All You CHT Gauge Drivers Report Here

[Randy in Maine]

Temp home in the ashtray hole. Who can recommend a nice install point without chopping up the dash. Any good pics out there?

For the record, Phil ("Whip618") gave me his 3 gauge template for dash installation under the radio. If you want to borrow it, send me a PM. The installation is described here....

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewto ... t=template

[Amskeptic]

DD on #3, 78 Westy-very recently tuned with the ITACM's visit. Ambient temp here in Miami is 88. X-way running in 4th at 65mph is around 370-355. Around the town is running 318-360. Like the responsiveness of the DD unit, which I installed last week. Temp home in the ashtray hole. Who can recommend a nice install point without chopping up the dash. Any good pics out there?

I'm into the German exposed mechanicals industrial design method.


In the BobD:




In Chloe, here I have the Motel6 room card "gauge retainer plate" painted black:




Excellent visual access in this location . . . perhaps I will paint the ashtray surround on Chloe with semi-gloss black this year for a more polished appearance. Then again, with my Lanval Commemorative Volvo 264 tachometer impaled on the dash, maybe I should leave it alone . . .
Colin

[Amskeptic]

Who can recommend a nice install point without chopping up the dash?

For the record, Phil ("Whip618") gave me his 3 gauge template for dash installation under the radio. If you want to borrow it, send me a PM. The installation is described here....

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewto ... t=template

[Randy in Maine]

Everything is only a virgin once, but this is not exactly "chopping up the dash" either....

[Amskeptic]

Everything is only a virgin once, but this is not exactly "chopping up the dash" either....
[img]

That ain't no virgin there. Been around. Three at once, even. Yes, it is a relatively clean installation but the amount of dashboard metal blasted off is a definite incontrovertible "dash chop".

Now then, I can understand that a man who has the most luxurious garage in the country may not see major dashboard surgery as anything but a trifling upgrade/improvement . . .
Colin

[Jivermo]

Thank you. The three gauge set up looks good, and I can appreciate the clean installation. I have only the one gauge to deal with, and I don't want to cut through the original dash. Guess I'll make something and stick with the ashtray void.

[Randy in Maine]

You could also use the radio slot or the glove comaprtment door to mount the gauge. I just have to have them where they are pretty solid and where I can see them when they start to flash.

Thank god I am out of Motel 6 "key cards".

[Jivermo]

I guess I could have my navigator yell out the cylinder head temps as we tool along, from the glove box position. I'm not getting that Motel 6 reference, except that I can see part of the wording "Motel" in the BobD pic. That is stretching the "found objects" utilization quite a bit. I guess I'll cut up my Mastercard and mount the DD gauge using that. It measures 2-5/16", so I have plenty of room to work with.

[Randy in Maine]

Of course the nice thing about the Dakota Digital gauges is that you can set them to "flash" when something exciting happens (so you do not have to watch them when you could be looking at something really interesting through that big baywindow).

And yes that Motel 6 comment was aimed indeed at Colin.

[poptop tom]

I put a three pod gauge panel in underneath the dash, to the right of the steering column. Three DD gauges - OP, OT, CHT.

I came close to doing what Randy did, but decided to go down lower. The gauges aren't as visible, but I don't want them that visible. A tilt of the head and there they are.

No pics at the moment, but Colin checked them out on the test drive last week. I wonder what his thoughts are as far as that location goes.

[Jivermo]

I drove down to Matecumbe Key in the Florida Keys yesterday. It was 90 degrees ambient, really hot and humid. There is a long stretch of U.S. 1 highway heading into Key Largo. Running at 62 MPH in 4th gear, my highest reading was 413 degrees. A lot of the time I would be running in the mid 380's range. The bus is at optimum tuning, due to Colin's very recent visit. We put 150 miles on during the run, and the performance is flawless.

[airkooledchris]

On my most recent trek from Eureka to San Francisco and back, my bus ran right around 400* nearly the entire trek - when at speeds above 60 MPH. 60 is the magic line where I go from the upper 300*s (380's+) and then ramp up quickly afterward.

