New and improved genuine VDO gauges

Should these be expected to fit and function across all the major Speedster brands in addition to IM and Beck (VS, JPS, SAS) or will they be exclusive to your two brands?

 

Do you see these as going into VDO's catalog, or will they be solely sold by Beck and IM, or both?

 

Beautiful gauges!

Nice job! 

 

"Old style gauges can fog up and get dusty inside"  - and how!

The agreement was that they are to be sold exclusively through Beck and IM.  Whether or not that will be the case is yet to be seen, so only time will tell... I will make them available to anyone who calls, regardless of manufacturer.

 

We are willing to sell to the other builders too, however, they have to be willing to spend the extra coin.  Unfortunately it seems as if some of them would rather have a $2 piece of junk and replace it 5x, rather than do it right the first time for $10.

 

Once we have an acceptable solution for the difference in gauge hole size, then they should work in any speedster.  It may require a change to your fuel sending unit and oil temp sender (depending on what your builder used) and will require the addition of the GPS unit.  The rest are simple + and - connections and illumination.

Carey   A decent styled rubber  O ring would make up the difference..then again 5 mm is a bit to cover.  Alan

Thanks, Carey. Looking forward to them being available.

They look GREAT!!! Nice job! 

Alan: They have a rubber seal currently, but it is just small enough that you can suck the gauges through a 105mm hole.  The Spyder is an easy one; gauge insert like they are photographed on, in hammertone.  For the speedster we are working without local laser cutter on additional trim rings that would sit behind the gauge.  We are thinking 4-5mm wide with an angle cut edge matching the angle of the bezel.  Done in mirrored or polished stainless it shouldn't be noticeable....

Cool stuff Carey.  Just what I'm looking for rather than a conversion on my Km to MPH if possible that we'd recently e-mail discussed.

 

Do you know if the trip gears will be metal?

 

 

Thanks,

 

Pete

I'm in the same boat, currently KMH in a Vintage that was not set up with a Euro look (two color tail lights, etc.) and I would like to go to MPH, this just makes that change even more attractive. Also, being in Peoria, I could get my car to Bremen for the switch.

 

I'll be interested to see how this works out.

 

Again, great looking and thanks to you and Henry for another contribution to the hobby!

Dang Carey these are fantastic looking and will most likely make it on my winter list pending cost. Will you be keeping the original placement with the tach in the center an speedo to the right.

Joe, the only reason the speedo is on the right is due to cable length.  With a GPS speedo, that problem goes away.  However, the wiring harness would have to be tweaked to accommodate the swap.

 

Carey, I would consider this to replace my old tach. However, I'm thinking due to the hole issue, it would be best to do all gauges or nothing.  I can't see the appearance being that hot with a trim ring.  It would seem to me that adding some glass & paint might be a better retrofit.  I'll probably just opt for repairing or replacing my existing tach with same.  They sure will be sweet on brand new builds, though :-)

Those look familiar.

 

 

Veeeery nice, Carey!  Sure makes me think about my options.

I have replace mine with the back lighted green ones  from VS .   (China id bet) I like my faces .. but hate the cheep internals  Keep me posted and Ill buy a set and if I don't like your dials ..  Will my faces swap out?  I can do the dismantling and re assembling   just fine

Pete: no gears for odometer/trip  It is electronic/GPS

 

Tom: yes, I think it would look strange with 1 100mm and 2 105mm, plus I'm sure the colors and lighting aren't exact, so it would be best to swap all 3.

 

Oldyeler: gauge face is 5mm smaller, lights are in a slightly different location, and the electronic odometer and reset aren't the same.  I am sure someone could do the change-over with some work and/or possibly a new face, but it won't be a simple swap over.

 

Marty: yes, your gauges were hand made by NH or Palo, using readily available VDO components and a custom silk screen.  Hartmut told us we were crazy and only HE could make those gauges and VDO would never, ever be able to do what he does for such a small volume industry...  ;-)  Looks like VDO had the same recipe... and being that THEY were the makers of the ingredients, it's no surprise.

Joe: like Tom said, it is actually easier to place these gauges in any order since there will be no speedo cable. 

 Missed the GPS part, as my wife tells me "reading is a skill".

 Id prefer a Good mechanical speedo over that much electronics. Too Much plumbing stops up the drain..  Keep it simple!!!

