Electrical or Mechanical Gauges? [Merged 9-6]

[TSiAWD91]

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!!

 

[kidwiththelaser]

Have you guys ever used a mechanical oil press gauge inside the cabin? i want to use one and a fuel press gauge but i dont want to have oil all over the place inside my car. how have you guys got around this problem.
thanks
-Charlie

 

[dr1665]

how have you guys got around this problem.

Those of us who don't like the idea of hot, flammable fluids being pumped into the cabin just use electric gauges.

 

[Defiant]

Datsun seemed to get away with it just fine on the roadsters, but it frightens some people. A huge thread in testament to this posit is lower down on this very page.

 

[Dark DSM]

Ok I serious got sick of looking, but i need to install an oil pressure gauge on my 98 Talon ESI, will somebody please point in the right direction, (pictures, hopefully full out instruction), including extra fitting and sizes that need to be bought. Any one who knows anything relating to this please email me. [email protected]
Thanks. -Kevin-

 

[Doug99RS]

Can you be a bit more specific about what info you are lacking for the task?
Doug

 

[Dark DSM]

well for one, what extra parts do i need? (e.g. a "T" and what size treads and anything else that relates so that way when i unplug the sensor i can get everything done without having problems.

 

[houstonECLIPSE]

sorry for bringing this back from the dead but i have a question. i've had an electric oil presuure guage for the pas 3 years and have gone through 3 senders. the 3rd one just went out. so now i just want to go with a mechanical oi pressure guage. i want to hook it up using -4 an stainless steel line to be on the safe side. my question is will a -4 an fitting just screw onto the back of an autometer mechanical oil presssure guage or will i need an adapter of some kind. it kins of hard to tell from this picture. thanks.

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[houstonECLIPSE]

maybe a -4 an line won't work. what do you guys think about this line instead?

http://www.autometer.com/cat_accessoriesdetail.aspx?vid=76

lupe

 

[BREW]

That will suffice. For those that don't want to spend that much on the line, autometer makes copper line that will work just as well.

The part number is 3224 (from autometer).

Brew

 

[blcknspo0ln]

Just to give you guys an update on that mechanical gauge I bought...

C
R
A
P.

leaked all over the place with teflon tape AND RTV. I also purchased the copper line from autometer for 50 bucks [ripoff] and it still didn't stop hte leaking. needless to say the gauge went into hte garbage I now have an EGT in its place

 

[BergayaJS]

Ok this is what I did.

At first I got myself a mechanical gauge. Wanted to put the gauge in the car but then after thinking, if the tube blows or goes loose or something, I wouldn't want boiling oil squirting into my face or at least in the car. And also I don't see much point in putting it in the engine bay cause I would like to monitor it when the car's running. So I bought an electronic gauge from autometer that costed a little more. It's a kit that comes with the sender unit. Something like your stock one but of course, much better(you can't use your stock sender and hook it up with an aftermarket oil pressure gauge). Well after that you could mount the sender on the engine itself but well, when your car's running and with all the vibration and sh!t, it's gonna screw your sender and you've to probably replace it within a year. So in order to avoid that, I bought this

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...sspagename=WDVW

It's an adapter that's sandwitch inbetween your oil filter and your engine block. Pretty good stuff. Quality's there too. Mount your sender unit there and I'm pretty sure it'll stay alive for quite a while.

So that's what I did! Pretty easy. Just remember you've to empty out all your oil from your oil tank before doing this if not, BIGG mess!! So a good time to do this is your regular oil change. Heh.

 

[houstonECLIPSE]

http://www.autometer.com/cat_accessorieslist.aspx?pid=18

ok after looking through autometers website today they have two different size stainless steel hose kits for pressure guages. they have -3 AN hose in 3 different lengths and they have -4 AN hose in three different lengths. which one do i use for a 2 1/16 mechanical oil pressure guage, -3 or -4? is it that the actual fittings are the same in either kit and just the diameter of the hose that is different? i dont wat to buy the -3 AN kit and the hose is too small and won't screw onto the back of the guage and i don't want to buy the -4 AN kit and have the hose be too big and not screw onto the back of the guage. i'm pretty dead set on using SS hose since this is going to be mounted inside the car. i'm not using the nylon or copper tubing at all. so i need to know which hose kit to buy or if it doesn't even matter.

lupe

 

[fn8uup]

ill just say electrical is the way to go no matter what

ive had one of those crap plastic lines break in the car behind the gauge and got a floor board full of 10w30 not only did i have to buy new copper line and oil i had to buy a crap load of shop towls to soak up the oil so i could drive home

the copper line never leaked but id still buy electrical gauges

 

[hiimt0ny]

What is the difference between an electric boost gauge and a mechanical boost gauge?

http://www.slowboyracing.com/more.php?id=4602&

vs.

http://www.slowboyracing.com/more.php?id=4562&

???
???
???

