airspeed indicator anyone?

I have an old bomb sight; shouldnt be too hard for someone to set up to observe rear main leaks and oil pan plug retention.

 

Are you going to carry an E6B flight calculator to figure out your ground speed?????? Those guages are only for astetics, I think they look good.

 

I can't believe on THIS site we are hearing arguments based only on the usable practicality and accuracy of an air-speed indicator for a hot rod.
Yeah, a GPS (like on your Lexus...) might be more accurate, so really all of us should have ours linked to the Blackberry and Tom-Tom, And why did you chop your top since it may impair visibility, and you REALLY should only use solid base colors (white or black only recommended), since it would be hard to match a metallic or multi-colored flame paint, which of course is sinful and just draws unnecessary attention , and you should have standardized bumpers at a regulated height and... and... and...

Crrrrrrrraaaaaaap, people, these ARE HOT RODS, ain't they?!?! Gauges are cool. Just don't poke a citizen with the tube and enjoy the cockpit.

sheeeesh!

 

I guess we'll just have to disagree. I think REAL gauges are, indeed, cool. Fake gauges are clutter. Why not add an altimeter, a turn indicator and a vertical speed indicator? A few banks of switches with interesting labels- a depth indicator from a submarine would be cool,too. Maybe some clocks showiing the time in major world cities? I really like clocks.

It's hotrodding, build what you like. But really, isn't this a bit like putting a gearshift on your horse's saddle?

 

My Pitot still hurts from getting hit by my daughters Barbi doll... I wonder what it's airspeed was at the point of impact...

I still can't figure out why you would want any kind of speed indicator in a Land Speed car on the Salt... Doesn't the SCTA take care of that for you, for the price of admission?

Aircraft gauges are cool... But we're talking hot rods here... So there may be a perfectly logical place for maybe one or 2 aircraft gauges on a Period hot rod... But making a concerted effort to fill the entire dash with as many superfluous plane gauges as possible is goofy... And I think misses the point.

It's not like you're trying to find a place to land in the fog or anything.

 

This would be for the guys with customs running airbags.


I've got an old SW speedo from a boat with a water pitot tube (is they called the same thing?). Think I could use that in my car?

 

Ummm...then you don't understand airspeed indicators. It's not that's it's more accurate or less accurate - it's the wrong tool for the job. Period.

That makes it superfluous - which is wasted - hot rods are about minimalistic, go-fast things - not extra doo-dads that have no purpose.

 

Yep. Clutter. Fake anything is......... Even fake drums to hide disc brakes, radials that 'resemble' bias, etc. etc.

AS far as airspeed indicator in a hot rod, maybe on the salt where it might be a reference to the driver, lending some insight to actual performance. I could wrap my brain around that concept.

 

#### You do know that you have to SUCK THE BUGS OUT !!! >>>>.

 

Nope - still of no merit whatsoever. You don't know what the air mass you're driving through is doing. It isn't even useful for relevant comparisons because the air mass changes constantly.

Cars care about groundspeed. Planes care about airspeed. The two are related, only loosely, by temperature, pressure, and most importantly wind speed. And let's not even get into true airspeed, calibrated airspeed, and equivalent airspeed...vs indicated airspeed (what you read on the gauge - usually).

It's the windspeed you guys are missing...

A car driving with a groundspeed of 100 mph, but with a tailwind of 30 mph will have an indicated airspeed of 70 mph. The same car driving the same 100 mph groundspeed, but with a headwind of 30 mph will have an indicated airspeed of 130mph. Get it?

Useless on a car. Useless is pointless. And dumb.

 

Dare to be different.......

Piss off your steering wheel, brake and accelerator pedals, and fit a joystick.

 

DOH? What's your point? A Hawk or a Rabbit with a groundspeed of 100 mph, but with a tailwind of 30 mph will have an indicated airspeed of 70 mph. The same Hawk or a Rabbit at 100 mph groundspeed, but with a headwind of 30 mph will have an indicated airspeed of 130mph. Get it?

 

Ever heard of flying blind? It's cool, only gauges when you need them.

 

I rather have an altimeter & compass to figure out if I'm too high or too lost.

 

Air speed indicators are awesome. And yes I mean the real kind with a pitot tube. How else are you going to know that your going 450 Mph? I say run it. It'll give you a good excuse when you get pulled over. "Well officer, all I got is an airspeed indicator, 85 in a 55 you say?, must have been a helluva tailwind"

 

---------------------------------------

Yeah.....but you need the airspeed indicator too,
so you know how fast you're getting even more
lost!

Mart3406
===================================================

 

well...if your building a era specific lakester......new automotive gauges are pointless too...to each there own. My grandfather worked on planes in WWII....I worked with helicopters...in afghan and iraq (5 deployments total). Stuff like that ties into me and may tie into others as well...or maybe they just following the path of our hot rodding forefathers. Im sure people could find stuff to complain and gripe and say is useless on everyone elses stuff....but thats not what its about. Im using a ASI and pitot static tube on my build.... it may not be accurate at all times....but its close. And it looks better than a bunch of sunpro or auto meter gauges

 

Actually, no, I don't get your example. If you're saying that a Hawk is chasing a Rabbit and the Hawk is using airspeed and the Rabbit is using groundspeed, it's still totally irrelevant to the discussion at hand. Using an airspeed indicator for a car that needs to know its groundspeed to be in compliance with the law, or to know how fast it's going out of pure curiosity is dumb. It won't read correctly or even consistently incorrectly.

So, we come to purpose. What is the purpose of a car's speedometer? To tell you how fast the car is traveling down the road (groundspeed). The purpose of an airspeed indicator is to tell you how fast an airplane is moving through an air mass.

Consequently, the ONLY reason to put an ASI in a car is for looks. Which is about the same as putting that fake fuel injection stack setup on a 4-bbl carb.

I think this topic has run its course. It ran its course last time & died a natural death before being resurrected...so we'll kill it off artificially.