My official gauge question thread

[TahitiTiger]

I got married over the weekend! :D and my gracious wife has said it was ok to use half of our wedding money on the Tahiti :D
So my questions being, at what point do you say the boat is a restoration, to hell with it, I want it to look cool, and go real fast? Example, originally the boat had metal flake uphoulstery with tuck 'n roll. Now it has red marine vynal just flat, the engine is all original looking from the outside, and so will be the paint job. I was carefull to make sure the stereo was hidden under the decking, so as to keep that original look.
So now the gauge question, I have decided to use some of the money on a gauge set. At the moment I have Teleflex Marine, Auto Meter, Stewart Werner, and Sun Pro gauges in the boat! I am sure the SWs were the O.E. cause the boat had more of those (not working) than the others.
At the moment my boat has a very old Teleflex speedo. This POS is the main reason I want new gauges, never reads faster than 35. And in the no wake zone it claims I am going 20 at idle! So I know it is effed up. I know the best out there is GPS speedos, but wow those things are pricey! This boat will never see anything more than the mildly built 455 thats in it, so any thing past 60 I seriously doubt. So do I go old school and use all SW marine gauges, go affordable with Beede, or go for flash (and personal favorite)and dead nuts accuracy with Auto Meter?
Thank you all for your help
TT

[Mr. Crusader 83]

I have the white beede gauges from Rex and i like them. They are white with red trim rings.
http://www.***boat.com/image_center/data/521/2854BOAT_TRUCK_CAR_002.jpg

[wet77]

I like the white faced autometer marine gauges I have, easy to read work great;)
If you do not want to spend the money on a in dash GPS you can get one like I did that you can bring with you in the boat and take it out and use it everywhere else!
They go for about $120
http://www.***boat.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=27433&stc=1&d=1175007439

[wet77]

Gauges --Autometer pro comp marine white faced
http://www.***boat.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=27435&stc=1&d=1175007746

[1968Droptop]

Gauges --Autometer pro comp marine white faced
I say it's your boat, put in what you like. If your asking what I/we think looks and works the best, then I too vote AM ProComp white faced guages. I just installed a complete set of AM PC's in my boat, easy to read, accurate, and they look fantastic !!!

[roostwear]

Let me throw a couple things back at you that may help with your decision. If all it is ever going to have is a mild 455, why do you need "dead nuts accurate"? Also, if you are restoring it, why would you put white faced gauges in it? If you are going to update it, call it that and run with it. If it's a resto, think through what era/look you're going for.
Just my .02

[roostwear]

I had to compromise on the look I have because of the gauge size (2 5/8"). I wanted a resto look with black faced gauges, but the closest I could find was Autometer Procomps. Someday, I'll put a set of SW's or Sun's in it to get the right look.
http://www.freeboardchallenged.com/stevens/int02011607.jpg

[Taylorman]

I have the white beede gauges from Rex and i like them. They are white with red trim rings.
http://www.***boat.com/image_center/data/521/2854BOAT_TRUCK_CAR_002.jpg
Hey crusader, you have more pictures of your interior?

[Squirtcha?]

Autometer gauges. Like you, I couldn't/wouldn't afford the gps speedo
just yet. Still had ta know how fast n such so........ Similar setup as
wet77 Except I was too cheap to even buy the mount. Homemeade gps
mount from some scrap aluminum I had laying around. Painted it to match
and it works pretty good. Had it out for the first time in some super rough
water this past weekend, and it didn't come loose.
Not unlike most of my stuff...........it's crude but effective.
http://www.***boat.com/image_center/data/500/gauges.jpg
Didn't want to put any screws into the dash so it's mounted from behind.
That sounds bad don't it? Behind the dash that is.
Remove a couple thumb screws and you'd never know it was there.
http://www.***boat.com/image_center/data/500/gps_holder.jpg

[460 jus getn it]

White faced beede / red bezals.

[TahitiTiger]

Let me throw a couple things back at you that may help with your decision. If all it is ever going to have is a mild 455, why do you need "dead nuts accurate"? Also, if you are restoring it, why would you put white faced gauges in it? If you are going to update it, call it that and run with it. If it's a resto, think through what era/look you're going for.
Just my .02
you have some very good points. There are three gauges I care about, Oil Preasure, Water Preasure, and Water Temp. the tach is kinda irrelevant I have a MSD with 5500 rpm rev limiter. The speedometer is a thorn in my side, I don't deem it that important, but when I tow a skiier or a tuber, I like to have a point of refrence, and my current speedo is junk, and incapable. I have gotten use to useing the tach to gauge my tow speed, example Skiier likes 2200 RPMs with the diverter full down. Now the hard part, SW does not offer a water preasure gauge or preasure driven speedo in any series, other than there marine series. Which looks no different than Beede, or Teleflex IMO. Also I don't want white faces, I want black.
I am thinking it is going to be real hard to go with complete retro, I may just have to accept at one point, retro stops, and modern starts.

