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A little question about 931 instruments.
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Rick MacLaren  
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 31, 2002 7:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ideally what you want for instruments is some arrangement that gives you similar, and very relevant information close to the line of sight of you and your vehicle. Less relevant information should be pushed farther away from the line of sight. The farther to the right you push your eye, the farther off the road, to the right, your eye is moving from its target: the road. In fact, you're probably likely to steer right while looking right, driving at speed. Same with eye travel to the left: The more you veer your eye from center to the left, the more you lose track of the road.

Gauge pods and pillars are ok. The pillars should have the gauges aimed right at your eye. The risk of placing a boost gauge to the extreme right, at the clock, depends on how much you need the gauge. And where you sit.

1. Get comfortable in your seat and adjust it as required. For me, that's sitting closer up to the wheel, not laid back like in a Corvette. Elbows should be relaxed and angled holding the wheel at 9 and 3.

2. Project your line of sight out to the road - that's your direction of travel.

3. Now measure out 10 degrees (left and right) from that line of sight. Anything more and you're likely turning your head. Notice too that the more you move your head, the more uncomfortable you become. So if you have to move your head a lot to see any gauge, then either move the gauge, or be willing to move your head to see it. Things aren't going to move themselves, and your eyes won't get better with time.

If you're running a car where you need to know boost, where you're running at the limit of safe boost, then I'd place it closer to where you're looking while driving. If it's not so important, or about as important as a clock, then you can place it farther away.

Thing is, if it's not so important, then, well, why would you install it? Hmmm. Paradox. Sort of like having a Pep Boys Doo Dad dangling from your rear view mirror: It's fun to look at and impress the chicks and teenager friends but isn't terribly functional.

A related problem with gauges off to the periphery is that you can't make out color information very well when data meets the periphery of the eye, as color vision isn't good on the periphery. That's one very good reason not to place an Air/Fuel gauge off to the periphery too far. If you do, you won't get much of an alert that things have changed, cause you can't likely discern colors without head movement. They'll all look about the same, until it's too late, and it'll just be a blur until you move your head and focus.

Most drivers won't notice this and will make corrections unconsciously moving their heads all over - about as attentive as cell phone users - they're not looking at the road while doing so. That may be perfectly fine for highway cruising. But it is kind of ridiculous for serious driving where the gauge is really needed.

If you draw out a sweep of about the size of your vital instrument area on the Porsche, that's about the size of the 'safe' space you've got to work in so that you don't have to remove your eyes from the road to see or move your head - just a flick of the eyes and you've got the data. Cause that's the area of your visual field that actually meets the retina and has best resolution. This is probably why Porsche put the boost gauge and RPM so close together on the 937, if what 81 Turbo says is true.

But hey, if you just like having colorful gauges then placement really doesn't matter and you can put them any place that fits.



Here's a guy who likes his gauges and instruments everywhere. But though the air fuel is probably ok, the rest make for clutter in that vital area, and that's not good either.






[ This Message was edited by: Rick MacLaren on 2002-10-31 09:26 ]
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81turbo  
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 31, 2002 8:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Whats this if what I say is true, Am I the only on there who has read or owns most of the 924/944 books out there? It is just like the 951 only bigger.
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Rick MacLaren  
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 31, 2002 8:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It's not a slight - it's a way of marking the certainty of the proposition (i.e., that the gauge exists and can be had by us). Lighten up. Sheesh.

"Am I the only on there who has read or owns most of the 924/944 books out there?"

Yes, and that's why you are the proud winner of the Gold Medal of Achievement. It is arriving shortly by mail and will be accompanied by a marching band and crowd of groupies. Better get out of your underwear and be ready to answer the door in about 2 minutes...there's also a full TV crew awaiting your acceptance speech.

:smile:

[ This Message was edited by: rick maclaren on 2002-10-31 10:03 ]
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81turbo  
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 31, 2002 12:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Rick I've been waiting in my Panites and no one has shown up yet. Yes the gauge does exist and from the best of my knowledge there would be less than 1000 ever produced and damn hard to find. Let me know when you find someone parting a 937, Okay?
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Rick MacLaren  
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 31, 2002 12:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Friendly aside to 81Turbo, sitting in his panties: Good! Yeah, I wouldn't guess there'd be many 937 ones around, so it really wouldn't be the gauge of choice to try to find. But it's a nice idea. So, why do you say "That is the gauge to look for"? Another paradox. Was there a run on eBay between that post and now? lol

Bantor aside...
____________________________________

The trouble I find with the 944 Turbo gauge, and it's probably the reason some 944 Turbo owners get a replacement gauge (aside from obvious ones like they've chipped it, so the factory gauge won't work, or they've upped the boost), is that it has a very limited range of boost. And they're very hard to read with only a 90 degree sweep. The level of granularity just isn't enough to say how much boost you've got. Here's the stock setup. 944 Turbo owners say the gauges are inaccurate, but sheesh, they're also really hard to read accurately.



I think that's why some guys who own those cars, once they've messed with the setup a bit, get a better boost gauge like a sweeping dial with a wider effective range.



I like the setup below because it's positioned right, and when the car is at full boost the sweeping hand should be near vertical, so it's easy to tell when overboost happens - if I'm reading it correctly, it happens when the needle exceeds vertical and points up to the right. They've also color coded the vaccuum and boost ranges so it's easier to tell roughly where you are:



The band hasn't shown up yet? Just wait a couple of hours more, they should be there soon. Can't you hear the sound of the marching band yet? They're the ones making the sounds that are overshadowing the screaming voices. :smile:

[ This Message was edited by: Rick MacLaren on 2002-10-31 15:09 ]
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John H  
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 01, 2002 10:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:

On 2002-10-31 13:23, 81turbo wrote:
Rick I've been waiting in my Panites and no one has shown up yet. Yes the gauge does exist and from the best of my knowledge there would be less than 1000 ever produced and damn hard to find. Let me know when you find someone parting a 937, Okay?

As far as I know the 937 (Carrera GT) never had a boost gauge fitted - any that were fitted were after market units. Hence if you find one with a gauge then it's probably out of maybe the clubsport cars which are even rarer beast like on a few made
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81turbo  
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 02, 2002 4:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Correction the Boost gauge Tach combo is in a Carrera GTS. No part number can be found for it. There are pictures of it in the Peter Morgan original 924/944/968 book on page 47. It is Derek Bells gorgeous guards red GTS. It may even be a custom application of the 930 gauge. Maybe Porsche gave Derek a special car. Who knows.
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Lizard  
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 02, 2002 8:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

some of those look abit ricey to me
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Fast924Turbo  



Joined: 02 Nov 2002
Posts: 122

PostPosted: Sat Nov 23, 2002 6:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yeah some of them are ricey.

I think as long as you place them right VDO gauges are good enough.
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christopher  



Joined: 11 Dec 2002
Posts: 1
Location: North Carolina

PostPosted: Sun Dec 29, 2002 11:30 am    Post subject: dash replacement Reply with quote

Has anyone tried a complete dash replacement? Something a little more modern like http://www.vibrantperformance.com/checkthisout/newproducts/newproducts.html

Christopher
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