While in route I tried going 7 clicks rich on the black cog, which seemed to make it worse (though the terrain is constantly changing, so it's hard to say for sure) - so I went lean 14 clicks - which seemed to help quite a bit. (but again, the terrain is always changing, so I can only confirm that I could go faster before hitting into the 400's again.)

On the drive back north there are a lot more uphills to climb, long slow gradual climbs, so it ran nice and cool then with the RPM's lowered.

In the end, it seems to come down mostly to the RPM's im running. If im at 3800 RPM, it'll just keep getting hotter and hotter until I slow down. the old logic of downshifting to climb, in order to keep it cool, doesn't seem to work for me. ill lug the motor until I can't maintain a speed above 40 MPH or so, which keeps the head temps happier (though the oil temps spike - which is fine, as they quickly come back down after the climb)

I have a feeling that I need to retard the timing a bit. Previously I had been running oversized tires, which kept the RPM's down - and now im running the 195 BFG's, which are technically a little shorter than stock - which increased the RPM's at highway speed. Ive got quicker more urgent power/speed, but once I hit the highway it suffers a little compared to before. Since most all of my driving is in town or on small/back roads where max speed is 55, it's perfect the way it is. I just need to learn how to tune it properly for when I do hit the highway.

[Amskeptic]

I have a feeling that I need to retard the timing a bit.

Do an exaggerated retard, like 5* degrees.
Report back your results. Then re-adjust timing to where you think it will be happy.
Colin

[72Hardtop]

From 73 onward the buses were just asked to perform cleaner than they were ever designed to run at. End result = Hotter running engines. Which only led to their demise thanks to the smog nazis in this free country of ours.

And if Obama mama has his way we'll be the next new U.S.S.R without the luxury of driving our buses (if E-15 rolls in). God, I'm glad I sure didn't vote for the knucklehead. He now holds the record for the lowest approval rate of any president =D>

And to think there are people out there who voted for this guy...of which most (if not all) are embarrassed to admit.

[Amskeptic]

From 73 onward the buses were just asked to perform cleaner than they were ever designed to run at. End result = Hotter running engines. Which only led to their demise thanks to the smog nazis in this free country of ours.

And if Obama mama has his way we'll be the next new U.S.S.R without the luxury of driving our buses (if E-15 rolls in). God, I'm glad I sure didn't vote for the knucklehead. He now holds the record for the lowest approval rate of any president =D>

And to think there are people out there who voted for this guy...of which most (if not all) are embarrassed to admit.

Interesting place for a political polemic . . .

Since I am a mechanic who often finds himself at people's houses where I can't just spew bullshit and tell my customer "it's the electromagnetic thermistor feedback capacitor, pick it up next Tuesday", I have developed a real appreciation for efficient diagnosis effectively communicated and competently repaired. Anything less is just blowing smoke.

"Smog nazis" is a phrase used by people who refuse to acknowledge that our expanding human enterprise on this finite biosphere requires that we all step up and try to diminish our impact where we can. Most conscious human beings gladly step up in whatever small ways they can. As a Nation, we decided that reducing automotive smog was doable. The results have been impressive.

The Type 4 engine has has a solid history of keeping up with changing requirements. Of all the air-cooled engines, it lasted the longest into the ever more exacting emissions requirements. The most common *cause* of "unexpected demise" was human error by people who do not give a sufficient damn about anything, much less keeping their engines in a careful state of tune. Having never had a Volkswagen engine failure in extremely challenging circumstances, I have a different view of "demise".

Smog nazis surround you, they take a broader view and experience a deeper appreciation of what it is to live on this incredible gorgeous Miracle of Earth. Your scorn in my opinion, is not only suffocatingly small but misplaced. A free country, from an adult perspective, is not a license for nihilistic childish tantrums against rules and regulations arrived at by a carefully executed consensus, which is what this Experiment in Democracy is all about, it is an amazing opportunity to express your thoughtful contribution to the national dialogue through channels that are in place and available to you in this very moment.

The remainder of your comments, I shall not dignify with a reply here.
Colin