Anyone have any experience with the Stewart Warner biege wings gauges or the Auto Meter antique beige gauges? Which is the higher quality gauge? Are the electrical gauges as accurate as the mechanical? Are there any draebacks to these gauges? I am building a late 50's early sixties type rod. I know that the black faced wings might be more period correct, but I kind of like the old time look of the beige faces.
I prefer the SW guages for the quality. Autometer is good, but has slipped a bit in the past few years. I prefer mechanical guages for accuracy and quick response, but electric senders make hooking things up easier most of the time. Mechanical guages will be less money most of the time too. Try to get an electic speedo though, they are much easier to hook up and can be calibrated to match your setup or recalibrated later if you make a change.
www.Speedwaymotors.com or www.rjays.com (HAMB Alliance discount here, but you'd have to join first) I used an autometer beige set in my last car and for my current project, I bought SW Wings. Both are very good quality. Believe both are made in Mexico. I think the Autometer set was easier to set up. They were more affordable too. I would go for the electric senders unless you want to plumb oil and water lines to through your firewall to the back of your dash. IMO, the electric senders are cleaner too.
I don't rember autometer making the news. Maby thay were in mexico from the begining. But s&w were on the news for screwing the workers when they left
I have a set of Mooneyes Autometer gauges, not the beige antique series, in my roadster. The tach failed after just a few hours' running, and I have a hunch the temp gauge is reading cold (says 150 and I've got a 160 thermostat). Autometer tech service promised to fix my tach -- for a fee. Fearless
used AutoMeter for the last 15-20 years. Only issue i've ever had was a mismatch between a factory fuel sender,and a Ultralight gauge. Called 'em & asked about it, they recalibrated the gauge...free. just my .02
Sadly, I think both **** these days... Get a vintage set of S/W gauges if you want quality... or try out these guys: http://www.cl***icinstruments.com/ Very good stuff.
Autometer builds their gauges in Sycamore, Illinois. There was a feature about them on Horsepower TV a while back, Autometer has the video on their website: http://www.autometer.com
I put a new set of S/W wings electric in my old 32 coupe...Has some issues with them, especially the tach..It worked when it felt like it. I've had many Auto Meter gauges over the years with good luck. In fact, i've been using the vintage black face/chrome ring A/M gauges in accessory panels in all my car's the past few years and they have worked out very well. Havn't bought any other S/W stuff since 98 when i built the 32 so i have no clue how they are now. Just wasn't happy after spending that much and having problems..
There's a pretty good thread about this subject on here somewhere (do a search). I used the Autometers for years and they're great, but after a while, I couldn't take the modern look - so switched back to vintage SW's. Had to add a couple modern gauges to complete the set (voltmeter and tach). Voltmeter works okay - tach is ****py...
I've had good luck with Smith's gages. Vintage styling and lots of them around cheap from the old Brit cars.
I will NEVER run new SW guages again. Had a tach that shorted inside and took the module in a Unilite with it. SW techs had me test it over the phone, he even admited they had issues with them doing that. He told me they would even pick up the tab on the module. I ship it to them, as they requested, they call me up saying that they would fix the tach, but so sad/too bad on the module plus they needed a credit card # for the return shipping.
The temp gauge is reading the temp where the sender is placed. With only a 10 degree spread I'm thinking your pretty close considering the variability in the thermostats and gauges these days. Unless your sender is extremely close to the thermostat (like screwed into the thermostat housing itself like some Fords are) all bets are off. Temp varies widely throughout the cooling system. The front of the 289 in my truck runs at 180 degrees at the thermostat housing whereas the sender is in one of the bungs at the rear of the intake manifold and the mechanical gauge rarely reads higher than 150 degrees. I verified temp at various areas of the motor using one of those laser pointed IR type pyrometers/thermometers. Sweet little toys that are useful for keeping gauges honest and also as a tuning aid - like checking cylinder to cylinder variations by shooting individual header tubes. -Bigchief.
