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Electrical or Mechanical Gauges? [Merged 9-6]

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TSiAWD91

20+ Year Contributor
62
0
Nov 14, 2002
Rochester_Ny
Ok i ordered an autometer mechanical oil pressure gauge today on accident.i wanted to get the electrical,but for some reason i picked the mechanical.anyways,i was wondering if the mechanical gauge is a PITA to install and if i should send back the one i ordered to get the electrical gauge,or if its not too bad of an install.thanks for any help!!:D
 
I also have not heard of 1 case of this, but I personally don't want to be the one that makes that case, and it also is one more spot for our wonderful oil holding cars:)
But its up to the OP in the end, right.

Dustin
 
What makes the stock guage garbage? It works, it just doesnt have any numbers.

Many of the oldmen of the site support the stock guage, me personally, i just wanted one to match l)
 
Sure the stock one works fine, but sometimes you need the numbers. Oil pressure could be too high, and you might not know it. For turbo's with journal bearings you need an oil pressure from 55-65, if its too low there isn't enough oil to keep the bearing floating on oil, if there is too much pressure the oil forces the bearing into the shaft, both will decrease spool time, and having a guage that tells you the oil pressure, and has numbers doesn't sound like such a bad thing anymore.

Dustin
 
Lordpaxin said:
What makes the stock guage garbage? It works, it just doesnt have any numbers.

Many of the oldmen of the site support the stock guage, me personally, i just wanted one to match l)

thoose gauges are natorious for failing, espically if the oil sending unit wire comes off the sending unit, and you start freeking out ( it has also happened to a couple of my buddies)
 
Haha, that happend to me too, I jacked my brakes right in the middle of the road (empty) when I saw my oil pressure drop from middle to zero. Shut my engine off when I got to the side of the road, and checked everything out, then I notice the wires.

Dustin
 
It will be one of the guages I get from Autometer, I didnt get one then because I pulled it off the road a month later for the start of a long build up of the whole car. But not to go OT to sum it up, get an electronic oil guage, EGT, and gas guages, and mechanical boost guage. But of course its all personal preference.

Dustin
 
I heard the line that runs the oil is reported to crack in cold weather is that true? Im still not sure weather to go mech or electric for a autometer oil pressure.

BTW does anyone have a picture of Autometers carbon fiber series lit up at night?
 
Electronic has a remote sensor that measures the pressure then sends the reading to the gauge in the cabin through a wire. Mechanical runs a line with oil under pressure in it to the back of the gauge and reads the pressure there. Mechanical are generally not a good idea as they can be messy when you have to remove/move them etc. Mechanicals are best left to guys that mount gauges outside of the cabin on the hood etc.

Hope that helps you out.
 
the manual gauge is actually fed by an oil line. The manual gauges have been known to leak behind the dash because of poor connections. The advatage to the manual gauge is that they are decently priced and they work just fine
 
This may be a good time for me to come out with some results,
I also have an autometer one, almost identical to the one you linked.
Hooked it up instead of my stock oil sender unit(direct replacement)
So the results:
40-50psi @ startup
drops to 22-25psi @ warm up
once boosting or at full WOT needle buries itself at the 100psi mark

Hope these aren't bad results, since i never really asked, hopefully they are somewhere in close standard values.
 
Hey. I looking to buy Autometer's C2 Boost/Vac gauge, Pyro, and Water Temp. First off, what is the difference between mechanical and electric gauges and which one is better in the long run? Second should I go with the 0-1600 deg f with the pyro gauge or the 0-2000 deg f. Thanks!
 
are you set on autometer because prosportgauges.com have some good gauges and may be cheaper im not sure.

as for mechanical or electric i run electric gagues and love them especially with my oil pressure gauge the whole idea of running oil into the car im not much on. Also electric has the sensor that runs to the boost gauge were as mechanical has the hose running to it hope this helps
 
Hey. I looking to buy Autometer's C2 Boost/Vac gauge, Pyro, and Water Temp. First off, what is the difference between mechanical and electric gauges and which one is better in the long run? Second should I go with the 0-1600 deg f with the pyro gauge or the 0-2000 deg f. Thanks!


Electric gauges have a sender that takes readings from well what ever you are reading and converts it to an electrical signal so the gauges can show you what you want to know. The best example is oil pressure gauges. A mechanical gauge will have the oil comming intot he cab all the way to the back of the gauge and will show you oil pressure. An eletrical gauge will have a sender in the engine bay. The sender will read the pressure and send a signal to the gauge that you will see. I would advice you to read this thread as most of this has been stated already.

As for the 1600 or 2K I would go with the 2K. Gauges tend not to be accurate at either end of there range. Since 1600 is about what we run EGT wise in the manifold the guage could be slighly off since that is the very end of the scale. With a 2K rage the same 1600 will be more towards the middle of the range and will tend to be more accurate.
 
OK, Im buying the mechanical autometer oil pressure gauge. Now my ? is what all do I need to properly install this on my 1G GSX. I have a pillar guage pod for it. Does the gauge come with everything? I just built my new engine and before I start it I want to have this hooked up I dont want to take any chances.
 
The Autometer mechanical guages come with everything needed for installation EXCEPT the fitting you may need if you plan on tapping at the oil filter housing.
 
When I ran mine, I just took the old Oil pressure sensor to ace hardware and matched up a NPT fitting to screw into the housing and match to the plug they supply you with. Beware though, when that line blows or leaks its NOT fun. And another word, do NOT use that shitty plastic line they give you, buy the copper one or SS.
 
I would recommend an electric gauge because you can use the sensor from electrical gauges to upgrade to an electronic gauge system in the future. Any electrical gauge sensor that has a positive and negative voltage output (pressure, temperature, EGT, A/F ratio, ect) can be wired to an interface and then connected to a common PC computer located in the trunk. The PC is then connected to a small touchscreen in the cockpit that can display one gauge at a time or multiple gauges depending on the software. If you want to spend more money you can install 2 video cards in the PC and and run a small touchscreen for gauges near the door pillar and another large touchscreen near the center console that can control a cd collection, GPS, radar detector, sat radio, wireless internet, live traffic data, ect.
 
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