Home made air vent gauge

[Jez]

Yeah, it is a shame about the needle I can't find a gauge with a white needle and red facia other than the AWE gauge and I wasn't prepared to pay £180 for it!.

As for the plumbing... very simple and took a little over an hour

Just drill a small hole (big enough to allow the passage of the live and earth wires for the bulb and the vacuum hose) at the back of the moulding within the dash on the driver's side. All three vents are housed within a frame and this can be pulled from the dash completely. You'll see what I mean once you've removed it.

This site proved useful. Note you do not need an inline fuel filter to reduce buzzing etc. Mine's as quiet as a mouse without.

http://www.drwombat.com/audi/awe/gauge.html

You need to take the lid off the ecu water proof box and the 5th screw is a pain in the ar5e to get to. Once off you can see straight into the driver's footwell. Route the hose into the ecu box and drill a hole for it to pass through into the scuttle panel. I used some silicone sealant around the hose and hole to be sure no water can get in.

It's a pretty straight forward install. There was a post on the audiworld forums about this, but the guy tapped into the wires for the iluminated flap adjuster (ooo err lol) to light the gauge. I thought the wires looked too thin and delicate so hooked it up to the fuse box.

I'll try to find his post again.

Jez

[NeilMc]

I got an AWE gauge for about £100 through Audiworld classifieds. It's a good match, but still not 100% perfect (The needle is white, but doesn't illuminate, and the red backlight bulb doesn't light up the whole gauge face evenly). Overall I really like it though. Install was pretty easy, hardest part is drilling the hole through behind the vents and getting it straight (not really room for a drill back there).
Installing in the centre vent is an option, but I found, due to the angle, the visibility is nowhere near as good there and so changed my mind at the last minute.
I also did not need an inline filter.

[UKS4APR1]

I used an Omori gauge "multicolor" (selectable) which has red lighting, black face, white numbers / needle, available in metric or Imperial and mechanical or electronic. I purchased it direct and fitted it in place of my [early] "coin drawer".
It looks great and matches perfectly....looks like original!
I used Model No. MCO-016-BFC (metric mechanical)

Link here. http://www.omorimeter.com/multicolor_version.htm

[Nige_RS4]

I used an Omori gauge "multicolor" (selectable) which has red lighting, black face, white numbers / needle, available in metric or Imperial and mechanical or electronic.

I can't find that part number, only MCO-116-BFC? Also, how much was it & how did you pay for it?

Cheers, Nige.

[andy123]

has anyone used DEFI gauges?

[KayGee]

Nige, think you want this one...that one is metric????

AMCO-125-BFC (Mechanical vac-boost, hg and psi upto 25).

or

AMB-125-BFC (Mechanical boost only upto 25 psi).

[NeilMc]

AWE use Omori gauges. In fact, the first few they sold (including mine) said Omori instead of AWE on the face.

[UKS4APR1]

Yep, Omori make the gauges for AWE with their Trademark [AWE] on them. Although these are not the Multicolour models. I sourced mine in Europe as USA are all in psi. I wanted bar. In fact my gauge is in kg/cm2 which is not quite the same as bar, but near enough. The part No. is as quoted previously, I got it at Omori Nordic in Stockholm. They may now be available from Demon Tweeks or similar places in the UK.

www.omori.se

Checked Invoice ... 1,250 Kr (but can't remember conversion rate) it wasn't cheap but I wanted the 'perfect' match. 45 mm dia just fitted in place of the "coin cupboard" location of my early model S4 above the radio. I paid with my credit card after emails with Omori Nordic who were very helpful and in English!!

http://www.omorimeter.com/mco-016-bfc-1_small.jpg

Oh, ref NeilMc...... my version gauge has a uniform colour, as i say it looks totally like it was there from the factory and I was very pleased. I fitted it 2 years ago.

[fil]

can anyone point me to the right direction of getting a vdo gauge like jez has?

links please

[dr_wimpkins]

Excellent !!
I painted some dash lights blue once, but after time the paint burnt off, and the dash ended up a muddy grey colour.

Hope yours last better, if not some red LEDS would also be good!

[fil]

right found and just ordered this one, https://www.burtonpower.com/default.asp ... st%20gauge

£37.84 all in added pipe work and postage

just need some red paint now, or maybe an led!