Hello fellow teeners,
I'm currently building a resto mod 914 with a turbo powered ej20 engine and trans. I got me a 930 turbo tach and have my eye on a triple gauge from NHS. I also am planing on having the gauges illuminate in red.
I was wanting to know if anybody here is using the 911 VDO electronic speedometer or anything that would match oem style VDO gauges? I was considering speed hut speedometer but I am afraid their gauge lighting will not match up with what I am looking for (a look of matching set). any suggestions? Pictures are appreciated as well.

Also will the pickup signal from the Subaru trans work on the 911 gauge and be accurate?


Thanks'
Al

Yes the 911 speedo works great. I got a unit called speedo healer that is programmable to adjust for the offset between the Subaru transmission pulses and what the 911 speedo wants. There is also an electric pulse-to-mechanical drive converter out there that should work with the stock gauges.

My gauges were converted to LED by timothyND on these forums. They transmission to red illumination starting at 4k rpm.

I changed all mine but kept the general VDO theme/style. Here:



Easy solution, programmed with cell phone gps so it's super-accurate, fits and works great. Tach is a tad garish but that LED shift light is really useful, more than you'd think.

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Nice gauges rnellums and DBcooper . Thanks for the VERY useful information and pictures. Out of curiosity... is anyone running something other and OEM style gauges if so please share. Also is anyone using the 930 turbo tach and hows the boost gauge working for you? Is there any modifications or special sending unit that is needed? Any and all input is appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Al

Factory gauges redone by Hollywood Speedo. boost gauge in bottom portion of tach.


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A lot of conversion guys are running the Speed Hut gauges and are pretty happy with them. I really wanted mine to look stockish.

Timothy did mine as well. Stock gauges adapted to work with a suby engine and trans. Nothing fancy, nothing pricey. Just work and look great.

Thanks for the recommendation mepstien, will definitely have to look him up.

Did Timothy use that electrical pulse to mechanical drive unit on you gauges? If so what is the name of that converter. Thanks

I went with SpeedHut. I couldn't be happier.
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A few advantages of the Speedhut speedometer are: 2 trip meters, 0-60 stop watch, top speed recorded, dead nuts milage recorder and speedometer as it is GPS based. Tire changes do not effect the Speedo.

I also have the SpeedHut speedometer and really like it. The only problem with it is that if you are in a big city with tall buildings or in a tunnel you lose the GPS signal.

If the stock look is truly what you're after, then Ross and Mark's setup is what you'll want to do. I will also be using a 911 electric speedo for my boxster S transaxle conversion with speedhealer to make everything talk nicely. This seems to be the easiest way, unless you get a GPS speedo.

If you go the route of buying a 911 electric speedo, go ahead and buy that 20x30 plastic gear. They seem to be sold everywhere on the internet. The old gear inside the 911 speedo is made from some brittle bakelite plastic which will shatter (if it hasn't already), the newer gear is made out of nylon I believe.

Since you will have this gauge apart and you are after just one color of backlighting, I would recommend buying red side emitting LED flexible strips. I have a thread in my signature on how to install these to your gauges. This style of LED's are far better than the bayonet style LED's.

Based on the info provided I found this converter, sounds like a good alternative. the cost is a bit high ($345 plus tax and shipping) but not as much as 911 electronic speedo with speedo sensor calibrator. (roughly $700. $600 for electric 911 gauge and $100 for the calibrator). I like the look of the speed hut gauges. very close to OEM look in a way. speed hut GPS gauge is a nice alternative @ $280. I am curious to see how speed hut gauges illuminate at night verses OEM VDO gauges.

has anybody mixed and match the lets say VDO oem and speedhut? if so please lets see what it looks like when illuminated!!!

(FYI... OEM look triple gauge from Palo Alto Speedometers is $695 + T&S and the Quad gauge from NHS is a whooping $1900 . can't find anyone else that makes quad gauges.)

thanks for all your input. Keep them coming

AlClick to view attachment

Timothy, I like your set up on illumination changing colors to red. Can the color change occur at a different rpm, lets say 5000 rpm?

Yes

anybody running speed hut gauges... could i see what they look like when illuminated?
thanks,
Al

I think they show it on the website or YouTube videos.