Which/What gauges should I get? [Merged 12-6]

[EcLiPsEgSt97]

I have a 3 gauge pillar and I dont know what gauges i need to get.. I know i need to get the BOOST gauge but i dont know what other 2 i should...can some one help me????????????

 

[boosted95]

Yeah, EGT stands for exhaust gas temperature.

 

[Mr.Tao]

if you're not gonna do heavy modifying or see lots of track time, i'd say a boost gauge is fine. money spent on egt gauge can be spent on Datalogger or wideband o2 tuners.

 

[Sterlingsxe]

www.diamondstarmotorsport.com
Well I found that people like that place the best for its dual pod gauge. So i figure its 50 bucks ill go with the piller one. Now which gauges do i stick in these bad boys and do they all fit. Also how hard is the install for these gauges just a wire u connect them too..

 

[ericbev]

You should install whichever gauges suit your needs.. peoples needs are different.. cant help ya there.. as for fitment there are two standard gauge sizes 52mm (2 1/16) and 60mm (2 7/16) they make pillars for both sizes.. be sure to buy the correct one

 

[Agent Ezzard]

52mm gauges. Boost and I guess an EGT. Install is easy just look at the VFAQs.

 

[CowPimp]

I would get a boost gauge first. There is no exceptions here. However, if you don't plan on installing a larger turbo and injectors to boot, then you can get away without an EGT gauge. A/F gauges are all but worthless unless you get a wideband O2 sensor for more accurate readings. Even then, it's not necessary unless you plan on going with a larger turbo and injectors and start doing somet tuning. My choice would be an EGT gauge, but it's really up to you.

 

[punishercb]

What's the advantage to having an exhaust gas temperature guage?

 

[Agent Ezzard]

Depends on who you ask. I use ut as prevention to unwanted engine damage. Just like any other gauge.

 

[waiting2bl33d]

preventing a lean condition in your 1st cylinder

 

[Bostedquest]

Ok, after months of searching, and money for parting out my swap car I found a 92/93 Talon to put this beast built T4E powered '63 motor into.

SO this is my question, I know that a AFR and Boost/vac guages are standard for install, but what are some others I might want to look at?

So far I am looking at AFR, PSI, Oil Temp, Oil Pressure, and pyro guages. And of course a Tach. I was also considering a fuel pressure guage as well. It is not that I do not trust the factory guages, it is more that I want something a little more accurate and reliable.

So are these 5/6 about the only ones to get or what else should I be looking at?

 

[jott5555]

scratch the a/f gauge they are pointless. go with oil temp, oil pressure, egt, uego wideband and tach of course.

thats simular to my setup minus the wideband.

 

[Maglin]

Yeah a AFR gauge is just a waste of money. They don't show you much of anything. A wideband would be the way for AFR. Most important gauges in my book are in order of importance:
1 - Boost Gauge
2 - WB AFR
3 - EGT
4 - Oil Press
5 - Fuel Press
6 - IAT
7 - Oil Temp

The first 3 are all you really need to have. The stock Tach is fairly fast and accurate so no need to waste money their unless you just have to have a hugh tach for show. Personally I don't like haveing a ton of show inside the car. It tends to lead people into thinking you might know what your doing. I hide as much as possible so I put gauges behind panels and what not so I can just flip a panel at race time to monitor my vitals. The appearance of a untuned car gets you far more money in street racing than anything else. Of course in a small town it only will work for you for a few days until everyone in town knows better than to run up against you. Large citys are where that kind of money is. Not that I know personally or anything.

 

[jott5555]

oh i was under the impression that a boost gauge was manditory.

 

[Bostedquest]

seems like you got all the main ones. only other one I can think you might possibly want is an EGT gauge.

also known as a pyrometer... or pyro

 

[Bostedquest]

oh i was under the impression that a boost gauge was manditory.

and PSi is...?

 

[Bostedquest]

The AFR is mainly because I already have one from my old car. IAT I am not all that concerned about right now because I will be limiting boost to about 8-12 PSI on the T4E. atleast untill I can get the heavier supporting mods installed (maft T, 24X12X3 FM intercooler, 650 CC injectors ect)

Also, I have a new vortec rising rate FMU (12:1), would that be better to use instead of a AFPR? I know that both can do the job equally well, but my ECU is not currently chipped, though it will be in a few months, I was just thinking that the ECU might be better able to handle the FMU over the AFPR?

 

[Maglin]

Never ever put a FMU on a DSM. They are designed to raise fuel pressure quite a bit and are more designed for N/A cars that are turbo'ed while still using the stock EMS. Since they don't compensate more fuel for the added boost it just raises the fuel pressure to do the job and it doesn't do a very good job at that. You usually see FMU's on the homemade turbo honda's on a tight budget. But even those you can just chip the ECU and use uberdata and a 3 bar MAP and have a great setup.

Either you can use a FPR from a N/A car and tune out the higher pressure on the low end with a MAFT or SAFC or just spend the extra cash and get either a bolt on FPR like the fullthrottle one or spend 2x as much and get a AFPR.

