hey all, i was interested in putting some guages in the type 3. all the important ones....i dont wanna be swamped with them...
i have a tacho already...so i need a oil pressure/temp guage and a voltmeter...but also can u get a guage that tells u whether the genny is putting out power?
also how would i go about installing the oil temp/pressure guage? do u have to drill and tap a hole?

thanks, jonno

Oil temp has a few options, you can either tap a sensor into the sump plate, or into the rear of the case, that sends a signal to the gauge in the dash. There are also dip stick senders, but they won't really work on a type 3.
Oil pressure you can fit a sender into where the stock pressure switch is, again it sends a signal to the gauge on the dash. These are better than a mechanical one where you need to pipe oil into the dash for a signal.
Volt meter is pretty easy. You can also get an amp meter to see the output of the generator, but not practical on a VW as you need to run the power lead from gen to gauge back to battery. That causes a lot of voltage drop in a VW.

If you understand what the voltmeter is doing, it will tell you all you need to know.
Same goes for oil pressure, if you know what your seeing, you can tell when the oil is hot, and leave the temp gauge out.
A vacuum gauge is a handy addition also.
If you want to go all out, and have plenty of money, a cylinder head temp gauge can also be installed.
Richard

awesome mate, thanks

but how do i learn how to read the guage's so i dont need the temp guage?

thanks, jonno

I always thought that voltmeters measured genny voltage output, not battery voltage???

My top three gauges (apart from tacho) would be oil pressure, oil temp and volts. Isn't there a way of mounting an oil temp sender in the existing hole where the pressure switch lives on a T piece so you keep the idiot light?

I run 2....

Oil Temp and Oil Pressure....

What more do you need.


They fit perfectly into the Type3 console....

Oil Temp is in my deep sump... give me a nice reading of how the temp is goin into my engine.....(Sucks from the bottom.)

The preasure is T'd from the pressure light.

I also will look at Head temp later.
(After turbo..)

I am working on that i have an old clock housing and making a 3 way guage......
Like this...










Tazz

Ok, here's my opinion on reading gauges.
Firstly, I will say gauges are best used as a tool to note changes, rather than stressing on particular values. Most auto gauges are not highly accurate anyway. Another thing many forget is electric gauge accuracy also depends on the voltage of the power supply. So just use them as an indicator to show trends. Ideally fit gauges to a known good engine then just look for out of the ordinary readings.

Firstly temp gauges, pretty easy, they show oil temp! The temp measured will vary a lot depending on the sender location. Pretty much all gauges measure temperature in the sump, which has little to do with the temp of the oil after it's been through the pump, cooler and gets to your bearings, not to mention the temps it gets to around your rings (piston rings that is)!
Also all oils react differently to temperature, and oil properties vary as it gets old (well, contaminated). I'd be happy running good new synthetic oil at 130C, but be scared to run a cheap, old mineral oil at 100C

Oil pressure. I see this as the most vital. Loose this (pressure) and you risk serious damage to your engine. Get to know your motor and what pressure it has at various revs, and also on hot and cold days, highway and around town. Then just watch for abnormal pressures which will point to problems brewing.
You can dispense with the temp gauge by watching your pressure gauge. Oil pressure drops as oil temp rises, so if you have an unusually low pressure one of the reasons could be oil temp.
In my opinion, as long as oil pressure is good, your oil and lubrication system are good, your bearings are good and temp is not that important anymore.

Voltmeter. This one can tell you a lot. Turn your ignition on, you should get ~12-12.5 volts. Next watch the gauge as you crank the motor, it shouldnt drop below ~8V. Get this and you know your battery is good! Once your warmed up, and been driving for a while you should see ~13.5-14V. Every now and then (once everyone or two months) turn everything on with the motor running (at idle fine for alternator or ~1500rpm for gen), lights, radio, fans etc and watch gauge, it should be ~12.5-13V. Get this and you know the regulator and alt/gen ar doing their job!
Note: If you take the voltage from a power cable at the fuse box, you may get some voltage drop between it and the battery.
PurpleT3, when running and charging the alt/gen is connected to the battery, so the voltage is pretty much the same! An oil temp sender in a Tee off an oil pressure line will be pretty isolated from oil temperature fluctuations, so not recommended

Vacuum gauge. These are good to show generaly engine condition and tune. Vacuum leaks can soon ruin an engine. Watching the gauge can help you drive more economically also.

Cyl head temp. VW's with air cooling and aluminium heads are easily damaged if they are running lean, timing is out, or driven very hard. A cyl head temp gauge will show this up and are a good addition.

My pick for gauges would be vacuum and oil pressure. The rest are nice but not as important.

:blah :blah :blah :blah
:beer

vdo make quality gauges and more importantly(esp for kombi campers) they make what are known as `shunt ammeters'
these have a shunt that goes at the engine end and you only need to run 2 thin wires from the shunt to the ammeter
bingo-no voltage drop
(altho they are more expensive than your ordinary kmart ones lol)

campers with twin battery setups should really have two-one for each set of batteries-you would be surprised how long it takes that second battery to fully charge after a couple of days camping and if you are using a relay charging system how much will be pulled out of your starting battery until the camp battery gets a bit of charge in it