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????????????

 

[nfinkbe]

i figured that an oil pressure gauge would be usefull so i will go ahead and get the triple gauge pod. thanks for the replys everyone.

 

[slugsgomoo]

oil pressure, water temp, oil temp & a wideband are all waaaay more useful than EGT.

 

[totaleclipse_05]

hey, im new here and i tried to search on this topic, but i could not seem to find anything on this. if there is something about this, please let me know and i am sorry.

anyways, i am looking into purchasing some gauges for my a-pillar and i already have one, a voltmeter (some ppl might think these are not needed, but i find myself using it quite often). i am looking into getting an oil pressure gauge also, autometer ultra lite electrical, and i need one more to complete a set of three for the autometer gauge pod for the a-piller. what would be a good gauge to put into that last spot? is our temp gauge accurate or should i invest in a water temp gauge? i will eventually go turbo (in a year or two), but i want gauges that will tell me something now that is not turbo related (i will get all those when i do go turbo). thanks everyone and this is my first post here.

 

[tunerkid]

sorry to tell you, but having guages in a stock 420a is pointless, i mean they do look cool though if thats what your going for, and in all honestly it is. a guage you might want to consider is an air/fuel guage, completely pointless, but it has a lot of cool blinking lights, also you could get oil temp, oil press, or water temp.

 

[BulliT]

You don't need any unless you got some nitrous on the 420 or a Hahn turbo kit.

 

[n0c7]

Voltmeter is all that comes to mind since the 2g's done have any sort of battery meter.

 

[sYnOnYx]

i wouldnt put any on , unless they were useful to you.

i have a : voltmeter , boost , a/f

an a/f gauge only reads decently at WOT , but pretty much a light show if your just daily driving.

volt : i have a system in my car so i wana keep an eye on all things electrical.

boost : stock gauge is hella inaccurate.

for your car i would put:

volt , a/f , oil pres.

 

[speedy13]

I love gauges,they're usefull and look cool as hell,personally, i wouldn't be satisfied till my dashboard looked like an airplane dash..

OIL pressure= very necessary in ANY car without one.When the oil light turns on,its usually to late.

Boost gauges= our stock boost gauges aren't even boost gauges.This is one of the first modifications you should perform on your DSM. The stock boost gauge isn't a indication of manifold pressure, rather a "guesstimated" value of boost from the cars MAS readings. To properly start modding your car, you need to know how much boost you are running to prevent and catastrophic failures or problems.

Volt's= nice to know,especially to check your alternator and such.

Water temp=Not necessary,but nice to have,stock works fine dough.

A/F ratio= pointless without a wideband,and a digital numeric one,but the chicks dig the light.

All the other gauges are more for tuning and to get serious on,or more for function, then for looks.But hey I would just slap on a volt meter and oil pressure gauge and call it a day.

 

[n0c7]

Water temp=Not necessary,but nice to have,stock works fine dough.

I disagree on this one, my Autometer water gauge will show me reaching 235F before my stock gauge even begins to say hey this is getting too hot(around 250F the stock one starts to move up). More accurate warnings IMHO.

 

[ILLiCliPSE]

haha i feel like complete shiat now

but ya...i have air/fuel (rich/stoich/lean) and oil pressure in my 420a and its basically stock (2 1/2 inch cat-back & cai ...it is cool to have, but my car has over 100,000 miles on it..oil pressure can come in handy someday...air/fuel is just cool to have cuz you got lights moving around .

 

[scirio]

Boost gauges= our stock boost gauges aren't even boost gauges.This is one of the first modifications you should perform on your DSM. The stock boost gauge isn't a indication of manifold pressure, rather a "guesstimated" value of boost from the cars MAS readings. To properly start modding your car, you need to know how much boost you are running to prevent and catastrophic failures or problems.

Yeah, deafenetly, especially on an NA

 

[Thomas91169]

pillar gauges on a n/t?

there should be laws against gauges on slow cars

ok just pulling your leg. id get Volt, Oil Pressure and Water Temp gauges. you can go with a a/f if you get a wideband o2, but thatll be a waste of money unless youre planning on doing something major down the road(as in turbo).

