Gauges???

[G.Irish]

gauges dont stop anything from blowing up. even if they have expensive warning lights you probably wont be looking at them.

Checking your gauges is a part of situational awareness though. When people are first starting to get out on track they probably will be so keyed in on the driving part that they can't do this but a maturing driver should be able to easily.

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

I agree. Its not likely you'll blow your ish up on track if its stock, but if somehow a problem comes up its always better to find out from a gauge rather than finding out by coasting to a stop or seeing smoke or flames peaking out from the hood.

Its not as important with a stock car in good repair, and of course its less of an issue for N/A cars vs. FI cars.

Anyway, I'm buying a Mychron. Once you see teh bl1ng you will want to buy one too :twisted:

[Evan]

Of course checking your gauges are important as part of driving on track. But checking them still doesnt prevent anything.

While you can get an idea on the pulse of the motor by glancing at the oil temp or water temp, either of those can skyrocket in the matter of a second or two. Hole through the radiator. Oil pressure can drop. Oil temp can skyrocket. Engine can go lean in a heartbeat. and *poof* your engine is done, gauges or no.
And if any of that happens during the 99.9% of the time you arent looking at the gauges, they dont do you any good.
Dont get me wrong, im not denouncing the usefullness of all gauges, just keep you expectations for them realistic, and dumping $1k into gauges expecting them to keep your engine problems under control is not realistic.

G which Mychron are you getting? XG Log?

[G.Irish]

Of course checking your gauges are important as part of driving on track. But checking them still doesnt prevent anything.

Ah werd up I see what you're saying.

Oh yeah, I'm thinking MXL Pista

[.RJ]

Oh yeah, I'm thinking MXL Pista

Damn. +bling!

I will probably end up going with a DL1. GPS > Pimpy screen

[Jeff]

I'm back on this hang-up again as I am getting ready to put the interior back in the Tona. I wanna get any gauges put in it now. I have in my inventory right now..

OEM in Daytona AND Omni
Oil press
Water temp
fuel level
tach
speed
volt
Boost (30/15psi in Daytona only)

Mopar Performance Carbon-fiber (Autometer all electric)
Boost (30/30psi)
Oil Press
Water Temp
EGT (1600)

Autometer Ultralite
Mechanical Oil Press
Elec Water temp

My options are as follows-
A-
Omni- use Mopar as I already have the Mopar boost gauge installed
Daytona- Use OEM gauges and only add EGT and A/F
Sell the 2 Ultralites

B-
Omni- forget about it til' later
Daytona- Mopar full spread including Boost gauge (remove OEM one)
Sell Ultralites

C- same as A accept use Ultralites in the Daytona and get Ultralite A/F and EGT to complete the set.

Please tell me what I should do. I have money for it and I wanna get it done while I'm putting the dash and such back together.

[JustinG]

if your doing all new....

Defi = $$$$$ worth it, but gotta ask yoruself if you wanna spend that much money on gauges. Id go with some autometer phantoms, white faces and can had LED bulbs put in to change the light coloring to anything.

Tach (w/ in gauge shift light)
Speedometer
Fuel level
coolant temp
oil pressure (electronic, unless you want a mechanical gauge that allows oil to run into your passenger compartment, could be messy)
boost
EGT

Wideband(PLXM300 under 300 bucks last i checked)

No voltmeter and A/F ratio gauges are practically for bling, get a Turbotimer, they usually come with a voltmeter built in. You could also add a electronic Fuel Pressure gauge, but a under the hood one is all youll really need in my opinion.

[Jeff]

The Mopar guys a TD.com say "the factory gauges are one step from dummy lights" so Its looking like I will take the Mopar boost gauge outa the omni and put all the mopars in the daytona. I still want opinions though

[JashGTP]

JUST DO NOT GET A A/F gauge...its basicly a entertaining light show.

it doesnt tell you anythign...wideband is the only way to tune anything!

[Jeff]

Who has the cheapest wideband these days? Anyone got one used they wanna part with?

[JustinG]

PLX m300, $313 http://www.horsepowerfreaks.com/sale/PLX...eband_Kits

[JashGTP]

wideband and cheap prob will never be in the same sentence together

[CaptainHenreh]

Alright, someone explain this to me.

A wideband 02 sensor (like a bosch from a lean-burn honda) outputs a voltage from 0-5v, according to the air/fuel ratio in the location of the sensor.

Can someone please tell me why you can't buy the 60 dollar sensor and a voltmeter? Why the need for the crazy (and costly) display? Sure, it's more convinient, but as a tuning tool, surely you can do some simple math such as "Ok, 14:1 is 2.5v, so let's shoot for a 2.5v output on this pull"?

[.RJ]

The standard o2 sensors are only accurate around stoich a/f ratios- their accuracy falls off *very* quickly as they move away from stoich.

[CaptainHenreh]

The standard o2 sensors are only accurate around stoich a/f ratios- their accuracy falls off *very* quickly as they move away from stoich.

Which is why I specified one from a leanburn honda, which are wideband. Standard 02 sensors output from 0-1v, but these (from a Civic VX, I think?) are very expensive (60 dollars as opposed to 15) and the output in wideband, from 0-5v.

I swear, I'm just gonna go try it.

[.RJ]

Well, go for it....

[CaptainHenreh]

Well, go for it....

I think I'm gonna.

[CaptainHenreh]

Five minutes of research led me here: Clicky-pow

Because of the internal circuitry used in a wideband oxygen sensor, you can't hook up a voltmeter or oscilloscope to read the sensor's output directly. A wideband O2 sensor produces a current signal that varies not only in amplitude but direction. That makes it quite different from a conventional oxygen sensor that produces a voltage signal that bounces back and forth between 0.1 and 0.9 volts.

I also found that the VX o2 sensors went through the roof. They're 298 bucks now! I swear they weren't that much a year ago.

[Jeff]

wideband and cheap prob will never be in the same sentence together

$300 isn't bad. I'll set it and forget it with peter's (I hope) and then get my own when I decide to up the boost some more.

[Jeff]