 

[justin0469]

im also wondering...

 

[DSM BEEYACH]

The difference between an electric boost gauge and, a mechanical boost gauge is that a mechanical boost gauge works by reading boost pressure it see's going to it. The electric boost gauge works by reading boost pressure of a sensor. Basically it works like a stock boost gauge in your car. The mechanical boost gauge is the best since it does not rely on a sensor which is not real accurate.

 

[Quasimondo]

Mechanical boost gauges can lose its accuracy if you damage the gauge housing. I dented mine when I was relocating it and it would read 10 in/hg with the engine off, and showed the turbo boosting at 5 psi less than what it was.

Electric boost gauges have a remote MAP sensor and do not work the same as the stock boost gauge which does not use a MAP sensor, but uses calculations based on the airflow from the MAS to guess how much boost is running.

Electric gauges are easier to install since you don't have to worry about kinking up the nylon hose and slight dents in the gauge housing will not affect its accuracy.

 

[MNGSX]

I had a braided ss line made and used a mechanical.


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http://usdieselparts.com//moreinfo.cfm?Product_ID=164277&CFID=912511&CFTOKEN=725054

A good gauge for the money if you dont mind having something that is'nt seen in most import mags.

 

[DSM BEEYACH]

Mechanical boost gauges can lose its accuracy if you damage the gauge housing. I dented mine when I was relocating it and it would read 10 in/hg with the engine off, and showed the turbo boosting at 5 psi less than what it was.

Electric boost gauges have a remote MAP sensor and do not work the same as the stock boost gauge which does not use a MAP sensor, but uses calculations based on the airflow from the MAS to guess how much boost is running.

Electric gauges are easier to install since you don't have to worry about kinking up the nylon hose and slight dents in the gauge housing will not affect its accuracy.

(1)Yes electric gauges are easier to install.(2)That is why they sell copper tubing for boost/vacuum applications. Copper tubing bends just like nylon tubing but, it does not kink, tears, melt, and it is less than half the size of nylon tubing. (3) A damaged MAP sensor would also affect the Electric gauges accuracy just like a slightly dented gauge housing will affect its accuracy.

Just to clarify what i said in my previous post about the electric boost gauge working the same as the stock boost gauge. What i meant by that is that the electrical gauges rely on secondary instrument/instruments to get its reading just as a stock gauge does to get its reading. A mechanical boost gauges does not depend on a secondary instrument to get its reading.

 

[mitsuclipsegsx]

Which ones are the safe ones? Where you don't have to hook the line to the piller,i think the safe one is elec right?

thanks

 

[blackGSX2g]

Yep, the electrical ones you just hook a wire to a sensor under your engine bay. The mechanical ones require you to run a line directly from your engine to your gauge, which can cause oil leaks in the cabin. Stick with electrical.

 

[doug]

For most of the common gauges, it doesn't matter. Boost gauge-- one hose, big deal. EGT gauge, all are electrical. You definitely don't want a mechanical fuel pressure gauge in the cabin, though-- or an oil pressure gauge, I wouldn't think.

 

[hiimt0ny]

where is a good place to get copper tubing?

 

[MNGSX]

Hardware store.

You could even use steel brake tubing with a bender and flair tool....

 

[ddavisaf]

If you drop the gauge regardless of it being mechanical or electric it will damage it and throw off the calibration.
I personally prefer mechanical. I use the nylon tubing, however only for the connection to the back of the gauge, and only about an inch 1/2. The rest is regular vacuum line for me.
No pics.
I believe that electrical gauges are not the way to go. Before we start up a heated debate, let me say that this is just MY opinion. And opinions are like... well you know.
Anywho. Electrical boost gauges rely on more than the pressure being forced or sucked through your system. They rely on electric signals from more than one sending unit. MAP and the gauge sending unit. That's 2 more things that can go wrong and give you inaccurate readings.