Aftermarket Gauges, Not!

[gibber]

I am not a fan of aftermarket gauges in our Mopars, as my stance is if the OE gauges are rebuilt (if required) and calibrated correctly, they are just as accurate with a new RTE style voltage limiter powering them as any of the aftermarket gauges out there. These are out of my wife's 71 GTX clone, just before they ended up in the trash.. I am installing a new rally cluster with a correct tach....The wiring used to hook these up was scary to say the least. Luckily no big portions of the dash harness were messed with. Any opinions on the subject?

Thanks and Merry Xmas!

Mark

 

[dieseldazzle]

I agree I can't stand aftermarket gauges in my old mopar. Then again I'm a nazi I can't stand restomods either. If I wants that I'd go buy a new mopar.

 

[rscurtis]

I wouldn't trash that Super Tach, they go for good money on ebay. Personally, I have no problem with aftermarket gauges, as long as they supplement the originals, not complement them.

 

[boneheadsGeTeX]

Im about complete with ,, gauges,, Gibber , i have left overs just like your,, I m realy in over my head with gauges, all I can do is read stuff off this site ,, went with factory gauges,,, hope they work alright , dont have a way to test or even know how,, I took two sets of gauge picked out the better of the rwo, and put msd board and soild stste limiter , painted the , back , face decals and led lights ,, reason I went with factory is becouse , when I start taking gauges and harrness out , seen where darn wires had tape , cut , could make heads or tales of it,, I wasnt going to get new harreness and cut it up with aftermarket stuff,, befor I make anyone mad , should say I know some of yall can do it with aftermark as good as factory,, but im not capable of doing ,,,

 

[gibber]

Yeah I understand completely. I have a small side business rebuilding/restoring Mopar gauges, but about 80 percent of my work is 66/67 Charger Electroluminescent gauges. Have done quite a few B body rally gauge sets, so I have spare gauges to work with. But I know about badly cut up harness....most of them I've seen are fire hazards waiting to happen unfortunately...

Mark

 

[HawkRod]

I am a fan of the original gauges - they look clean and nice. In my opinion, the only real reason to get an aftermarket tach (assuming you have a factory one) is FER RACIN!

 

[HT413]

I hear ya, and to a point I do agree - 99% look like hell with the backs of the gauges exposes and wiring everywhere. But I do value info that oem gauges can't provide such as trans temp, fuel air ratio, oil pressure, and voltage - 4 things my standard non ralley gauges cannot provide. So I'm stuck with aftermarket and all I can do is make them look as presentable as possible.

 

[bigmanjbmopar]

I disagree, I find my aftermarket gauges much more accurate than the stock gauges. Sure if you have a rally dash cluster you have an advanced form of gauges but for us non rally cars the standard dash cluster is pretty bare. Also I think calling out cars with aftermarket guages is wrong. as is hating on resto mods which 80% of the cars here are. Sure OE cars are awesome but unless your car has been sealed in a air proof container I highly doubt it's in great shape for a real purist car show. The only real true pure car is one that is showing it's age and no part other than consumables has ever been changed or replaced!

That said anyone who tells me that their "ground up restoration" is a purist car will get his nuts kicked in and his **** pushed in because it is no longer a OE car! how can it be? every part on it has been replaced with a "aftermarket" NON FACTORY MADE part lol and can not possibly be considered a pure car anymore. So get off your high horses and just enjoy the fact that a mopar is still on the road no matter whats been done to it.

 

[67 coronet]

i think aftermarket is fine when done well.
mine turned out just fine.

 

[Deleted member 214]

I added a voltmeter to my 70 Road runner after I did the ammeter bypass. I plan on putting a shift light on a plug - keep it in the glove compartment and tuck the wires out of the way on the street but have it visible when making passes.

 

[ZR9B]

I like the Sun super tach II, I also like the factory gauges too...there is no way Im tearing into my perfectly good cluster just to add a factory tach....but when I look into your car I WILL drool.

 

[SureGrip]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure, whether you like it or not, that SUN gauge is worth some good cash.

Edit...or not...found them for sale $20....chuck that crap out. LOL

 

[383man]

I like the stock dash and gauges. I did add a few aftermarket in my 63 since I race it sometimes and I like the mechanical temp gauge so I can look at my temp gauge without turning the key on and know the eng temp. I also added a voltmeter when I bypassed the amp gauge. But I love the stock look of our dashes so I wont modify my dash just add a few gauges. This is a cheap tach I use but to be honest even when I race I dont shift by the tach much as most of the time I shift by the feel of how the eng is pulling. It usually works good for as even when I try to look at the tach I still shift when it feels right to me. Ron

 

[coloradodave]

Yeah, I guess some of you guys will really hate my dash. Too bad. You do it your way and I'll do it mine. The difference is that I have enough common sense to keep my opinion on someone else's car to myself...

 

[A383Wing]

I run mechanical oil pressure and water temp gauges in all 3 of my Chargers, I will never rely solely on the factory electrical gauges in my cars

 

[hunt2elk]

I agree with you as not especially liking the looks of aftermarket gauges. But after just having a little hotter than stock motor built up for my 69 Road Runner, I wanted to know exactly what the oil pressure and water temp are doing instead of relying on an idiot light. I also did the MAD ammeter bypass and needed a volt meter. Because of the non rallye dash in these cars, I hung a triple gauge set under the dash and feel better knowing what the mechanicals are doing.

 

[benno440]

Stock gauges no matter how well they are rebuilt will never get as accurate as mine, full electric autometer in stock dash.
LED indicator and High beam bulbs and a manual switch for my electric fans if extra hot day

 

[gibber]

Those setups all look great! Amazing how good those in dash gauges look...

 

[JedIEG]

Personally, I don't like aftermarket gauge mismatch (especially the tach clamped to the steering wheel), nor do I have any love for the grossly inflated price tag for OEM repo/refurbished factory guages... has anybody tried playing Dr. Frankenstein with a new a aftermarket guage and putting an old mopar face on it?

 

[Photon440]

Well, I'm rebuilding my instrument panel right now, and since the ammeter was fried, I put in a volt meter. The volt meter face did not match the rest of my rallye gauges, so I made up my own face and ran it through the laser printer on decal paper. This is going onto the face of the old ammeter - it's a waterslide decal and looks pretty good so far.



I'll show the end results when it's done.