[roostwear]

PM Jim Brock. I remember him posting he had a set of Medallions. I don't remember what gauges were in the set, but it's worth a shot. What is the hole layout on your dash (4 2" holes and 1 3 3/8", etc)?

[TahitiTiger]

PM Jim Brock. I remember him posting he had a set of Medallions. I don't remember what gauges were in the set, but it's worth a shot. What is the hole layout on your dash (4 2" holes and 1 3 3/8", etc)?
pretty standard 2 x 3 3/8" and 5 x 2 1/8"

[Oldsquirt]

Tahiti, as a former owner of a 73 Tahiti Tiger, I know exactly which gauges you have. Heck mine worked so well they got transplanted into a newer hull when the Tahiti was sent to the boat graveyard. Even my Teleflex speedo worked right down to the last run and turned out to be quite accurate when compared to a gps.
Don't know why you want the water pressure on the dash. If you feel the need for one, put it on the engine. Once you have your cooling system set and pressure is where you want, you really wont need to keep monitoring it.
Oil pressure is a different story, and the tach is as important as oil pressure. You already found out how useful it is when towing a skier. It is too bad that not all the gauge suppliers have a marine speedo that matches the other gauges. Even the old Teleflex was a poor match, at best, to the Stewart Warners.

[Cas]

I'm assuming you have a speedo with a tube connected to a pitot (sp) that's mounted to the transom. If so, have you taken it apart and blown out the tubing? It's very possible that it has some blockage causing false readings.

[Mr. Crusader 83]

Hey crusader, you have more pictures of your interior?
I sure do.
http://www.***boat.com/image_center/data/520/2854BOAT_TRUCK_CAR_011.jpg
http://www.***boat.com/image_center/data/521/2854BOAT_TRUCK_CAR2_001.jpg
http://www.***boat.com/image_center/data/521/2854BOAT_TRUCK_CAR_004.jpg

[Mr. Crusader 83]

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r103/todd969/101_1907.jpg?t=1174921804

[old rigger]

Stewert Warner all the way. You can still get NOS SW boat speedos on Ebay, I bought two last year. I can't imagine what you'd want a water pressure gauge i a jet boat for, but again, I saw one on ebay last week and forgot to bid on it. doh (I'm gathering parts of an outboard, have all the gauges 'cept for that h20 pressure)
Oh, by the way, you can still get the metalflake material for the seats too if you want to really go old school.

[TahitiTiger]

I'm assuming you have a speedo with a tube connected to a pitot (sp) that's mounted to the transom. If so, have you taken it apart and blown out the tubing? It's very possible that it has some blockage causing false readings.
yes I have. First lake trip the plastic pick-up broke off at launch LOL. It was pretty brittle, When we put the new one on, we blew it out real well. Unfortunately I think the gauge is just plain shot.
As for the water preasure gauge, I had 2 extra holes in the dash when I removed the saddle tanks, so I put in an old volt meter, and a water preasure gauge.

[TahitiTiger]

Stewert Warner all the way. You can still get NOS SW boat speedos on Ebay, I bought two last year. I can't imagine what you'd want a water pressure gauge i a jet boat for, but again, I saw one on ebay last week and forgot to bid on it. doh (I'm gathering parts of an outboard, have all the gauges 'cept for that h20 pressure)
Oh, by the way, you can still get the metalflake material for the seats too if you want to really go old school.
yes I saw the metal flake material, the uphoulster had some. Fiancee's (now wife) reaction set the deal, Her words exactly "OH HELL NO!" LOL
I can't even get my Moon Eyes metal flake red steering wheel. Although the chrome, and pad on my OE wheel is still ok :D

[1968Droptop]

As for the water preasure gauge, I had 2 extra holes in the dash when I removed the saddle tanks, so I put in an old volt meter, and a water preasure gauge.
I believe you can use an oil pressure guage for a water pressure guage. Assuming it's not next to the real guage, you'll know whats going on.
Maybe you can add an oil temp guage instead ?