Funny enough the only gauges I remember NEVER having any problems with was one of the ****py sets of 3 sunlites you get at Napa. I had them hooked up in the glove box of my truck for years. In my Porsche racecar we went through dozens of autometers they ****ed. Ended up going to an Electronic display and a big red oil light. The only SW's I ever had were old and they were rad.
Ive run autometer for years no problems yet, but going to run S.T. gauges on my A pickup we'll see how they turn out.....
Gypsy, cl***ic instruments are an alliance vender so check em out. Here's the list- http://www.jalopyjournal.com/?page_id=176
My first set of electric gauges were all SW "custom face" type for my roadster back in 1967, I ran those for the first 200,000 miles---No problems, they are still up in the garage attic with other "stuff". When I did my last redo, I decided to go with the new FORD logo electric instruments made by Auto Meter in 1995, I now have 100,000 miles on those "NEW" gauges, & they too, are working just fine!!--------Don
Searched for this old thread to share a story about Auto Meter. Da Tinman has been making many "tasty" mods to my coupe the past few months at his shop. While working on the new recessed instrument cluster he set the speedo on his bench. When he next picked it up he noticed that the needle had broken in half. He called Moon in California to see if they could repair it and was told they don't repair them. He asked the cost of a new one and was told they don't sell just the speedo, he'd have to buy a gauge set! Jay noticed the speedo was manufactured by Auto Meter in Sycamore, IL. He gave them a call and found out the unit was repairable but they weren't allowed to touch it without permission from Moon! So he called back to Moon to request permission in writing - they complied and faxed a letter to Auto Meter. I was down visiting last weekend and brought the broken gauge back with me. Earlier this week I drove to Sycamore and stopped at Auto Meter. I climbed the stairs and opened the door where a man was speaking to a woman at the desk. Kelly asked if she could help and I explained the situation. She said the guy I needed to see (Doug Lemons) was standing in front of me. He looked at the gauge and asked me to wait in the foyer. About 20 minutes later he came out of the door and handed me the speedo. It looked brand new! He told me there was a lifetime warranty on the needle (if broken) and thanked me for buying Auto Meter products. Most impressive! And, this is the second time Auto Meter has helped me. They replaced a temp gauge sending unit about five years ago. In this day of electronic switchboards and corporate run-arounds, Auto Meter has earned my respect and patronage.
I have a set of Autometer Antique Beige electronic gauges-had a problem with the bezel on the tach not matching the rest of the set-called them up-they said send them back and we'll make it right-They matched all six gauges and sent them back-can't beat that IMO. Electronic speedo odometer doesn't look real trad-BUT the speedo is real easy to set up and accurate.
Both are reputable firms, but all of their product is m*** produced, so from time to time something may slip through. We build each set one at a time, by hand. While this may not be the most effecient way to do things, it does help to maintain a high quality standard. Mark
I know this thread did not ask about Cl***ic, but I have used them with out fail for many years and highly reccomend them. That being said, I have to agree with the boss, vintage SW are the finshing touch for any nolstalgic ride.
I've had both the antque beige Auto Meters & the SW wings. I just installed the wings gauges and the voltage gauge was defective out of the box, pegged the needle. I installed an older SW voltage guage and it works fine. I had a problem with the Autometer antique beige fuel gauge. That took a while to sort out, re-grounded, rewired & changed sending units on tank before they would send me a replacement gauge which worked perfectly. Ryan is correct, if you've got the coin & the time, find an old set of SW. I think the autometer & new sw stuff is ok but the quality is a little suspect. Good luck.
Don't mean to hijack, but does anyone have any experience with the "all in one" 5" tach/gauge set? It's a "monster" tach with oil, temp, fuel, and volt gauges built into the face. I've only seen one (Summit brand) in a car that wasn't together yet. Interesting idea, I'm just curious about the quality/accuracy...
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