Top 3 important gauges Forced Induction

[Sexc86]

Hey guys,

Basically as thred asks. Looking at peoples opinions on the 3 most important gauges for a turbo setup in a EG civic.

My thoughts at the moment are

* Boost pressure in PSI (obviously)

Unsure About
* Wideband Air/Fuel ratio
* Oil Temperature (not so much when running oil cooler)
* Oil Pressure

Not needed - In my opinion
* Water temperature (factory guage seems very accurate)

Please feel free to leave some opinions.

[IEVAQ8]

i believe boost and oil pressure is a must.......

from there its up to you for water temp or oil temp........

air fuel should be fine its been tuned

[ZeForce]

I only plan on running a boost gauge, IMO that is all you need for a street car. If you plan on racing the car at the track then maybe oil temp and pressure would be a good idea.

[Sexc86]

Also can you hook up warning lights to any gauge? or do they have to be specifically part of the unit.

[Sexc86]

claymore.. your the man!

are you sure i would need a aftermarket water temp gauge? the standard eg civic ones seems pretty accurate. Not so much in saying the exact temp, but i know when the car is a good warm running temp... and when i am also getting close to trouble before anything becomes compromised.

Deffinately Boost (psi) and oil pressure would be my top 2. What are the benefits of running a wideband a/f (besides being able to tune on it?) would yoru a/f ratio evey change away from what the car is tuned at?

Seems really a toss up now between oil temp, water temp and, A/F

[Mr_will]

for a street car I dont see why you would need oil temp at all - if you are overheating, your water will also be running high so its pretty much redundant

[Sexc86]

under what circumstances would oil temperature be necessary? when tracking or mountain running?

[MR-VTEC]

are you sure i would need a aftermarket water temp gauge? the standard eg civic ones seems pretty accurate. Not so much in saying the exact temp, but i know when the car is a good warm running temp... and when i am also getting close to trouble before anything becomes compromised.

hey lyle,

Are you running a microtech?

Anyway, back on my old setup i had a microtech dash unit. plugs into the ecu via a data cable and displays all kinds of info.

The one biggest thing i learnt from using my dash unit is that the oem water temp gauge is not an accurate way to measure water temps. yeah sure it gives you a general indication of larger temperature fluctuations but it doesn't give you any exact readings.

for example on my old setup when i gave it abit, i noted a 10 degree temp change on the dash unit but the oem gauge didn't even move. just sat on the normal mark just a little under halfway.

[EGB18CT]

boost oil press water temp are the 3 id go for

[JasonGilholme]

lyle, the stock water temp gauge is crap. My water temp can walk from 85 to 100 and the stock gauge doesnt move at all.

I agree with claymore. Oil temp can be gauged from the oil pressure (the pressure drops a sthe oil gets hotter due to its multi viscisoity attributes).

I currently run oil pressure, oil temperature and water temperature. Only reason i'm running oil temperature is cause the three gauges fit nice flush mounted in the AC spot in the dash.

I run my boost gauge near the pillar. As hidden as possible. lol it only reads vac at the moment tho :cry: lol

IMO AF and Voltmeter are useless. If you have a voltage problem you'll probably notice it other ways (trouble cranking, lights dim more then usual etc) AF is a tuning tool like claymore says. Once its tuned its just eye candy.

[votek]

if you have a power fc.. then water temp should be no problem :D

im thinking of getting a oil pressure soon but the prices for defis are .........

[JasonGilholme]

fullsweep > narrow sweep.

all my gauges are full sweep.

votek: i'm running saber gauges. they're defi copys and work great. about 140 a gauge and don't need a control unit. They're pretty good.

[votek]

oh really.. no control unit? i have the water temp already and i want to get oil temp and pressure cos i want to the triple gauge holder :P

but everyone is saying dont get oil temp.. but if i get exhaust temp.. i reckon thats pretty gay too

[JasonGilholme]

oil temp is good to have for a proper accurate reading. Its what most people have.

[tuyen]

when i used to play with my previous skylines, I would have 3 gauges for boost, oil pressure and water temp.

Definitely prefer electronic gauges over mechanical gauges too...

defi, hks, pivot, blitz and apexi where the ones I have used in the past.

[Sexc86]

whats the difference between mecahnical and electronic. ? Has anyone ever herd of oil filled too?

