Mechanical Gauges more accurate?

[MustangChris]

Edited version: took out my sales questions on pricing and other junk you dont care about.

From: Chris
Sent: Wednesday, July 07, 2010 3:52 PM
To: Joseph From Auto Meter
Subject: RE: Auto Meter Sales FAQ Form



Joseph,



The ?word on the street? is that the electric gauges aren?t as accurate as mechanical ones, is this true?

[edit]

Thanks,
Chris

Reply:

From: Joseph From Auto Meter [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, July 07, 2010 3:30 PM
To: chris
Subject: RE: Auto Meter Sales FAQ Form


The full sweep electric gauges will walk all over the mechanicals in terms of accuracy and durability. The sending units have a 1/2% +/- margin of error compared to up to 2% on the best mechanical gauges. The full sweep electrics also zero calibrate themselves on every startup ensuring continued accuracy even if the meter movement starts to wear. These are definitely our top of the line products. There?s a reason you see these in the big dollar NASCAR racers, drag racers and everything else. Mechanical gauges are great; they work when the vehicle is off, they?re ideal for low (electrical) power applications and certain old timers won?t trust anything else. Number for number, stat for stat, you?re looking at a superior product in the full sweep electrics.


[edit for other junk]



Best regards,



Joseph Mills



Auto Meter Products

413 W Elm St.

Sycamore IL 60178

1-866-248-6357

Check us out on Facebook!

http://www.facebook.com/AutoMeterProductsInc






hmmmmmmmmmm :thumbsup:

 

[Javi]

are our stock gauges electric? :tard:

 

[MustangChris]

yes, but i doubt they are considered anything near "full sweep electric"

 

[Paul]

Cool. Thanks for posting man.

I have used mechanicals nearly all my life, and only recently switched to full-sweep electric gauges (because Nexus isn't offered in mechanical) - but for what most of us are doing, the full-sweep electric isn't worth the tremendous additional cost.

Paul.

 

[94svtturbo]

Thanks chris. I have wondered about this subject. Cuz the electric gauges cost more than the mechanicals. but i have always heard mechanical is better

 

[Dalamar]

Cool. Thanks for posting man.

I have used mechanicals nearly all my life, and only recently switched to full-sweep electric gauges (because Nexus isn't offered in mechanical) - but for what most of us are doing, the full-sweep electric isn't worth the tremendous additional cost.

Paul.

Agree with paul on this one.

Thanks for sharing the feedback Chris

 

[bottlefed97]

Fvck spending that much money.

I'll stick with my "real" gauges

 

[MustangChris]

Np guys. My official post count is now officially "1"

Anyways, heres the story (if anyone is curious.)

I purchased mechanical gauges, thinking they are more accurate (after being told this on multiple occations) but I learned the NHRA doesnt allow for fluids to cross over the firewall. (oil pressure gauge) So i went to check out new gauges on autometer's site. Since i was going to have to go electric, i figured i might as well go full sweep.

SO. i figured "I could do electric in the cabin and mechanical under the hood for when im working on the engine. Is this worth it, since Ill have the mechanical gauges anyways?"

I was always told that the mechanical were more accurate, and I asked my old brother who's a mechanical engineer (yea, we arent much alike. lol) and he said that even if the mechanical were more accurate, the displays on the gauges arent accurate enough to display the information well enough to make up for the difference.

so, i decided to ask autometer. and the above conversation is what took place.

Please also view my "feedback" thread for more information regarding Joseph at AutoMeter.

 

[bottlefed97]

I have mechanical fuel/oil gauges, do you really think NHRA is gonna check?

 

[MustangChris]

i prefer not get kicked out... lol.

plus, i figure they put in the rules for a reason... with some research you can find that some of the rules are retarded (battery kill switch set ups.) but this one, seems important..

Id rather do it right the first time, than get kicked out, have to re-wire all my shiz... oh geez... im stressing just thinking about it. lol.

 

[bottlefed97]

i prefer not get kicked out... lol.

plus, i figure they put in the rules for a reason... with some research you can find that some of the rules are retarded (battery kill switch set ups.) but this one, seems important..

Id rather do it right the first time, than get kicked out, have to re-wire all my shiz... oh geez... im stressing just thinking about it. lol.

haha true. Is your track NHRA sanctioned? I guess i'm used to my track, where the tech inspection consists purely of signing a waiver.

 

[MustangChris]

i prefer not get kicked out... lol.

plus, i figure they put in the rules for a reason... with some research you can find that some of the rules are retarded (battery kill switch set ups.) but this one, seems important..

Id rather do it right the first time, than get kicked out, have to re-wire all my shiz... oh geez... im stressing just thinking about it. lol.

haha true. Is your track NHRA sanctioned? I guess i'm used to my track, where the tech inspection consists purely of signing a waiver.

its the most popular strip in CO. they do all the NHRA events at it... so im guessing it is...
they do everything at my track, ive senn them inspecting roll cages, seen a guy kicked out for going too fast without a cage (TT Mach1,) lifted up my battery, made me take "chrome dressings" off my engine, etc. etc. etc. :-( lol.

edit:
also made me take my license plate out of my front windshield.

 

[bottlefed97]

Damn! My track is pretty much hillbilly central, so i'm not used to anything like that.

I can see why you are being strict about the gauges! lol

 

[MustangChris]

yea... made me take the dead hooker out of my trunk too...

 

[ivan12]

You too? I thought my track was the only one were it was frowned upon to have the dead hookers in the trunk.

Back to the gauge subject, what do you guys know about the digital autometer gauges?

 

[MustangChris]

autometer is awesome. digital will give the user a more accurate display to read...

theoretically speaking the analog gauge faces should be more accurate because the needle can move a c-hair, whereas a digital gauge has to round to the nearest whole number, tenth, hundreth, etc..... BUT. the fonts on the gauges, the type of needle, and the type of guage all change how "accurate" that mechanical needle "appears" to the naked eye...

frankly, at 100 MPH your better off with a digital display full sweep electric guage. big, clear numbers with accurate readings...

I personally went with the analogeue gaugeses because my OEM dash isnt digital... BUT I wanted as accurate as possible on my wideband. went full sweep wideband + digital reading.