3 Most Important Guages?

[Sully]

Ok so you have three gauge spots, what 3 gauges would you see as the most important that tell the most about your engine.

Now because I have an e36 and I do not plan to do the oil pump nut until I refresh my front suspension, which will be awhile as Cooling System has priority over suspension. Oil pressure if a top priority adn the only reason to do gauges in the first place.

The way I see it, get a UUC Oil Center which gives me two sender spots to use. I know I want Oil Pressure and figured I would use the other sender position for temperature (reasoning below)

So far...

Guage 1-Oil Presuure
Gauge 2-Oil Temperature

Now my third choice would probably be Water Temperature because as I learned last weekend from some alumni( I think the circle was Dj, Rex, Kaan, and Jake) through a discussion about dummy stock water temp is that the e36 has an extremley large buffer meaning that it will sit in the middle of the gauge through a wide range of temperatures and move when you are already damaging your engine

For that reason, I would like to keep a more watchful eye on water temp and I have considered cutting apart my stock cluster and removing the dummy gauge but it would look like a e36 got it on with an sti becasue I will probably use prosport guages. I suppose I could use VDO which is supposedly the OEM equivalant but the Prosport have a super cool startup thingy . <----ßâÜ(Ó▓áþøèÓ▓áßâÜ) Why you no have this smilie, I'm tired of having to steal it from other sites, I think we all know which site. And no its not the same as the :evileye:

Now I promised an explanation why Oil temp over lets just say water pressure. One I already have a sender port for it whereas I still havn't thought about where to even mount the water temp sensor. Is drilling into the radiator and taping a port out of the question? :dunno: Anyway, I figure that if I blow a radiator, one I would notice extremley quickly so no real need to have a guage tells me when it goes. Next would be the fact that the water temp could indicate a blockage or faulty thermostat by a really hot temp. Third, what the water temp senosr missed perhaps becasue it is in the radiator and not the engine, the oil temp could quickly clue me in to a cooling problem by getting hot, wouldn't it? Perhaps I have put too much faith in the fact that the lubrication fluid would clue me in to a cooling problem but am I wrong in that assumption?

Fuel Pressure would be nice with an extra spot but not a neccessary on a street car really. The only gauge I feel i really really need is the oil pressure and becasue of the stokc guage buffer area, a water temp would be good too.

E36's have a great mounting spot in my opinion, Right where the radio resides. Hear me out. Take the radio and move it down where the "sunglass pocket" resides. Why so much work you ask? Well I answer, and I have two main reasons and one supplemental reason. The first is it puts the gauges up where they need to be, close to the stock level which makes view extremley easy. Second, when i am messing with my radio, I perfer to just rest my arm on something and click the next button without really looking. Well hello Mr. Console, you would be perfect as an arm/wrist rest while I mess with my tunes. Radio messing is usally reserved for 5th gear anyways with the shifter out of the way. That is just my take and the supplement would be it gives me something custom to do at no real extra cost becasue I enjoy that type of thing.

Now, I'm not sure if that is what I will do becasue my gauges will have peak settings and alarms and crazy shit that alerts me to a problem so line of sight isn't a major scary worrying issue and not to mention, the din pocket under the OBC is not hard to glance at while driving.

[Apoc]

We run oil pressure, oil temp and water temp on the 944's if that means anything.

The order in which I look at them is oil pressure, water temp and oil temp if that means anything.

[ScottyB]

oil pressure
oil temperature
water temperature

in that order of importance, for pretty much the same reasons you listed. its true, most water temp gauges are "idiot light" gauges and won't indicate a problem until your engine is extra crispy and frittered.

you could also consider voltage or fuel pressure as additional gauges but i wouldn't kick out those first three for 'em.

