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+--- Thread: Gauges??? (/showthread.php?tid=1663)
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Gauges??? - Jeff - 01-28-2005
Ok, because they may not be available much longer I am ordering my gauges from mopar ASAP. They are "Mopar by Autometer" all electric gauges. My questions to the forum are as follows...
1. Are electric better than mechanical (and thus worth the extra $$)?
2. Do you need an EGT for a car running less then 20PSI?
3. Should a boost gauge cost $157? It has warning and memory and is 30-30 full sweep.
4. Do I need a tach. If so, should the stock one be saved?
Thanks guys. RJ talked me out of the fuel cell so we will see what happens with this!!
- BLINGMW - 01-28-2005
1, electronics aren't "better", but usually a lot easier to hook up. And of course have the ability to offer memory stuff.
2, dunno. Seems like you'd need either a good A/F or EGT, I get the impression most (gas) guys go with A/F.
3, I guess if you need it, go for it. We sell boost gauges for less than $50. Nothing fancy about them though
4, I can't imagine replacing a working tach with another, slightly different working tach. Unless of course you think you're going to go with a bunch of memory stuff again
What all are you going to monitor?
- Jeff - 01-28-2005
We are looking at making our own dash using the following...
Air/fuel
Vac/boost
Water temp
Oil Press
Volt
EGT
Fuel Level
Factory Tach (I guess)
Factory it has
Tach
Volt
Water Temp
Oil Press
Fuel Level
I am going to get a Boost and A/F now for sure, its just a matter of which ones. Should I see if the other factory (water,oil,etc.) still work after the wiring before I get the rest? I've been told they are not very accurate.
- mpg9999 - 01-29-2005
It really depends on what your going to be doing. I'd rather have an A/F then EGT. When I say A/F, I mean a wideband, not a light show from your narrow band stock o2 sensor.
I think the most important gauges are your tach, water temp, oil pressure, and vac/boost. Things that are nice to have are A/F, Oil temp (If its a track car, I'd move this from nice to have to need to have), and fuel pressure.
- G.Irish - 01-29-2005
Bah, spend ~$900 and get a MyChron digital dash that can track 5 inputs and do datalogging and pre-set alarms.
- .RJ - 01-29-2005
Electric gauges yes... you dont want pressurized fluids in your dash. Just mount the senders off the block and on the firewall somewhere, otherwise they will break and your bearings will be in a world of shit without earl pressure.
- KPWSerpiente - 01-29-2005
You really only need two gauges...a wideband and a boost/vacuum gauge. Now since I don't know if you want to purchase a 300+ dollar wideband setup your next best bet is a EGT. Water temp, oil temp/pressure, etc is all extra but good to have if you want especially in a car that will see high load for extended periods of time.
Do not purchase an "air/fuel" gauge whic simply reflects the oxygen sensor voltage via a colorful bar display.
A mechanical boost gauge is fine...electronic temp and pressure gauges for the fluids are a must unless you are going to mount them on the hood.
Also...you should find out what kind of logging software is available for your car...if any. Looking at ignition timing advance and counts of knock is crucial in the tuning process.
-T
- CaptainHenreh - 01-29-2005
While you're at it, why don't you just get a standalone with full datalogging and a wideband O2 input.
Done.
A good wideband setup probably will cost you around 300 dollars. But it's definitely worth it. Don't even bother with the "air/fuel" gauges that hook up to your stock O2 sensor. That's all but worthless. It will tell you when you're running open loop. Whoopdie doo.
So, my take:
Boost/vac, Wideband O2, Oil Temp, Water Temp (!!!), Oil Pressure, and Bling. And if you put them in an A-pillar pod I'll beat you within an inch of your life with a giant rubber dick.
- Evan - 01-29-2005
G.Irish Wrote:Bah, spend ~$900 and get a MyChron digital dash that can track 5 inputs and do datalogging and pre-set alarms.
- .RJ - 01-29-2005
CaptainHenreh Wrote:and Bling
![[Image: wNzc3Njg2czQxM2RmZDMxeTU0MQ%3D%3D.jpg]](http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/wetoddimage.wtdr/wNzc3Njg2czQxM2RmZDMxeTU0MQ%3D%3D.jpg)
- JackoliciousLegs - 01-29-2005
Don't go cheapie on gauges. Everyone kept telling me to go cheap and get autometer for my boost gauge.... now it reads 2psi atmospheric and 5psi low on the vacuum side.
A good boost gauge will go for over $100 easy. DEFI is a good one.
- .RJ - 01-29-2005
Defi gauges are nice - the 'd-gauge' line is pretty reasonable and doesnt require that 'd-link' computer mess
- G.Irish - 01-29-2005
![[Image: product_mxl_strada.jpg]](http://www.aimsports.com/images/products/product_mxl_strada.jpg)
- CaptainHenreh - 01-29-2005
JackoliciousLegs Wrote:Don't go cheapie on gauges. Everyone kept telling me to go cheap and get autometer for my boost gauge.... now it reads 2psi atmospheric and 5psi low on the vacuum side.
A good boost gauge will go for over $100 easy. DEFI is a good one.
I think your crappy boost gauge readings are from the way you have it hooked up, not a crappy gauge.
- Dave - 01-29-2005
JackoliciousLegs Wrote:Everyone kept telling me to go cheap and get autometer for my boost gauge.... now it reads 2psi atmospheric and 5psi low on the vacuum side.Maybe it's the car's fault
.
- JackoliciousLegs - 01-30-2005
CaptainHenreh Wrote:I think your crappy boost gauge readings are from the way you have it hooked up, not a crappy gauge.It's hooked up fine. I disconnect the line entirely and it still reads 2psi. The atmospheric "line" marker on the gauge is like an atmospheric "range." It's like a 3mm area. It's a POS gauge.
I hooked up Greg's DEFI gauge to the same spot and it read perfectly. I don't do everything wrong... I just bought cheap shit. Never EVER again. I'm completely convinced of the get what you pay for now. Cheap boost gauge... cheap FCD... no more.
- Evan - 01-30-2005
seat time > gauges
- KPWSerpiente - 01-30-2005
Having a running car > seat time
I can go around a track faster than you, if your car blows up.
-T
- Evan - 01-30-2005
gauges dont stop anything from blowing up. even if they have expensive warning lights you probably wont be looking at them.
and if you dont do stuff to the engine, you wont blow up regardless. (and have yet more money for seat time!)
I guess I just like driving the car more than working on it.
And making the driver better is actually more gratifying than making the car better.
anyway, back on topic, if you really plan on buying all those gauges, thats a ton of money, which could go into a more robust ECU monitoring and datalogging setup (like the AIM Mychron 3 XG Log) thats gives you all the realtime gauges, and also logging to help tune the car
- mpg9999 - 02-01-2005
Evan Wrote:gauges dont stop anything from blowing up. even if they have expensive warning lights you probably wont be looking at them.
and if you dont do stuff to the engine, you wont blow up regardless. (and have yet more money for seat time!)
I guess I just like driving the car more than working on it.
And making the driver better is actually more gratifying than making the car better.
anyway, back on topic, if you really plan on buying all those gauges, thats a ton of money, which could go into a more robust ECU monitoring and datalogging setup (like the AIM Mychron 3 XG Log) thats gives you all the realtime gauges, and also logging to help tune the car
You can still blow up a stock engine on a track. Some of those gauges can help prevent it. You don't have to stare at them, glancing at them once or twice a lap will work. Oil temp and water temp are pretty important IMO. Your oil temps not just going to jump up to 350 degrees all of a sudden. If your not racing your car though, these arnt nearly as important.
-Mike