Help me make a decision here - Combo gage or stock Options

[gothspeed]

^^^...and I'm the opposite. I think you can have too much information to the point it's distracting. I don't care what the value is unless it's out of spec, so I love me some basic gauges and idiot lights. I removed the center console and its gauges and use the basic combo with oil temp and lights.

This is probably true.

For some reason my car came with the gauges you'd expect, plus oil temp, plus cylinder #3 head temp, plus oil pressure, plus fuel pressure, plus manifold vacuum, plus voltage meter, plus ammeter, plus a wind up clock with a timer built in. In a modern car I guess a computer would watch all things things and alert me to any problems but this is my toy and it's fun pretending I'm piloting a WWII bomber. I guess this puts me in the poseur category. If I fire up the 123\Tune app I can also see spark advance and distributor temperature. I don't know why the 123 distributor has a temperature sensor since they didn't provide a way to incorporate it into spark advance (yet).

The oil pressure gauge may actually be practical, as it reminds me not to rev the new engine when it's cold. The oil temp gauge is helping me realize how long it's taking to get to operating temperature -- why I'm getting milky white condensation inside the oil filler lid. For cylinder head temperature, I might be better off with a klaxon. I do wish the brake warning light was properly hooked up to my parking brake.

TANGENT:
In 1985 I had a 1975 915 2.0 with the stupid progressive Weber set up and a 009. In the Arizona heat, the oil pressure light flickered at idle -- no gauge in that car. I was a dumb kid and there was no 914World. The mechanic said my bearings must be worn out, needed a rebuild... very expensive for a kid starting his career. During the rebuild, they told me there was a problem with my 2.0 heads, offered replacement heads (which weren't the Porsche ones of course). When the engine was back in the car, the oil pressure light flickered just as it had before.

I can relate and agree, shady shops do exist and they suck.
When I was young I scored a 914 2.0 engine from the wrecking yard that I planned on rebuilding to replace my old 1.7. I took the engine to a vw rebuild shop 'one stop machine' and if I recall correctly, they were in paramount CA. They took the 2.0 engine in and said I needed new pistons and cam. I ordered the parts through them. I stopped by every week after work to see if the parts had arrived. The bald guy at the shop kept telling me the parts had not arrived, every week. After my patience had run out I went by to pick up my motor. That same guy pretended he didn't know what I was talking about. He then pointed to his sign saying 'they were not responsible for any parts left over 30 days'. When it was 'them' who were delaying the process. He then tried to give me some old bus parts (half a case and one cracked head). I left with nothing. As a youngster this was a rough lesson. This crook planned on stealing my engine from the get go.

Sorry this post has nothing to do with the thread topic. So I will add, I like stock and -6 stock combo gauges with pressure or temp on top (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)