> 20 years ago, my father had an electronic engine monitoring system
on
> his '73 Bus. It monitored fuel flow, speed, etc. and could display
all
> sorts of
> calculations like Gallons Per Hour, Miles Per Gallon, Distance To
Empty, and so
> forth and display them on its vacuum-fluorescent display. It
additionally
> operated
> as a cruise control unit. Now I've been looking for something
similar for
> my '90
> Vanagon, but I can't even think what such a beast would be called!
Most of the
> functions of that device are found built into many mid- to high-end
cars
> nowadays,
> but I haven't been able to find any aftermarket equivalent. Anyone
know of
> such a
> doohickey that one could wire in to a Vanagon?

it was a Zemco trip computer.
the ZT-10, most likely. that was the more sophisticated model that
would display
miles-to-empty, time-to-empty, and keep miles-this-tank and
miles-this-trip info.
really neat. you could power it with a 9v battery and keep all the
data while you removed the battery, too.

a fellow at work has that model in his 78 bus.
i have a ZT-4 model in my 88 bus. it only shows mph, mpg (average and
instantaneous), and gallons used, and time (clock). also switchable to
metric measurements.

but the people who used to make them got bought out by some company
that didn't want to make such things anymore. :(  and one fellow who
used to have a lot of old stock just disappeared. he was out in
portland, oregon. anybody in portland ever hear of this guy??

Direct Buyer Service         Zemco Trip Computers,
P. O. Box 55303              performance analysis computers,
Portland, OR 97238           cruise controls, security systems
(360) 254-1332

Bob Walters                  Zemco trip computers, cruise control
Sun Distributing
P.O. Box 55303
Portland, Oregon 97238
(360) 896-4828

Warren Walters?? on rv chat/message board  2002-02-04.
Zemco product and parts by Warren Walters

i haven't been able to find anything like it since. wish i could, i'd
love to put a zt-10 in my 91. :)

one thing. it required a small electronic module to hook up to the
fuel injection. that module seems to count the clicks of one of the
injectors, and used that (after calibration) to figure out how much
gas you were using. for carb models, you had a small 'water meter'
gizmo that you spliced into a fuel line and attached a sensor wire. it
had a revolving thingie inside and the wire told the computer how many
revolutions the thingie made per gallon. or some such.

unca joel