where to buy VDO gauges

Vintage is out of stock on VDO replica gauge sets and not expecting any for months.
Any idea where to buy them?

Are Vintage Brazilian VDO or Chinese knockoffs?

I would like to set the redline to suit the engine. Where can this be done, or what alternate redlines are available for Super 90 or Carerra?

Work can be done by Palo Alto Speedometer or North Hollywood Speedometer. Anything you have done by them will be good work - especially if you replace the innards with the good bits available from those shops (aka - VDO innards).

The brazilian drunken monkey guages are not on my list of favored items having repaired/replaced the innards on each of ours at least once and with the tach failing twice only to have it's innards fully replaced with real VDO. Poor quality, shitty workmanship, and unreliable to boot.

Absolutely not a fan. Too much money in my motors for these.

angela

But, I found out through NHS that their gauges are of a smaller diameter than a Beck gauge, so caution is needed on what you're looking to replace.

I had North Hollywood Speedometers replace the works in my tach with genuine VDO, as well as re-screen it for 8000 RPM and re-screen the red lines starting at 6500 RPM. I also had them add a shift-light, which I wired to an RPM activated switch I got from Summit Racing. It's pretty trick, and pretty spendy.

The Brazilian VDO speedster gauges are ok it's the ones out of China that are junk, especially the tach.

Is there a way to tell them apart externally? Are the Brazilian the same size as the Chinese? Where can you buy them?

The chinese ones are WORSE than the brazilian?

Sweet Mary mother of little baby Jesus, you may as well reach back behind you and stick your hand on the engine for a reading...

angela

Or, just wait for the valves to start rattling ....

I am sure this has been covered before, and probably even by me, but;

Brazilian and Chinese are both 105mm diameter, original are 100mm.
Brazilian are marked "VDO" as they are made by VDO, Chinese do not have this marking. I heard last week that the new Chinese version will be marked VDO, so this may change. A few other differences; Brazilian have a VDO QC decal and date code sticker on the case, the Chinese have a Q10X part number sticker and a hand signed QC sticker. The biggest difference is the Brazilian are face-lit like the originals, the Chinese are back-lit like a modern gauge.

I am still having no luck with new Brazilian gauges. I was told they were going to stop making them some time ago, and that may be the case now, not 100% sure. They did continue producing them for a bit after I was told there would be no more, so again, I am not 100% sure. The Chinese gauges were on backorder the last time I tried to order some of them. I received 6 sets this afternoon, out of the blue. We have North Hollywood go through the tachs and correct the problems before we use them. These are all for my own builds, but I will see if I can get more... not sure as I didn't expect these yet...

Carey-
Im in need of the combo and tach, do you sell them?

FYI, I sent my VDO 914 gauges to Palo Alto Speedo to have them re-faced to a 356 style like Ron OBlack did. I will report back once I receive them.

Thanks Carey. Based on what you said, the tach in my my Yellow Cab is an actual VDO gauge.

Bathtub,
Wow, I didnt know they did that. That would be great to see.

On the refaced speedometer what are the lines between 20 and 40 for?

Gear Shift ranges ranges, just like on a VW.

I also did not know that they could reface 914 gauges to 356 style
Presumably they could put the redline where I want it at the same time.

What is the cost for refacing?

the 914 tach is a larger OD so this must be a custom face or do they screen over the old face?

Gordon,

On a beetle gauge the lines go all around the dial and there are 1, 2 and 3 little tick marks at approximately 15, 30 & 45 to indicate shiftpoints.

I Googled this question and one explanation was that the lines indicated the usual speed range within cities.

Converting the 914 gauges is expensive, around twice what the replica 356 gauges cost if they were available. But I know I will have VDO gauges and I don't need to re-glass my dash to fit them like I would have to do with the others. So it is worth it for me.

If you do a search on this site Ron OBlack posted a picture of his when he was rebuilding his car. I really like the look.

I think this is the picture.