 

I think mine will just go to North Hollywood's shop

Mechanical was my first choice but VDO would not make them mechanical, so GPS it is...

So with GPS there is no adjusting for wheel/tire size?  Cool.  Big EMP or solar flare and not so lucky.

With everyone running electronic ignitions, given a big enough EMP or solar flare you'll have much bigger problems to deal with........  ;>

Sounds really nice Carey! Great job to you and Henry!

 

Maybe time for a gauge insert and a 8K tach for me!

Gordon....  With a truly BIG  EMP, nothing much will be working anyway....  Not even my beer cooler.....

Wonderful!  Would love the gauges in the correct position.

Will they use incandescent or LED bulbs?

Nice.  Please keep us posted on your progress on these Carey.  If you come up with an elegant solution for retrofitting the gauges into the 105mm holes, I'll be interested in a getting a set.

 

For the fuel gauge, what sender will be used?  Would be a nice option to be able to use a capacitive 5V fuel sender .. for those of us with larger tanks where the VW sender doesn't have enough stroke.

 

You can change the float arm to a longer length  or better yet go with a Ghia float

 

Thanks for the tip Alan!  I'll look into the Ghia sender solution. 

 

 

Any updates?

Yes, the tach movement was too slow and the GPS speedo stopped working at 52MPH.  We worked directly with the tech from VDO and they changed the filters inside the gauges and corrected both items.  The new (and final) samples were shipped to me, installed, tested, and approved.  We are looking at having the first batch of gauges in about a month or so.  I'll update the thread as soon as they are available.

UPDATE:

The first production batch of gauges arrived at VDO USA last week and have passed their QC process as of yesterday.  They expect to turn them around to me later today, so I should have them first of next week.

I was rereading from the beginning and that cracked me up!!

so where are these gauges made?mexico? Ive thrown away many vdo gauges& changed to firreia(there's that spellen thing again) they had less issues&worked longer when beat almost to death.this was back in the late 80''s~2000 era. I think ferira also went to mexiaco at some point during that era.stuart warrner had... well massive issues.but then again it usualy comes back to.....what the mfr specified as a price point(like there was a price point of $200000.00&up boat stuff) some gauges didnt last a month. I think automeeter might be the best choice.hope your's work out,they should in these cars.but time will tell. I already have automeater for my car when these take a crap. no there not peroid...but neither is the rest of the car,it's a vw hotrod with a makeover&plastic surgery.

Tooling was done in Germany, production is out of their India plant.

I'd be naive to think they will be 100% perfect right out of the box, but again, we are offering them with a 2 year warranty. VDO has been very accommodating to changes and fixes overall... so all we can do is move forward and support the product just as we support all of our products.

While there is always the concern of cost when tooling a new product, we were less concerned with cost than quality.  I think you'll find that theme in all the parts I make.  Obviously I don't want to produce something that is 100x the cost of its counterpart, but if I can get a lot more quality for a little more money, why not?

 

 

Well said, Carey!

I agree with your thinking. way tomany people&company's count pennys&miss the big picture.the product needs to last ,look good and perform a service that is disireable.this usualy cost a little more, but is well worth it in the long run. ( I personaly dont think it cost more to make a quality product, but the less/some more desireable junk is a little cheeper in cost but a lot cheeper in quality thus costing more in the long run)

  my fliber flab is around 1994,the gauges have never been powered up, they will either work or not. if not I will just frown and replace.if they dont work to my satisfaction, then it's an upgrade!!witch always brings a smile. I hope you sell lots of smiles with these.

Will you only be selling them as sets or would it be possible to get just a speedo?  It would be nice not to have to convert in my head.

What was the preferred solution for the different diameter of the gauges?

Lane, IMHO one gauge smaller than the others would look goofy.  Also, the appearance is slightly different.  Carey is working on an adapter ring but he tells me it's iffy based on how clean the original holes are.  I've had an mph speedo from the beginning. That can easily be achieved without going to the new gauges.

Lane, IMHO one gauge smaller than the others would look goofy.  Also, the appearance is slightly different.  Carey is working on an adapter ring but he tells me it's iffy based on how clean the original holes are.  I've had an mph speedo from the beginning. That can easily be achieved without going to the new gauges.