[JasonGilholme]

oil filled gauges are a different design for the motor in the gauge. It gives them smoother motion. I've never had a gauge like that though. mine have always been stepper motor and they work just fine.

mechanical gauges are more responsive (aparently). only downside is you need to feed oil/water/pressure to the gauge to get a reading as the sensor is in the gauge.

Electronic gauges have the sensor on the motor and wires that run to your gauge in the cabin. Electric gauges are safer and legal. Most mechanical gauges (particularly oil pressure) is illegal as theres a chance of having a serious oil leak in your cabin.

[fatboyz39]

Oil temps gauges are not needed for street. Only good for circuit racing, but half the times people usually install it at the wrong location.

Oil pressure, boost gauge, and wideband A/F gauge. Wideband a/f very useful. Esp when fuel level are low, it tends to run leaner for some odd reason. I pulled off the stock oil pressure sensor and place the aftermarket unit there. IMO best place it should be.

[DLO01]

Boost - Spikes, loose vac line etc
Wideband AFR - Fueling correct, peace of mind
Oil press - If your heart stops pumping, yr dead

[DrTran]

im running oil pressure, fuel pressure, boost, egt, and wideband most important gauge for any car is oil pressure because if your oil pressure is drops then you are going to run into major problems

[Limo]

what about a 5" tacho with shift light?

[Sexc86]

A shift light would be important, but i wouldnt count it as a gauge due to its size.

[Limo]

A shift light would be important, but i wouldnt count it as a gauge due to its size.

haha.. it was a joke:p

[FastFwd]

I've got a knock reading on my Power FC which is good. Can you get knock sensor gauges?

[Limbo]

you don't need to ECU will retart on too many knocks

[FastFwd]

Nah i just saying i want something to messure the knocks. Power FC has figures on it but i was taking about some type of gauge.

i found something on ebay...a few things but they look poxy

[Sexc86]

yes i look into this.

HKS AFK... Digital knock sensor with wideband AIR/Fuel
http://www.hksusa.com/info/?id=3489

about $800 usd but is a very nice unit. You can even plug earphones into the unit to head the knock alerts when driving.

[FastFwd]

yes i look into this.

HKS AFK... Digital knock sensor with wideband AIR/Fuel
http://www.hksusa.com/info/?id=3489

about $800 usd but is a very nice unit. You can even plug earphones into the unit to head the knock alerts when driving.

Wow thats awesome hahaha love extemely unnecessary technology

[Sexc86]

I beg to differ on the statement "Extremely unnecessary technology"

I beleive a knock sensor like this is very necessary. Wideband A/F for piece of mind (also good for tuner). Knock Sensor, most performance cars are tuned with 98oct (highest oct on pump) and pretty agressively (just before the point of premature ignition AKA - Knock/Ping)

Sometimes its hard to hear a ping with a loud exhaust, with this unit you can SEE it on the head up display and Head it through head phones (good for drag or circuit to alway have a set of headphones in to listen to engine knock). This is for worst case senario if you ever get a bad batch of fuel and you start pinging... then you simply know when to put in octane booster (which you should always keep in your car if you want to keep a performance engine healthy.

[FastFwd]

no i actually wasnt being sarcastic....i love things like this that have attention to detail but somehow seems extremely unusable for the daily driver.

Like my TV at home, it has a heat sensor as the on or of button. All you do is slide your hand under the TV and it turns on, instead of just having a normal OFF/ON button

[Sexc86]

I think its extrememly useable for a daily driver being limited to 98 octane and the chance of getting a bad batch every week you fill up and also not being able to always hear pinging due to a loud exhaust. compared to a drag car ONLY being run on C16

[FastFwd]

You know what would be good is if you could hook it up to your deck as the auxiliary function. So when you get your new batch of fuel u can check how its all running.

instead of chucking headphones on which is also illegal to drive with. You just listen to it via the speakers

[Sexc86]

yeh that would be interesting. I think the AFK has a Visual warning (head up display), Possibly an onboard speaker? as well as headphone use. Nevertheless i dont see why you coudnt plug into an aux imput on a head unit

[FastFwd]

yeh that would be interesting. I think the AFK has a Visual warning (head up display), Possibly an onboard speaker? as well as headphone use. Nevertheless i dont see why you coudnt plug into an aux imput on a head unit

If its 3.5mm Stereo Jack you can get that converted to Stereo RCA and just put that into the AUX on your deck...sweet.