Does anyone have any experience with the Craven Speed or Perrin (Alta) aftermarket gauges? I'm looking to add an Oil Pressure and Water Temp Gauge (found out the dash panel one is not accurate, it's like a averaging kinda thing). Is there another brand you would recommend.

 

Here's a handy application guide that may help.

http://new.minimania.com/Search_Results/gauges/default

Please let us know if you have any questions, and don't forget the 12% discount for NAM members this month on items not already on sale or special order items.

Drive Hard. Drive Safe. Keep Grinning.

 

Go for the Craven/Marshall kit. Top notch quality, and there's a very detailed install thread here: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...r-dummies.html

 

I keep thinking about adding Smith's boost, pressure and clock gauges in Cravenspeed pods with a Y bracket and splitter. The gauges are maybe a little cheaper than Marshall -- though with shipping and currency conversion it's probably a wash. I like the idea of a mechanical gauge. If I can already read what the computer thinks from a phone app, adding another electronic gauge isn't much of a reality check -- though either way is probably fine.

The off-white "magnolia" color obviously doesn't look stock, and I don't know how much that will bother me. The Smith's faces look really cool, and I'd really like if I could make all the gauges match that design. I could get white gauges faces that are somewhat more like the Smith's faces, with more tick marks, and chrome bezel rings would make it blend better. But I'm still not sure how that would look.

 

Quality after market electronic gauges such as the Craven Speed (Marshal) or Alta (Perrin) come with their own sending units/sensors so they are more accurate than the ones on the dash. They do not connect to the cars ECU (Computer).

 

I have trouble understanding why those gauges cost two (Marshall) or three (Perrin) times as much as the top-of-the-line electric gauges from VDO or Stewart Warner. The Marshall boost gauge is $200 (includes sender), while the Smith's magnolia is only about $102, plus around $20 for some 1/8" tubing and a t-fitting. The oil pressure is $140, and you still have to add a sender and adapter. Marshall water temp is another $130. The Smith's mechanical combined oil pressure/temperature gauge is $116, also needing adapters. The Marshall voltmeter is $110 while the Smith's is only $45.

True, the Marshall is the only one that matches the original instruments, but it's a huge markup to pay for that alone. Especially since the Smith's magnolia classic Mini style is arguably as cool looking, for other reasons. I'd have probably gone with the Marshalls if the prices were anywhere in the ballpark of VDO or SW electric gauges, but at those prices I would have wanted more than just matching faces.

It is true that the 12v gauges are independent of the ECU, but they aren't independent of the car. They depend on a ~11v to ~14.5v DC current. If the car isn't supplying that for whatever reason, or if the car is just turned off, the gauges stop working, or become inaccurate.

Mechanical gauges are self-contained. They work all the time, and don't know if the car is on or off or if the electrical system is on fire. They do their job no matter what. The basic point of adding an instrument is as a cross-check of your other data coming in. The key to that is independence.

It's not the be-all and end-all, but if you can have independent mechanical gauges, and they have the classic Mini look, and they're made in the UK, AND they're cheaper to boot? Well, then...