Why is it so hard to find quality cool aftermarket gauges?

[DrewTX]

I can't believe I'm having such a hard time deciding on aftermarket gauges. Everything looks so cheap plastic junk. I have an Autometer tach that I bought impulsively, but it looks so cheap I refuse to install it- tossed it in the trash. BTW, who needs a tach going to 8,000 and 10,000 rpms? Full sweep temp gauges going up to 265 degrees, with the mid temp being 210? Or the gauge sets have a sweep so narrow, you never notice when something is wrong. Then the crazy colors, that belong in a tunner Honda. Who are they making this stuff for? Any feedback on a good set of gauges?

 

[lewtot184]

all the autometer stuff is the same except for cosemtics. i have a set of old original stewart warner green lines i think are kinda cool and different; down side is price.

 

[MarPar]

try Stewart Warner...you could get old ones off of evil-bay, or new ones

http://www.stewartwarner.com/

 

[hawkeye]

I really like the New Vintage gauges. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/nvu-69649-01/overview/

 

[forphorty]

What rpm do you want your tach to stop at?

 

[Ranger16]

This what you're looking for?

 

[TxDon]

Stewart Warner green line, I think they are all available as reproductions.

 

[DrewTX]

5500 is usually tops and best shift points. I think 6500 rpms is as high as I've ever gone....anyone ever close to 8,000????? So whats up with 10,000 rpms????

 

[khryslerkid]

The 10,rpm tacs are for small blocks, that can spin up to those #s.

What car do you have? I like the look of the "Period correct" gauges for the year of the car.

I went with these, for my '62 dodge. Found them on ebay, older nos that had a amp guage. I replaced it with a volt meter from Speedway, so you can still get them. The tac was from Summit. I would like to have bought Stewart Warner but its not in the budget.

Here's a thread I started that has a lot of pics on guages and tacs.
http://www.forbbodiesonly.com/moparforum/threads/where-did-you-mount-your-tach-1962-1965.111814/

 

[biomedtechguy]

Hawkeye-NICE guages man. Good job. I bit the bullet and got a Dakota Digital gauge cluster for my 70 Roadrunner. One piece unit, so my current Autometer 10k tach with external shift light that is IMO nicely taking the spot where my factory clock that was only right 2x a day used to reside. Sure, an 8k tach would be about 1,500 rpms more that I can forsee needing, but I rarely actually look at the tach unless I'm curious about rpms@a particular mph, or tuning...when I go down the 1320, I go by sound mostly and shift light. So when I install the Dakota Digital guage cluster, I will have to install a stand alone programmable shift light. I really like the setup I have in the photos, but the Dakota Digital gauges should be more reliable and definitely easier to see at night.

 

[mmissile]

Who needs a tach? A shift light is much more usable. I put tachs in my vintage cars, just as ornaments.

 

[biomedtechguy]

Who needs a tach? A shift light is much more usable. I put tachs in my vintage cars, just as ornaments.

...I rarely actually look at the tach unless I'm curious about rpms@a particular mph or tuning...lol.
mmissile, I really have come to appreciate the shift light. It's the first time I've had one, and when I am WFO in the Roadrunner, I'm kinda "busy" so it's nice to have the shift light for sure.

 

[polywideblock]

http://www.speedhut.com/gauges/ us made
I'm thinking about the quad gauge and dual sweep speedo /tacho for my 60