I had this idea...and please flame me if its a totally out of the question to much money to do, why do you wanna be a ricer idea.
The newest m3 has lights on the rpm guage that say hey you can take it up to 3500rpm now..etc..and as it warms up each light goes off in succession. I thought it would be cool if someone could make similar guage covers as indiglos cept with these small lights in them as well. Wiring could be done to the oil pressure switch or even have a switch created to monitor temp etc...perhaps even do it on a time basis that once the car is started the one light goes off every 15 seconds or something. I dont know kinda a crazy idea.

 

cost cost and cost are the reasons for not doing this.

basically, what would be easier to do is set up a sensor on your engine temp gauge that would light up when it hit normal temp or the middle of the gauge. You could then have the LED mounted on your Tachometer if you wanted, or where ever else.

just dont run your car at high rpms or WOT when its cold.

its just not being nice to your car.

 

good idea, go get all the parts and make some, and if they look good and work, you can do a GD and turn a profit

 

I dont run my car hard when its cold out. Just simply sounded like a cool idea.

 

LOL.....wasnt saying that you do.

Anyway, im sure that the M3 gauges work on a similar principal.

Since its gauges are electronic, all it does is "talk" with the computer and use a set standard of engine temps. When it hits a certain temp, then the light for that RPM range is activated.

However, since the most efficent RPM range for gas mileage is around 3,500 RPM's, you would not really need something like that.

It is just another toy to reel in the buyers young and old.

You could simply modify your engine temp gauge by making 2 parallel small holes in the gauge face at the half way mark. Then make 2 more about 1/3 of the way to the top of the gauge. then run a wire through each hole so that you have the wires running parallel. Lets say that the following is the wires on the gauge face:

_______________
_______________

You would want to connect the + wire for the LED to the Top Left end of the wire. Then you would connect a wire from the bottom right end of the wire to the actual + terminal on the LED.

Then attach some metal to the underside of the needle, and run a standard wire to the - side of the LED to complete the electrical circuit.

Then, whenever the needle hit those wires, you have a connected circuit and the LED lights up. You could even mount a red LED to some wires from the last mounting point all the way to the H so that you would see a LED light up when your car started to over heat.

That would be the easiest way to do it, and if done correctly, it would look alright.