Retrofitting an MFA or "Computer"?

[zcacogp]

Chaps,

As many on you here will know, I had a Golf GTi before my S2. (And I had a Golf GTi before that as well, and another one before that and another one before that and ... well, you get the picture.) And, even on the earliest GTi I had (1982 'Y'-reg Mk1), there was an MFA ("Multi Function Analyser.") This is a bit of kit that allows you to display various bits of information on an LCD display in the middle of the dashboard, things such as time spent travelling, average speed, average fuel consumption and so on.

However, my S2 has no such thing - a disappointment, given the significantly more premium market it was sold into. And, putting it simply, I miss it. I got used to having this sort of information available, and it would be very useful to have something similar on my 944. The most useful bits were the "time spent travelling", "distance covered", "average speed" and "outside temperature" readouts.

Has anyone seen such a thing built into a 944? I know it was never standard equipment, but there may be something after-market which would do the necessary. I'm not looking at building in a full PC with touch screen, as some people have done, just a small LCD display which will give this sort of information. As it happens the screen on my dashboard clock is ruined at the moment as well, so if I could find something that fits in this space it would be perfect!

If anyone has any ideas about this, or any suggestions as to how it may be achieved ... do let me know! Thanks.


Oli.

 

[graham.webb]

Sounds like fun......I have a friend who is an electonics geek, and many years back acquired an early trip computer to fit to their Renault 4 (don't laugh; it was the only car narrow enough to fit down the side of the house). Hours of endless fun, as I recall.....lots of sensors, including one for the fuel line somewhere, and of course the result was a hoot, though.

Must have got it from Maplin, RS, or someone like that.

Another thought.....what about the digital instrumentation that's used in racing cars? In my paranoid moments worrying about belts and valve trains I've looked at shift lights, and there's another world of stuff out there!

 

[John Sims]

Shift light - excellent piece of kit - Do it!

Trip computer? Yawn, sorry. I guess it could be done but the cost of sensors would be prohibitive and a pain to fit.

Just press the trip when you fill up and watch your fuel gauge. You will either be doing more or less miles per gallon than previously.

Even high end fuel computers seem stupidly inaccurate. Fen and I could tell you a tale of driving round The Isle of Sky running out of diesel....we will make it....no we won't....yes we will....no we won't etc. Based on that experience alone I wouldn't trust a trip computer any more than a fuel gauge.

 

[Fen]

To be fair I have never run out of fuel in a car with a range function on its trip computer. You could counter that by saying I haven't run out of fuel at all for years except I did it twice in one week in the Audi 80 I bought for transport because the RS6 cost as much as an ocean liner to run - it was the week before we left the UK and somehow we had more pressing things to do than buy diesel. Add to that that the thing also dumped its coolant twice that week (2 separate split hoses) and we got a letter from the AA saying we had used our full quota of recoveries for the year []

Anyway, much as I like to fiddle with a computer when I have one I agree it's too big an undertaking to retrofit. I like things like mpg and average speed functions and they would be the most difficult to make work. I have a computer now and all I ever do with it is reset the MPG reading every time I fill up, and that's mainly because it has to display something so I choose MPG on the tank of fuel I'm using.