Morris Minor Owners Club

Have fitted the gauges that i wanted. Rev counter works fine oil pressure gauge all good water temp gauge all good as well. oil temp gauge is a worry as it reads past the scale and was wondering if it needs connecting via the voltage regulator. also the voltage gauge when the engine is revived it reads 16 volts + is this correct.[frame][/frame]

Strewth do you have an ejector seat too?

Voltmeter reading of 16 volts is normal when you rev the engine but don't know the figure for a revived engine.

That is because the dynamo is turning faster thus producing more current. An ammeter is the best gauge because it shows how much you are CHARGING.

Oil temp gauge is superfluous on a standard A-Series 4 in line as the oil temp will never reach the danger zone under normal running conditions. They are for high performance racing engines, or it would make sense on a flat 4 like the Javelin/Jupiter engine because the oil is only cooled from the bottom of the sump instead of the bottom and two sides on an inline engine.

Revived lol. so the reading from the volt meter is correct. i do have an ammeter next to the volt meter so once i get that wired in i will see just how good the dynamo is. The oil temp may be superfluous but i would still like it to read the correct temperature. so do you think it needs wiring through the voltage regulator?

As a rule, electric gauges MUST go through a voltage regulator otherwise it'll seemingly go haywire or just burn the bimetallic strip in the gauge out.

Of course the voltmeter does not need to be connected to the regulator because its very purpose is to show how much voltage is coming from the dynamo, which changes almost constantly.

I would strongly advise against splicing all these gadgets into the loom however and probably the same terminal.

The only additional gauges you need on a standard Minor are Water Temp, Oil Pressure and possibly an Ammeter.

none of the gauges have been spliced into the wiring loom. all positive feeds are coming from the fuse box and earth is though the body all gauges have their own signal wires from there own sender units. so should the positve for the gauges be through a voltage regulator or as the only one not working correctly is the oil temp just that one through the voltage regulator

I hope you find time to look out the windscreen once in a while!

Good grief....... Exactly ^^^^^ to look at these tiny gauges so low down in the car involves far too much change of focus and distraction. Can't see the point myself ! And 16 v is MUCH too high... 14 volts is correct. And no vacuum gauge ?? How will you manage ! ? And they look like they will 'scalp' your knee in a bump...... Seriously - oil pressure and amps is plenty information for a Minor.

Of course people are allowed to be individual, after all isn't tinkering part of motoring enjoyment. I say put as many gauges as you like on if you like them and just enjoy the car.

My catalogue lists the following gauges:-
Speedo, rev counter, oil pressure/water temp, oil pressure, oil temp, water temp, ammeter, volt meter, vacuum gauge, fuel gauge, clock.
Have you got the complete set?

The voltage regulator on a Minor is for Smiths 'hot wire' instruments. Unless the instructions with these non-Smiths gauges say you should wire the temperature and other gauges through a Smiths voltage regulator, I would wire them directly to a fused supply.

Even wiring a Smiths gauge directly causes no particular harm to the gauge, it just reads rather high!!

Which gauges are working as you would expect them to, and which are not?

Forgot about the turbo boost gauge. Most important.

How many revs has your engine done now ??

Ok enough already.

Apologies for the holy thread revival!

I'm interested in fitting a 2" rev counter to my Traveller (I currently have 2" Smiths gauges for oil pressure, water temperature and inlet manifold vacuum). I was thinking of getting a combined oil pressure/water temp gauge, to make room for a rev counter...

Which particular gauges have you fitted there?

Must admit that I've stopped looking at gauges...just more things to distract/ worry about. I reckon that if you do the usual maintenance stuff and listen to your car you can't go far wrong.

You've hit the nail on the head there The beauty of a minor is no gauges, just a couple of warning lamps, if worrying is your thing, plenty of gauge filled cars are available! Each to his/ her own of course

Trouble is that listening means every new rattle, crush, whine, clunk leaves me panicking that something vital is going to fall off.....eeven though I know how well maintained she is.

I quite like to keep a check on the basic engine essentials now and then - oil pressure and water temperature, in particular, hence why I fitted those. The 'boy racer' in me would quite like a rev counter also though, just to amuse oneself on occasions!

But yes, an ultra-simple, Spartan 'less is more' dashboard is quite cool in its own right.

Chipper wrote: ↑Sun Apr 09, 2017 9:19 pm I quite like to keep a check on the basic engine essentials now and then - oil pressure and water temperature, in particular, hence why I fitted those. The 'boy racer' in me would quite like a rev counter also though, just to amuse oneself on occasions!

But yes, an ultra-simple, Spartan 'less is more' dashboard is quite cool in its own right.

absolutly, i only have temp and oil pressure fitted. with the old rad in, when the temp got too high, i put the electric fan on. it saved a headgasket or 2. since fitted a new rad, it never ever gets that high anymore.

A 2" rev counter!!!!!

If you want to be able to see and read the revs you need at least a 5" face within your line of sight.

Otherwise fit a digital/numerical read out rev counter gauge - again within in line of sight.