Boost Gauge (fairmont Clock)

[Guest Basher_tsv]

What a day ... got my plates delivered and my Guage arrived as well ... :lol:

As far as the colour goes it is a great match in my standards ... If anything a touch lighter but it is on a different angle and the sun reflects off it differently to the rest of the dash. My build date was (I think) Sept 03 so it seems anything near there matches quite well. I must admit it is a better match to what Zeke showed in his photos although it would not look that out of place anyway.

I just booked it in at the local dealer to have it installed on Monday (I do not trust myself going anywhere near tools) and I noted on the GT's and the Pursuit that the top panel where the guage goes is a dark charcoal colour compared to the light silver dash around the screen etc. So if your guage does not match exactly just tell everyone that you have copied the GT dash

for your efforts CDM ... very happy little customer here :lol:

I'll try and post a photo after the install.

Cheers.

[Trumpy]

Well, mine arrived this afternoon and is now installed and working. The installation was not without a few dramas! It would be easier the second time around.

Well Zeke, care to share?

Just wondering what difficulties you ran in to, and how can I avoid? You know, easier second time around and all that....

[Trumpy]

Basher_tsv,

Do you have access to a digital camera? Are you able to take a pic of the new surround next to your existing console to show the colour match?

I would be interested to see, as I wont have mine till next week now.

Thanks

[Zeke]

Hi Trumpy

Most of the dramas were my own doing. The instructions (which include photos) show how to enlarge a slot in a bit of plastic in the panel under the cover using a soldering iron or a hot knife (so you don't drop plastic filings down into the console). Well, when you put a soldering iron down on the ground, it pays to turn it off and try to avoid sitting on it for a while! You get the idea?

Also getting my head under the dash with a mirror and torch trying to see where the tube was coming thru involved more contortions than I thought I was capable of.

Had some difficulty getting the pressure tube from the top down thru the dash to the area where it can be located underneath to feed it through the grommet etc. In the end I had to be a bit inventive with a piece of stiff wire and string. The wire would go from the slot to another slot where the top locating lug inserts and from there to the bottom of the dash. So a bit of string could be pulled through where the tube had to go and then used to pull/guide the tube through. Wish I used that method before trying to dismantle more bits of dash/console than I should've or needed to.

The grommet/brake booster hose bits were a cinch. The wiring was easy with the tricky little connectors supplied.

So it took a bit longer than expected and some profanity was used, but the next one would be a piece of cake. I'd be happy to do it for anyone in SA.

Re Basher's colour, I'm amazed. Good for you, mate. Might take my cover plate down to the dealers and see which cars it matches I really didn't think there would be that much variation. Now that I know the supplied covers are painted I'm hopeful of ending up with a better match one way or the other.

BTW The gauge is addictive to watch. What I really should do is get someone else to drive it hard and watch the road so I can watch the gauge closely for a while.

Cheers

zeke

[Zeke]

Basher_tsv,

Do you have access to a digital camera? Are you able to take a pic of the new surround next to your existing console to show the colour match?

I would be interested to see, as I wont have mine till next week now.

Thanks

Yeah, that would be great if you could manage it.

[Trumpy]

Well, when you put a soldering iron down on the ground, it pays to turn it off and try to avoid sitting on it for a while! You get the idea?

Also getting my head under the dash with a mirror and torch trying to see where the tube was coming thru involved more contortions than I thought I was capable of.

They sound like my kind of problems!

I'm gonna have a great time doing this (especially if I decide to undertake after a couple of beers, which is odds-on)

[cdm]

G'day guys! I hope everyone who has got there gauges so far is happy with them! I installed mine today after twisting my body into several karma sutra positions to locate the tubing behind the dash. My colour is a little bit off to so I rang the guys at Gaugeworks. They seem very helpful and freindly which is always a good sign. Apparently they will have a colour fix available soon -hopefully by the end of next week. Mine is also slighlty lighter than the rest of the dash which does annoy me, but I'm glad they're looking into it. The only other thing that is a little bit wierd is that at idle and under no load mine swings anti-clockwise all the way around to about 14psi.... When the car is turned off it sits at 0 and when I am up it it gets around to 6psi but it still looks a bit wierd sitting all the way around the back.... Other than that I am very happy with the gauge and look forward to the colour fix. I would have no problems recommending this company to anyone looking for this kind of setup as they have clearly put a lot of effort into the gauge and are willing to look after the customer after they have made the sale...if only the same could be said about most Ford dealerships!

[Zeke]

Hi cdm

Sounds like yours behaves similarly to mine, except maximum vacuum at idle is more like 7 o'clock or 18 inches of mercury, extrapolating from the 10 inches of mercury on the vacuum (anticlockwise from 0) side of the scale. That all seems to be as expected. It's lovely to watch the boost zap up to about 6 psi under acceleration - though it seems to sometimes overshoot that level instantaneously - am I getting a bit of overboost?

The colour thing is more apparent in some lighting conditions than others, but it's always there - I too am pleased gaugeworks are going to sort out a fix. I intend to do some checking myself tomorrow and might upset one or more Adelaide dealers hopping in and out of cars in stock, comparing their console colours to the cover plate from my car. Will post what I find.

Glad you agree it's a great product that will be spot on when we get the paint colour right.

Cheers

zeke

[Zeke]

Well, I checked the trim cover panel from my car against about 6 others today ranging from May to December 03 build and it seemed to be a perfect match for all of them. So, it seems the colour of the gauge surround, which is too light for my car, would also be too light for any other XR's I could find.

Looking forward to future developments.

My gauge also seems to have a bit of a "sticky" spot at just over 10 in Hg of vacuum. It tends to spend a lot of time at exactly that reading when driving and moves off that reading quite suddenly. Also when I stop and switch off, it stays at that reading indefinitely. If I bleed off the vacuum by gently depressing the brake pedal, it stays at that reading until I gently tap on the top of the gauge surround with a finger tip.

So it's either a characteristic of the gauge or something sticking very slightly in the works. It doesn't affect the boost readings or most aspects of the gauge function, but, unless others advise me that their gauges do the same, I'll have to run it past Luke on Monday and see what he thinks.

Actually the vacuum part of the gauge fulfils the same function as the fuel economy gauges they put in some early Commodores where the tacho should go and similar gauges in the lower segment of the tacho in some BMW's. Mrs z reckons it looks great ( OT She's currently over the moon about the Herrod cat-back exhaust she got on her XT last week - louder than the T, but not as refined, I reckon)

BTW, in spite of the minor glitches, I thoroughly recommend the gauge and I wouldn't be without it.

Cheers

zeke

[ms700]

Has anybody seen Dynosteve gauge pod?

He only charges $120 to us forum members, and a AutoMeter boost gauge is only $150 from Autobarn. And you can get a pod that holds 2 gauges at no extra charge, whack a oil press or oil temp gauge in there too!

I would be very interested in seeing a picture of his mounting pod.