[Sully]

Volt meter would be nice too, I have one in my truck on my poser a-pillar pod...two amplifier temp gauges and a volt gauge but the volt gauge did come in handy in traffic one night when the system had my battery below 11 while running...my alternator was acting up but now seemed to fix itself... :dunno: but it gave me a heads up to turn off every non essential electrical device when it hit 10.6 or whatever

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[fiveoh2go]

Interesting topic, as I think the answer to your question varies widely according to the car/engine being discussed. IMO, there are no set "3 most important gauges" that would suit every car.


FWIW....I run boost, fuel pressure, and oil pressure (with a wide-band soon to be added to the mix).

[Sully]

Well that is part of it right there....If you could only run 3, what would be more important to you? Would you sacrafice fuel pressure for wide-band? Now of course in the real world, you can run 10 if you really wanted to but a boosted car adds a whole new perspective becasue you definatley want boost in there. And a supercharger/turbo feeds off your engine oil so would you want an oil temp then? I agree, it really depends on the car and what the car is used for.

A prime example is the e36 which has an oil pump nut that is prone to fail or come off which makes oil pressure a top prioity although I feel every car could have a failure of the oil system in some way and it is one of the hardest to catch before damage occurs. And of course the buffer on the stock e36 water temp gauge means that is a neccessity as well but with antoher car with a more accurate water temo gauge, maybe it wouldn't be as important

[JustinG]

N/A cars, Oil Temp, Oil Pressure, and Water Temp. No point to monitor anything else really. Its what im going to be running in the hatch.

Turbo cars IMO benefit from more gauges, the 3 above, Boost (obviously), EGT or Wideband, no point for both, if your A/F is good no need for EGT, and EGT can be used as the poor mans wideband. Then throw Fuel pressure under the hood. IMO FP doesn't need to be in the cabin, because it is most likely used for diagnostic/trouble shooting. All a matter of opinion on location.

Factory dummy gauges are freakin worthless. The DSMs WT gauge, would sit at the middle from 180 up to like 225 or 235 something like that, what good is that????? Dummy lights, just as bad, OP light comes on when there is 0 oil or 0 OP, again, whats the point.

Im using the ProSport Premiums, affordable, proven, peak/warning gauges. Each gauge can be had for under $100, with multiple color options and sizes. Cheapest retailer I have found is <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.VR-speed.com">www.VR-speed.com</a><!-- w -->

[fiveoh2go]

And a supercharger/turbo feeds off your engine oil so would you want an oil temp then?

Not always.


My car has a separate oiling system for the engine as well as the blower. I'm pretty sure all positive displacement superchargers have self contained oiling systems, and many of the newer centrifugal units offered on the market today have their own dedicated supply of oil too.


Oh, and this solves your problem of only having three gauges.

[Sully]

As Scotty said for both NA and Forced induction, a volt gauge would be nice but not over the other three that MM seems to agree upon for NA cars. And now that I think about it... not guna lie here I kinda miss my HUD from the 240. It had a certain,"yea my '92 has Heads Up Display and a digital speedo" (picture f*** yea rage comic)

[Sully]

And a supercharger/turbo feeds off your engine oil so would you want an oil temp then?

Not always.


My car has a separate oiling system for the engine as well as the blower. I'm pretty sure all positive displacement superchargers have self contained oiling systems, and many of the newer centrifugal units offered on the market today have their own dedicated supply of oil too.


Oh, and this solves your problem of only having three gauges.

It does but I don't like that multi gauges becasue although I really only need the warning, I would like to glance and see all my needles in the sweet spot and don't want to have to scroll through or wait until the number I'm looking for auto-scrolls passed. And for a daily driven street car, I feel the main 3 will keep me more than safe

[.RJ]

[Sully]

I guess it depends on the car as well becasue in my 240, I think I was planning on 9 gauges including center gauges and pillar gauges but the BMW, I want to keep it as few as possible for some reason. Maybe becasue 240 just fits as cough ricecar cough, excuse me, I was tryin to say racecar. But gauges out the ass seem to fit that car and the BMW, I'd rather have one row of guages and keep the look as stock as possible. Of course, the interior of the close to $45k BMW probably would be nicer than the 7 year older Nissan. Can't find what the 240 cost new.