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

 

[FORMONTOYA]

Boost/vac in one, real oil pressure, real water temperature. EGT is nice to have. Definatly loggable WB O2, but I wouldn't need a gage for it. Fuel pressure gage on the fpr.

Jim

 

[dalatinromeo]

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!

Def the first gauge you should get is a boost gauge have it to read vaccum too. I would say go with these I think are some important gauges.

Boost, EGT, Oil Pressure, Fuel Pressure, Wideband, and if you want get a water temp gauge. And wahtever you do don't get an A/F ratio gauge.

Hope this helps, Stay boostin

 

[Shane2GSX]

Not trying to highjack this thread, but I'm also wondering something similar. I'm going to be getting either DSMLink or ECU+, along with a PLX-300 Wideband setup. I am planning on getting Boost, EGT and FP guages, but with the available data that the WB gives in conjunction with either DSMLink or ECU+ would I really need an EGT and/or Fuel Pressure gauge(s)?

 

[FORMONTOYA]

Even with an OEM fpr, although mine is not, I would still like to verify that the base fp is correct with mods. An EGT is not neccessary and imo should NOT be used as a tuning tool. However, it does give a good indication of what is going on inside the engine. That said, imo a real oil pressure and water temp should be the first gages to buy for any modded engine.

Jim

 

[Sick Boy]

Definatly a Boost Gauge as everybody has mentioned. A cheap gauge is VDO. Also a EGT Gauge. From what I've heard a Greddy EGT is better than Autometer. Also a good Logger will help out. Also a Fuel Pressure gauge would help. Their pretty cheap.

 

[Apeximprt2nr]

Definitly Boost gauge and wideband O2 are a must for tuning. Those are the 2 most important I would say. Apex'i, Greddy, Blitz, and Defi are all really good, accurate gauges. Autometer is much cheaper, but not accurate all of the time. I personally like Apex'i and Blitz the most.

 

[mra4886]

not to hijack his thread what about having bost/vac, egt, and aem wideband that way if you wanted to then you could fill a triple pillar pod with some of the most important gauges ( in my opion).

 

[SkyLineGtR-R34]

boost/vac
egt
oil pressure

 

[pecka]

an egt is nice to have, it is not really a monitor, but a warning, you know you are lean when the egt's are high

 

[Minimalitia]

Why does everyone say not to get the Air Fuel gauge??

 

[ChvyKc]

Why does everyone say not to get the Air Fuel gauge??

read this:

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=161136

You basically need to be able to tell the difference between .90 volts and 1.0 volts on the O2 sensor. That gauge just lights up the very last green light when it is between those two voltage points so you are not able to determine exactly where the car is sitting during WOT. It will also light up the very bottom green light at .750 which is extremely lean for ours cars but the gauge is still saying that you are running rich.

I took this right off of RRE's website to give you a better idea of what voltage you should be tuning at:

90-94 Turbo
The O2 voltage will vary a lot more from car to car. Your numbers can vary from these easily by as much as .05v. 1G cars have more grounding issues and 90s in particular will read leaner (lower voltage) With a 1G car the compression is lower too so you can run leaner before getting knock that retards timing.

On 91 octane gas you will want .89 to .91v If you are at a higher altitude then lower voltage is OK.
On 92 octane gas you will want .88v
On 93-94 octane gas you can get away with .86v

The same applies to the O2 Voltage when the O2 sensor heats up, it will drop some.

Hope this helps.

 

[Slo2gen]

I think that I will get the boost, oil presure and water temp and a fp for under the hood for right now! As everybody said EGT's are a nice thing to have but I am just trying to get the basics right now. How ever I don't want to mount them in a triple pillar, I have a cluster bezel right now and I am going to mount the oil pressure and boost in that and move the water temp. to underneath my cd player. I am trying to go the sleeper rout, I know hard to do with a fmic hunh? Oh well. How does that sound, good idea or bad idea? Can anybody recomend a good gauge that blends in with the stock gauges?

