VDO, Gaffrig, Livorsi or Faria?

[Donziweasel]

Looking for some new gauges, a couple of questions-

1. Did Donzi use VDO gauges in 1994? My 1994 16 came with Gaffrigs.

2. Which gauges do you prefer-VDO, Gaffrig, Livorsi, Faria or something else?

3. Will the VDO sensors work with any of the above ones?

Mine are black and I want to switch to white. Thanks!

[Just Say N20]

I don't know about VDO in 1994.

Some VDO gauges had different impedance levels than "regular" gauges.

I used Chesapeake SS by Faria when I redid the Ski-Sporter because I thought they were a nice blend of retro and contemporary.

[Donziweasel]

Thanks Bill, I like them.

[Ghost]

The vdo viewlines have a lot of cool features and good looks, but for the surrounds/bezels, which I'm not wild about. (Might be great with a thin panel setup, but I have a thick dash without a panel over a large cutout. Each of my gauges has its own hole cut through over an inch of material.) These have User-settable-level idiot lights built in, which are nearly invisible in black faced versions unless the lights actually come on. I think merc oems these now, though I don't know if the merc flavor allows you to set the idiot light thresholds yourself with a PC. It's an awesome idea though. Also not sure how hard it is to get vdo in the USA. Tried to reach them a while back and got bupkis everywhere I called. With the right bezel/rim options, I'd have liked to have had these.

Livorsi is probably good for customizing, and some folks rave about their new plug-based wiring. Looks like a nice setup.

Had white faria chesapeakes in my cobalt--very pretty, but always found them hard to read at a glance due to thin stroke width of hashmarks, poor scale numbering choices, and wasted space on the faces. Take a look at the temp gauge pic bill posted above. ask yourself what it'd be like to make sense of that if you were watching for changes. The scale just sucks. it's like work to figure out the temp if not right on a hash mark. And didn't love their illumination at night. (The lighting was not fully hooded (bad, and kinda inexcusable imo) and also, the light was not evenly distributed enough. Also, illumination at night should be red--does not diminish night vision. Any gauge lighting besides red is a bad idea.)

I just bought the new Gaffrig 270-degree sweep style, for easier viewing and reasonably retro good looks. The 270s use a lot more of the real estate on the face and pretty much do all I asked, visually. Largely happy. Wish my fuel gauge was damped, however.

Whatever u get, strongly recommend LEDs and not bulbs, if any still exist.

As for the color part of the style decision, I never looked at any white ones in my latest search and purchase.

[Conquistador_del_mar]

I am also partial to the white faced gauges. My friend is selling a 1994 Donzi and I noticed it has VDO gauges. If you have questions about VDO compatabilities concerning senders, you might call Lauderdale Speedometer and Compass since they are gauge experts. I had to call them today about an old VDO Series One speedometer.

[Just Say N20]

Mike, I'm thinking you are more critical than most, but good input.

I actually went with the black faced gauges like those above. After Keith built my engine, at his suggestion I switched the temp gauge from water temp, to oil temp (which is nice, since the gauge is NOT marked with either water/oil), since I was told oil temp was the thing to watch.

Regarding the accuracy/readability; I haven't found it to be a problem. The Speedo and Tach are big enough to be easily read. Fuel, Volts and Oil Pressure are easy to read because I'm looking for a needle position, and don't really care for an accurate numerical assignment at a glance.

Oil Temp I'm looking for a range. I was told, "don't hammer on the engine until the oil temp is at least 160." There is a line at 175, so if I'm close to that, I figure I'm good. The only thing about using that gauge for oil temp, is that after a decent WOT run, the oil temp is almost at the 250º max. I don't have an oil cooler, and Keith said to run Amsoil synthetic, where 250º isn't a problem. If the oil temp got hotter, which isn't that unusual, I would have to opt for a different gauge.

Enough rambling.

[Conquistador_del_mar]

I just bought the new Gaffrig 270-degree sweep style, for easier viewing and reasonably retro good looks. The 270s use a lot more of the real estate on the face and pretty much do all I asked, visually. Largely happy. Wish my fuel gauge was damped, however.

You might look into a Centroid sender to eliminate the fuel bounce.

[Ghost]

Mike, I'm thinking you are more critical than most, but good input.

I actually went with the black faced gauges like those above. After Keith built my engine, at his suggestion I switched the temp gauge from water temp, to oil temp (which is nice, since the gauge is NOT marked with either water/oil), since I was told oil temp was the thing to watch.

Regarding the accuracy/readability; I haven't found it to be a problem. The Speedo and Tach are big enough to be easily read. Fuel, Volts and Oil Pressure are easy to read because I'm looking for a needle position, and don't really care for an accurate numerical assignment at a glance.

Oil Temp I'm looking for a range. I was told, "don't hammer on the engine until the oil temp is at least 160." There is a line at 175, so if I'm close to that, I figure I'm good. The only thing about using that gauge for oil temp, is that after a decent WOT run, the oil temp is almost at the 250º max. I don't have an oil cooler, and Keith said to run Amsoil synthetic, where 250º isn't a problem. If the oil temp got hotter, which isn't that unusual, I would have to opt for a different gauge.

Enough rambling.
agreed. For the "keep it in the ballpark" scenario, it's fine, when all is well. But if you get to the boundaries, where it's not behaving (or you aren't sure), it makes that closer inspection a real pita, imo. Also, I'm a fan of tachs with single digits (RPM x 1000, not RPM x 100), esp when next to speedos with straight mph. Edit: Also, I assume most folks here rarely use their gauges at night, also, taking that off the table. And hash marks should never go 10 in a row the same size...45 should have a longer hash mark, so the range from 40 to 50 is not uniform with 10 ticks in a row before the next clear boundary. Color change is not enough, the eye wants a longer mark at 45, which makes cursory inspection easy to put the actual number in your head, rather than forcing any thought or risking error.

and you're right, I'm a bit more critical on this subject than most. :)


You might look into a Centroid sender to eliminate the fuel bounce.
Interesting...thanks!

[Donziweasel]

Mike, I like the single digit tachs too. I guess they all do the same thing, it is simply a matter of preference.

My big question is will the sending units from one gauge work on another. For example, would a VDO oil pressure sender work with a Gaffrig oil pressure gauge?

[Ghost]

Mike, I like the single digit tachs too. I guess they all do the same thing, it is simply a matter of preference.

My big question is will the sending units from one gauge work on another. For example, would a VDO oil pressure sender work with a Gaffrig oil pressure gauge?

Good question, and one I never got answered when I tried to reach VDO. My guess is going through Merc for the OEM'd ones might be the easiest route for info. Though the straight VDOs (non-Merc) looked a hair better in my view.

(As for preference, I think it goes a hair beyond that, to very real human-factors measures. Sufficient stroke width, not exceeding 5 uniform hashes without a clear divider, not being able to confuse 3 on the tach with 30 on the speedo (as you can when it's 30 on the tach and 30 on the speedo), red light at night, etc, all simplify the viewing experience to cut down on needed thought and make things more intuitive. Which is sneaky important--it doesn't matter when you are sitting, focused on the gauges. But when it is a divided-attention task, like driving at speed or dealing with a messy sea-state while trying to navigate, that's when you see errors crop up with one style that you don't see on the other. FWIW. The Air Force put a lot of money into this sort of research post WW2 to stop people from flying into the ground. Most of it is pretty intuitive, but boat gauge makers pay some attention and also make lots of compromises for style.)