heelo all. i will be purchasing some autometer ultra lite gauges for my car and wanted some suggestions.

 

1) boost gauge: should i get a boost/vac. or boost? mechanical or electric?

 

2) what other gauges would be a must for keeping an "eye" on my car? air/fuel, fuel psi., oil temp?

 

let the comments commence.

 

btw not sure if i would want an A/F gauge in the pillar. thoose LED's are annoying.

Im buying the following for my turbo brat

 

vac/boost

oil pressure,

water temp,

Air/fuel to make sure I don't run it too lean

 

I will also get a fuel pressure guage and mount it under the hood. Mostly because I will also be using an adjustable FPR so I need to know what my fp is.

 

In general, mechanical guages are better, less likely to fail and more accurate. They are also more of a pain in the arse to install.

 

btw, are you still coming to mudrat's for your motor swap?

 

garner

Simplicity. I run a single gauge, Autometer Ultralite boost guage. It goes from 30 vaccum (i think...) to 30psi boost. Its mechanical, pretty easy to hook up.

 

I havent' found a round a/f guage i like... ever. So, instead I bought an Apexi turbo timer. This of course has the neat turbo timing function which keeps the car running for a preset amount of time after the key has been removed. It also has an A/F ratio meter on it. Which you can choose to display in voltage... or theoretical ratio (14.1, 12.4, 14.7, etc...).

 

The turbo timer has a nice bright red LED display that is easy to read in all but the harshest glare. I have it located in such a spot that is out of the way, and is very discrete.

 

I've thought about other gauges (oil and water temp, egt) but i just don't see a need for them yet. I don't like the look of having the A-pillar riddled with gauges so i'm going the less is more route.

On my turbo wagaon I have boost, A/F, and Oil P.

 

Boost is really nice because you can stay out of the boost or watch the needle rise, plus you get some added warning if your wastegate goes out. But I think that is a rare occurance. If you are going to even think about rasing the boost this is a must, absolutly. my boost gauge goes from 30 inhg to 20 psi, and seems to be a good range. As far as vac boost or just boost I would stick with the vac boost, because you can tell when you are right on the verg of boost, plus if it is just a boost gauge that is 1 no better than the one on the dash and to a gauge that doesn't even do anything for the majority of the time you are driving the car, unless you are Solberg.

 

A/F, I think this is even better than the boost gauge, you can monitor when you car goes full rich and it really impresses the ladies, ok maybe it doesn't do that but it is fun on a long road trip, endlessly entertaining, I have all of my gauges mounted below my radio, probably not the best place if you are balls to the wall, ie hard to look at and the road at the same time, they are just out of periferral vision. So my a/f doesn't draw any attention.

 

Oil pressure, I put this in because my brother bought it and didn't use it, I thought I would never look at it but I find myself giving it almost equal attention

 

If I had it to do over I think I would put at water temp in insted of an oil pressure, cause my digidash is (*^$#)*&%

 

Sorry to be so wordy

Good luck

Gauges that I would use would be:

 

Mech Boost/Vac duh, not from factory

EGT Duh, expensive but VERY IMPORTANT

Water temp dont trust factory

oil temp Interested in efficency of factory cooler

oil press Important for turbo cars

A/F ratio important for tuning

I have the 30inhg to 20psi autometer boost gauge...its easier to read low pressures than the 30psi one (i will also never boost past 20 psi), all boost gauges from autometer are mechanical. there is a real easy place to tap for boost by driver strut tower...hit me up for pics

 

water temp...electric...screws in with supplied adapter, i dont trust factory water temp gauges

 

oil pressure...always a good one!

 

egt...expensive, but useful

I stick with boost and water temp.. I have 2 spots for gauges and those seemed to be the 2 most imprtant to me, with A/F running a close third.

I havent' found a round a/f guage i like... ever. So, instead I bought an Apexi turbo timer. This of course has the neat turbo timing function which keeps the car running for a preset amount of time after the key has been removed. It also has an A/F ratio meter on it. Which you can choose to display in voltage... or theoretical ratio (14.1, 12.4, 14.7, etc...).

 

The turbo timer has a nice bright red LED display that is easy to read in all but the harshest glare. I have it located in such a spot that is out of the way, and is very discrete

what is the part# for your turbo timer, and what wiring harness are you using, and where do you hook it up to? that is the first thing i am getting, a turbo timer, then A/F gauge, then Boost. so this is very important to me,

 

Thanks,

Shean