Gauges, senders and bezels OH MY
 

VDO. Old 311. Need replaced. Want to buy a set of Autometers from Fred for the whole dash. Do I need new senders? My mechanic seems to think everything is arse backwards . . . Fred thinks no. And I am in the middle. Anyone with experience? :drink:

Re: Gauges, senders and bezels OH MY
 

My Livorsi/Gaffrigs have new oil pressure senders but old water temp and gas senders. The oil pressure switches are pretty sucky anyway, I would just order new ones and start fresh. 89 311

Re: Gauges, senders and bezels OH MY
 

I changed mine to Livorsi recently, and the only thing that has to be changed is the fuel level sender (in the tank). However, I'm going to change the oil pressure senders, because one engine reads 5 lbs less than the other at RPM and I want to make sure it's not the sender. Water temps are right on. The VDOs were flaky...it's nice to have gauges that you know are working!

Re: Gauges, senders and bezels OH MY
 

Thanx guys . . . I will get the OP and tank senders and bolt them up. Did either of you use the factory dash- or have one made?

Re: Gauges, senders and bezels OH MY
 

I used the factory panel, but if I were going to do it again I would take it somewhere to have the holes enlarged....see this:

http://offshoreonly.com/forums/showthread.php?t=140133

Re: Gauges, senders and bezels OH MY
 

Sea,

I replaced all my VDO's with Gaffrig, white face/white ring, 270 degree sweep and blue bezels. For as little as it costs, I put in all new senders, temp, oil and fuel. I felt it was the best approach to ensure that I had a good baseline and wasn't leaving the senders to chance. Senders were fairly inexpensive considering the cost of all the gauges. Its great to look across the dash and not even question any readings. Just my approach.:D

Re: Gauges, senders and bezels OH MY
 

Mine is a custom plastic piece that I would not recommend. It is about 1/8" thick and has started to crack near one of the screw holes. If I wasn't doing my shifters and trim indicators this winter I would probably be doing the dash over with a metal panel.

Re: Gauges, senders and bezels OH MY
 

I will hopefully be doing this in the spring too, so when you replace the senders do the old connections hook right up to the new senders?



I'm not going to waste money on a GPS speedo I don't need it to verify my boat is slow, lol....so I will replace it with a non gps one, where does the speedo tube run, is it just in the side compartment or is it under it?

last thing is this a project that will take hours or days, I'm decent with wiring and such

thanks PJ

Re: Gauges, senders and bezels OH MY
 

Depends on how fancy you get with the panel. The factory wiring will all work, especially if you leave the gauges in generally the same order. Once the gauges are mounted in the panel you should have a couple of hours of wiring and replacing senders, maybe less with a single engine.

Re: Gauges, senders and bezels OH MY
 

I agree with insptech, all I did was cut off the spade ends from the wiring and crimp on ring terminals for the new gauges, couple of hours at best, same on the senders. I dropped out the speedo completely.

Re: Gauges, senders and bezels OH MY
 

thanks guys

Im going to leave them in the same order just drop the hour meter and add a depth gauge there or something

I'm sure its easier to pull the whole panel and remove and replace the gauges out of the dash?

Re: Gauges, senders and bezels OH MY
 

I had to make a new panel when I change to the Gaffrig. The VDO's had a special ring around the gauge and tha back of the original panel had a machined piece of lexan thaat the VDo gauges twisted inot. Not to mention the holes for the Gaffrig needed to be larger diameter. Quick and dirty is use a piece of starboard while an aluminum panel is made. I measured up my panel from the original and laid it out in Autocad and sent it off to a fabricator for laser cutting, then powdercoated it black.

Re: Gauges, senders and bezels OH MY
 

When I did my 311 dash, I didnt want to cut all the formula female spade connectors off. Instead I got a hold of MSD and bought a bag of small adapters they use with there ignitions, its a small metal connector with a male spade on one end, bent at a 45, with a #8 hole on the other end. Worked perfect without cutting up the factory wiring.

Re: Gauges, senders and bezels OH MY
 

i installed autometer marine & had a new carbon fiber dash panel made

Re: Gauges, senders and bezels OH MY
 

What is that red plate with the 5 oblong holes? Nice update! Did someone paint that dash black?

Re: Gauges, senders and bezels OH MY
 

Looks like a billet step plate from Trick or Eddie or CP or . . . . F382, I want to know where you got the C/F panel made . . . .

Re: Gauges, senders and bezels OH MY
 

Really like that carbon fiber panel. :cool:

Re: Gauges, senders and bezels OH MY
 

step plate from eddie marine had a hole to cover from an old depth finder, carbon fiber panel i had made at norva plastics inc. in norfolk va .i had one made for my 382 also .did the port side dash panel to .the dash was black

Re: Gauges, senders and bezels OH MY
 

You can get them all over the internet. Just a FYI with those panels. You have to treat them with UV protectent if they do not already have them on it. Carbon Fiber does not like UV and it will turn to crap in a hurry if not protected.

Jon

Re: Gauges, senders and bezels OH MY
 

no problem with UV ,WEB web site www.norvaplastics.com phone # 757-622-9281, my panels are two years old.

How did they match the OEM F-292 and logo over the Carbon dash?

I just droped the old one off and told to match it and they did.:drink: 272FORMULA FOR SALE :D :D :D