagree with you - it is your car and you can do as you like. I wrote that post to start a discussion of why someone would add a second water temperature gauge, or how they might use the information from an oil temperature gauge.

just to tell what i do, until the oil temp is not enough, <80 C, i do not squeeze the power out from the M30, and never rev up more than 3500

That addresses my question of how you act on the readings of your oil temperature gauge.

and on my trip to Amelia I noticed afr was going lean-found a blown out o-ring on one barrel's accel pump cover screw

Yes, I can certainly understand the benefits of adding an air/fuel ratio gauge. Especially on a car with aftermarket carburation.

 

[Ohmess]

excellent news, my dear !
very good to see that you are on the way, feeling happy about what you are doing, and the job looks very good indeed !

i will soon post a pic to explain better, but the question of intereference is probably unique to my car, as i am probably the only guy that is having a non AC looking central console setup, but whith AC,

just behind the front heater grilles there is an horizontal evaporator that takes some of the vertical space inside the console, this means that when i placed the first console the gauges touched the front of the evaporator not allowing the console to seat in its place

so i had to slightly modify the angle and the height of the gauges

DeQ: on your prior drawing, the distance from the top of the panel to the center line for your gauges was 45mm. When you say you modified the height of the gauges, do you mean that you have changed this distance?

I am thinking that 45mm will work for my car, but this is a critical measurement for the entire project. Could you please provide the new top to gauge center line measurement (or otherwise let me know how you modified the height of the gauges)?

 

[deQuincey]

DeQ: on your prior drawing, the distance from the top of the panel to the center line for your gauges was 45mm. When you say you modified the height of the gauges, do you mean that you have changed this distance?

I am thinking that 45mm will work for my car, but this is a critical measurement for the entire project. Could you please provide the new top to gauge center line measurement (or otherwise let me know how you modified the height of the gauges)?

yes i went to 52mm but i do insist, you wont have problems with 45mm in your car

 

[deQuincey]

cables and fastons

radio connections:



switch and light to actívate electronic antenna



using the holes in the Wood to tie the cables



diagram for gauges:
Po=pressure oil
To=temp oil
Tw=temp water
Volts
G=signal from sensor







a plate for the fuse



fixed by means of pop rivets, this position is great to change fuse, only need to open it a bit, dont need to remove the whole thing out



detail:



lots of cables: but not messy



one unique connector



ready:



to make it fit to the hole by means of pressure, and not using any screw, i place a 5 mm neoprene strap all around (makes assembly reversible for a future purist buyer ;-) )

 

[Stevehose]

Amazing work.

On average, how long does it take for the oil temp is warm after the water temp is warm?

just to tell what i do, until the oil temp is not enough, <80 C, i do not squeeze the power out from the M30, and never rev up more than 3500

 

[deQuincey]

Amazing work.

On average, how long does it take for the oil temp is warm after the water temp is warm?

from the top of my head NOW EDITED, AND CHECKED:

start from cold
out temp 15 C
cold iddle to warm iddle 2 to 3 min
wáter temp at 83 C = 6 min
drive below 3500 rpm
oil temp >80 C = 20 min

time is absolute

 

[deQuincey]

DeQuincey-

Couldn't help but notice that you moved the AC switches to the shifter console. I also see that you blocked off the lower front vents usually found with the AC panel. What else have you changed with the console structure to support these modifications? It all looks good.

dear x-atlas0

please find attached a pic that shows a more identificable knobs and plates for the AC, i just found those at a shop and placed them, shiny signs over the knobs will clearly identify the function

 

[Ohmess]

Question on process - relates more to the console, but applies here also: do you glue all the leather at once, or in stages? Not sure about all the clamping and whatnot if done all at once.

 

[deQuincey]

Question on process - relates more to the console, but applies here also: do you glue all the leather at once, or in stages? Not sure about all the clamping and whatnot if done all at once.

ha, ha, ha, i will set up a "get on-line advice"
just kidding, you are more than welcome

you should do in stages, impact glue needs some minutes to evaporate the solvent, solvent will come off the leather faster than from the wood, take it into account

impact glue does not need clamps or other means, you join the two parts and it is done, if they do not stay together there was still solvent remaining, bad !

so first mark the back of the leather using the wood as a template

start glueing the fascia, first the wood, then the leather, apply a thin coat using a good brush, do not apply two coats, and do not correct passing the brush again, do not exceed the lines marked stay on the lines

lay the leather flat in a table and when solvent evaporates (usually 3 minutes) pick up the wood and start with one corner, then evenly and gently pass your hand over the leather and press it towards the wood, stop in the slopes or plane changes and mark the lines using your nails or a nylon spatule, do not press hard

impact glue is fast so be careful to do it at first attempt, if you are worried about doing it well divide the full plane of the fascia into two areas

then stop and breathe

cut the leather in the places needed and now proceed with the laterals, glue only the areas that you are going to work with, you can discriminate the process and go area by area, respect the time needed for evaporate the solvent, this is crucial

be careful, impact glue may deteriorate the face of the leather, so be as tidy as possible

hope it helps