Boost gauge is definitly mandatory on a Turbo car. If you have a Map sensor hooked up you could just use MMCD to log everything and have no gauges showing. That again is another attempt to look like a total noob for racing purposes.

BTW if you do use a FMU you WILL almost for sure run very rich under more than 4 PSI of boost as they raise the fuel pressure a bunch. And you will over work your fuel pump at anything past 10 PSI cause of this and most likely you will end up killing the fuel pump pretty quick.

 

[jott5555]

a psi and boost gauge are diffrent most current boost guages offer boost as well as vaccum, so you can monitor boost and vaccum so that if you get a vac leak you will have some warning as to why your car runs like shit.

also with these 660 injectors do you plan on putting a fuel pump in to feed them? or some kind of management unit so that you do not over run your system?

 

[Bostedquest]

a psi and boost gauge are diffrent most current boost guages offer boost as well as vaccum, so you can monitor boost and vaccum so that if you get a vac leak you will have some warning as to why your car runs like shit.

also with these 660 injectors do you plan on putting a fuel pump in to feed them? or some kind of management unit so that you do not over run your system?

wal 255HP, maft T, afpr, just got a data logger off ebay yesterday, well my psi guage does -20 to +30, depending on how many parts I sell sunday (2/27) off my old project car I may even go SAFC, and along with the full 3" 304 stainless exhaust and exhuast mani, will tide the car over for a while.

So depending on how well things go tomarrow... I will be getting $300 in guages, Fuel Pump, AFPR, SAFC, Injectors, MAF/T, 3" exhaust, T3 manifold, and possibly even a FMIC... hoping to hit about 1K-1100 in parts ridance... along with the removal of a car, and the finished gutting of another to be removed Mon/Tues

 

[jott5555]

wounderful. i get to pull a 7bolt and tranny finish parting the 95 out then pull a 6bolt and tranny out of my 90gst and part it out.. then hmm a 95 w/6bolt.. anyway if you lookin at buying guages look on ebay they have a couple sellers on there with guages very inexpensive and brand new..

defnietly ditch the a/f and go with uego or egt.. and of course a BOOST GUAGE!!!! byw vaccum isnt measured in psi.. its measured in hg

 

[Bostedquest]

wounderful. i get to pull a 7bolt and tranny finish parting the 95 out then pull a 6bolt and tranny out of my 90gst and part it out.. then hmm a 95 w/6bolt.. anyway if you lookin at buying guages look on ebay they have a couple sellers on there with guages very inexpensive and brand new..

defnietly ditch the a/f and go with uego or egt.. and of course a BOOST GUAGE!!!! byw vaccum isnt measured in psi.. its measured in hg

I know how vac is measured... I did not put -20 PSi... I just refer to the IMPORTANT side of the guage
Actually I am going all Autometer Auto lite silver face, and after comparing EBAY to Jegs/Summit the only thing that is actually cheaper is the 0-100 fuel pressure guage. Got the 5281 high pressure isolator for 28 bucks, and the guage for $60 (on Summit/Jegs $191)... everything else came up to 229 and change (EGT, Oil P, Oil T) on Ebay, yet was 219 can change on Summit/Jegs. Comparing new to new, same part numbers. Sometimes you just gotta do the math... and $10 bucks savings is $10 bucks in savings...

 

[TalonRcR]

I know how vac is measured... I did not put -20 PSi... I just refer to the IMPORTANT side of the guage
Actually I am going all Autometer Auto lite silver face, and after comparing EBAY to Jegs/Summit the only thing that is actually cheaper is the 0-100 fuel pressure guage. Got the 5281 high pressure isolator for 28 bucks, and the guage for $60 (on Summit/Jegs $191)... everything else came up to 229 and change (EGT, Oil P, Oil T) on Ebay, yet was 219 can change on Summit/Jegs. Comparing new to new, same part numbers. Sometimes you just gotta do the math... and $10 bucks savings is $10 bucks in savings...

Email me with what you need I'll kill there price

Chris

 

[TDX]

Hey guys/gals, I was wondering what are the gauges that we really need for our cars??? I know we have the stock boost gauge/oil pressure gauge. What other gauges would I need to get aside from replacing those??? I just don't want to clutter up my interior. Thank you.


-Patrick

 

[ProjectTalon130]

If you wanted to go out, other than the boost and oil ->not really needed...is an EGT and Wideband O2. those are the most crucial from what i've seen for tuning purposes.

 

[MackZ24]

Sorry if I misinterpreted what you were saying ProjectTalon130, but I just wanted to clarify for TDX that an aftermarket boost gauge definitely is necessary! It's probably the single most important gauge that you can get for your car! After that, it's basically what you feel you need to monitor. A lot of people get EGT gauges to monitor the temperature of their exhaust gasses and make sure that they are not too high, as differences in these numbers can signal that you are running too lean or rich.

Edit: Also, for reference, be aware that EGT's and your regular air/fuel gauges are not necessarily good to be using as your main tuning tools. Wideband O2 sensors are good, but can be pricey. Your best bet if you don't want to "clutter" your car up with gauges, would be to get the Boost and EGT, and then invest in a datalogger, which would provide you all the data you should need for tuning.