 

[speedy13]

Yeah, deafenetly, especially on an NA

I was trying to clear up the fact that our boost gauges are not accurate at all,I know he's a NT,i can see that.people with turbo dsm's are reading the forums and I'm just trying to do my part to not spread misinformation.

And nOc7,OK you convinced me,get a water temp gauge too.. I don't see why you can't have a pillar gauge on a NT,it's your car,do what you like...

 

[endlessMyk]

Well, if you're going for the "cool" look you might as well just buy the damn a/f gauge... when people ask me what that one is for i always tell them it's to hypnotize girls into sleeping with me... it hasn't even worked for that.

 

[4g63telantra]

Ill be getting my full race motor back from the machine shop soon. I will also be running DSMLINK. I would like to know what are the "MUST" gauges i will need and what are some gauges that i dont need.

or can anyone give me the top 5 Gauges that are needed.

Boost/Vac?
Volts?
Oil Pre?
Oil Temp?
Water Temp?
EGT?
etc....

 

[DSM_shop]

i'd vote:

boost/vac
EGT
oil pressure
air/fuel with a wideband (not necessarily a gauge)
maybe fuel pressure

beyond that...isn't there a stock water temp? oil temp could be useful to see if you're destroying it or not, but pressure is more important. voltage has never struck me as critical.

 

[Zmann42087]

DSM_shop got it.

Boost/Vac
Air/Fuel ratio
EGT
Oil pressure
No 5th for me.....



There is no stock water temp to my knowledge.....

 

[marcmsj]

DSM_shop got it.

Boost/Vac
Air/Fuel ratio
EGT
Oil pressure
No 5th for me.....



There is no stock water temp to my knowledge.....

looked at your instrument cluster lately?

 

[dmorris05]

Boost/Vac.
EGT
Air/Fuel
Water Temp
Oil Pressure

 

[Grimis]

Boost/Vac
Air/Fuel ratio
EGT
Oil pressure
and for me (auto) Trans Temp


and the stock temp gauge(water/rad fluid) is next to the gas gauge

 

[Defiant]

Boost/Vac
Air/Fuel ratio
EGT
Oil pressure
and for me (auto) Trans Temp

I don't know if an oil pressure gauge is really that much more useful than a warning light. High coolant temps, you can stop and deal with. Low oil pressure.... well, you're probably done anyway. I'd rather see two or three pressure-level lights. Then again, I'd rather find out what the oil's doing up at the head near the end of the lubrication system than right at the damned pump outlet. One thing they taught us on the ships was that what really matters isn't oil pressure, but oil temperature rise across a bearing. That's not measured on cars that I've heard of. Having a "pickup" and "system" measuring scheme would at least head in that direction.
I need a gas gauge. I've had current MPG gauges, and wish I still did.

and the stock temp gauge(water/rad fluid) is next to the gas gauge

Yeh. What pinhead set up the 2G DSM gauges? The oil and temp should be on the same face, so the needles point at each other when everything's normal. Bloody tourists.

 

[Slo2gen]

I am almost through with gathering parts for my turbo conversion but I am not sure which gauges to get to keep cost at a min. I know that fuel pressure is very important and EGT's are nice to have. What gauges to I have to have to go turbo. Boost and what...? I have been thinking about not getting any and just buying the Zeitronix but the Zt-2 is pretty expensive, even though it is an awsome deal for what all you get. I am hoping to be done with the conversion before june. My girl friend just got a digital camera so I will probably steal it from her and post some pics soon!

 

[99gst_racer]

Boost/Vac gauge is the most important. EGT is nice to have, but not nessacery. A fuel pressure gauge is not needed in the cabin. You only need one mounted to your AFPR to get it set correctly.

If you can afford Boost and EGT, get them. But if you are on a really tight budget, just stick with the boost gauge.

 

[97EclipseGS-T]

that Zeintronix is worth it though. Its a wideband and they offer a cheap EGT probe to go with it. You'll later want more power and therefore, you'll need proper tools for tunning. A wideband and EGT is Key along with a Logger.... which is a must

 

[DGajre777]

Whatever you do, don't spend any money on the Autometer A/F ratio blinky light show gauge, they are useless for tuning.

I say Autometer Boost and EGT Gauge with a TRE probe.