 

[selmerguy]

i love all these 4g63 guys. if you want a honest 420a opinion. oil pressure gauge is just about as bad as the narrow band af gauge. you either have pressure or you dont. if you dont your dummy light will come on. you allready have a water temp gauge. (the temp gauge on your left when sitting in the car.) so get a boost gauge, egt and a wideband. be very careful when you buy a wideband. some like the zt support logging buy themselves. the zt is the best wideband for the buck imo. i have the lc-1 xm-1 by innovate. it is a great setup but without aftermarket ems is silly to log with. so since you say you are on a budget i don't think ems is in your future so get the zt.

now i am also assuming that you are going to get the zt wideband which is not a 52 mm gauge. so if you have a triple gauge pod you need another gauge. i think a oil temp gauge is helpful. just to give you a hint i have autometer cf: boost, oil pressure, oil temp, egt, fuel pressure, and nitrous pressure. with the xm-1 wideband.

this is also a 420a thing but depending on your fuel setup ad ellectric fp gauge could be very helpful. most first time 420a turbos use a fmu or sfmu. the only way to know if it is working is to drive your car and see if your fp changes. for example my fp at idle is like 55. with a 12:1 fmu at 8 psi i see my gauge peg out so i know i have fuel pressure to squeeze every little drop out of my stock tiny injector. there you go dude. sorry its long

 

[Slo2gen]

I am not wanting to use a 3 pod a pillar, I have a 2 gauge cluster bezel pod. Like I said though I don't want to use the Zt-2 because of cost at the moment, my hours at work have been cut due to going over budget on labor. I will get a fp, boost, and maybe egt. Which gauges would match the "stock" look though? I was thinking about the autometer z series. What does everybody think about Faze?

 

[FORMONTOYA]

I use a SPI 30-30 boost/vac, ISSPRO red pointer series for OP, WT, EGT. Both are back lit and if you order the orange bulb covers on the ISSPRO gages it looks OEM. The SPI has a white pointer with orange back lit numbers, although I don't think it will be easy to find.

http://egauges.com/ scroll to bottom of page, then select.

Jim

 

[selmerguy]

i like autometer gauges. are you going to get a electric fp gauge? they are around 2 bills.

 

[dalatinromeo]

Which gauges would match the "stock" look though? I was thinking about the autometer z series.

Not sure abou the autometer z series, but the vodo gauges match up the stock look perfectly.

 

[Slo2gen]

Yeah I was planing on going electric because its useless to have a mechanical gauge runing fuel through the cabin and I don't want to have to look under the hood every time I need to check fp. Are the vodo accurate? I have not heard of them before, I don't think.

 

[Slo2gen]

The cost of the boost -30-0-30 and fuel pressure 0-100 to my door is 226.75 for Autometer Z series. does that sound resonable?

 

[selmerguy]

The cost of the boost -30-0-30 and fuel pressure 0-100 to my door is 226.75 for Autometer Z series. does that sound resonable?

thats better then i did. i think my fp gauge was 200 shipped and my boost gauge was like 50 shipped.

 

[Dark_Horse]

I am not wanting to use a 3 pod a pillar, I have a 2 gauge cluster bezel pod. Like I said though I don't want to use the Zt-2 because of cost at the moment, my hours at work have been cut due to going over budget on labor. I will get a fp, boost, and maybe egt. Which gauges would match the "stock" look though? I was thinking about the autometer z series. What does everybody think about Faze?

If you have a datalogger an EGT gauge is useless. Tune for no knock or minimal knock and no EGT gauge is needed.

 

[MrBoxx]

Yeah I was planing on going electric because its useless to have a mechanical gauge runing fuel through the cabin and I don't want to have to look under the hood every time I need to check fp. Are the vodo accurate? I have not heard of them before, I don't think.

Actually it's VDO, not vodo. Yes, they're very accurate, very inexpensive, and the font/numbers match the stock gauge cluster nearly perfectly. My VDO boost gauge was one of the first mods I bought, and I couldn't be happier with it. Here's a pic, for your enjoyment:

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Before anyone says anything, the A/F gauge in that picture is a calibrated gauge, from .75-1.0 volts, each LED measuring .01 volts, so it's much less of a light show than most. And I will be upgrading to a wideband as soon as I can afford to do so.

 

[ericbev]

Before anyone says anything, the A/F gauge in that picture is a calibrated gauge, from .75-1.0 volts, each LED measuring .01 volts, so it's much less of a light show than most. And I will be upgrading to a wideband as soon as I can afford to do so.

Didnt even give me a chance to take a shot. Damn you scuba steve.

 

[selmerguy]

If you have a datalogger an EGT gauge is useless. Tune for no knock or minimal knock and no EGT gauge is needed.

yeah thats helpful. where is the knock sensor on the 420a? oh crap we don't have one. for the 420a the egt is great

 

[GreddyGst]

1st. Boost
2nd. EGT
Don't get a A/F gauge unless you get wideband which serves the purpose of having that gauge for better/accurate tuning. But DO NOT get the A/F alone because it serves no purpose and is a waste of money.