Top three gauges to have in a boosted car?
 

Right now, I am looking at A/F, Oil temp and oil pressure. I am probably going to get the HKS EVC 6 and use that as my boost gauge.

Would this be the best three gauges to use or do you guys recommend using something else?

I would ditch the oil temp (stock one works fine).. otherwise i think you picked the right setup

If you're putting them in the stock location and have to replace all three, you've got the right three.

Sounds good to me!

Oh this topic...or maybe a little off...I was reading another post and someone mentioned that you only needed a transmission cooler on automatics. Why this is related is because I have always wondered why a transmission temp gauge was no where to be found.

I asked a similar question in another thread and it was recommended to have a stand alone boost gauge rather than usin be boost controller also as a gauge....that is the route that I'll be goin in my TT build

An oil pressure gauge sounds like a great idea, but in application you have to be a master to watch that, as the motor is rocketing through the gears. And, that's when it really counts.

An idiot light isn't for idiots. It's an alarm, which allows you to keep your eyes where they should be: on the road ahead.

That's me.

Coop

What the hell do you know about this stuff? :p

Agreed on the warning light, but the OEM oil light is too low to do anything but inform you it's time to go shortblock shopping. The gauge is really to make sure you don't have a slower failure. One member here just saved his motor by catching something early. Good gauges have the warning light set to come on at a high enough pressure to at least have a chance of shutting the car down.

The thing is the EVC-6 is basically a boost gauge too. So you really don't need a boost gauge if you are running the EVC-6.


Wouldn't you be shortblock shopping anyways if it is slowly losing pressure?

Depends on the reason. One member here had a slowly failing seal somewhere in the motor. Quick fix under warranty since he saw the pressure slowly dropping. Otherwise he wouldn't have known there was a problem until he completely lost pressure.

there are some good combi gauges you might consider if you want no more than three... i'm using a combi oil pressure water temp that has warning lights at user selectable levels

Subbed

any digital gauges like the gtr which has almost everything??

look up hks camp 2

This is a good option, but HKS no longer makes it. :(
You can find some used ones, but as another suggestion is a carPC. A local owner (Ron) did this and can run anything the OBD2 reads plus some addon gauges.

Also the hks camp2 costs a very pretty shiny penny. The price of gauges vs the camp2 made me go with gauges.

Also out of curiousity, whats everyones oil psi at when fully warmed and idling at a light?

30psi

:iagree:

Mine is 22psi

Hmmm mine is at 20-18.

Makes sense that you'd run lower pressure with a TT kit.

There's a lot more being oiled than on an unmodified engine.

I would guess it would also depend on where you put the sender for the oil pressure gauge. Where are most people taking the pressure reading from?

Mine is tee'd off at the factory location.

Mine's off the filter sandwich along with oil temp sensor. I'm also around 30 PSI idle when warm.

Yeah, sorry. I meant to add 'that aren't dots'. There are also these: Zeitronix ZR-2 : ZR-2 Multi-Gauge Displaying AFR/Lambda, Map (Boost/Vacuum), Exhaust Gas Temperature, and configurable User2 as (Fuel/Oil Pressure, Air/Oil/Water/Transmission Temperature)

Ok, I got nothing.

But if AF, oil temp, and oil pressure are all I should care about then three it is and I'll go Defi.

Those are the top three. I've got boost and AFR on the A pillar, and eventually I'll swap the ones on the dash to oil pressure, EGT and a multigauge for water and oil temp.

Any idea why Defi doesn't make an AF gauge? They really are the best looking but so limited.

What would you be able to tell by monitoring the EGT? I was looking to go with the Boost, AFR, Oil Pressure, and Water Temp. Keeping all the factory gauges where they are. I wasnt planning on changing the radiator yet if I dont have to. This way i can atleast monitor the water temp if it becomes a problem.

It will.

I've always been in the Oil Temp, Oil Pressure, AFR camp with a boost controller, and Oil Pressure, AFR, Boost without one.

Oil temp is special on the Z, though. We all know. :P

Great gauges...too bad they are too big.

Doesn't look like it will accept an AFR sensor either

I have Oil Pressure, Fuel Pressure, and Boost on my A-Pillar. All that I need to know if something is going wrong (or has already gone wrong). Kicked around the idea of EGT, but I can't ready justify it.

I would go with this gauge using Boost, Oil Press, Fuel Press, Water Temp and EGT. The gauge has alerts if anything goes out of parameter. Mount it flush in the navi bin along side an innovate wideband gauge.

Oil pressure, motor temp, and volt meter. Add a boost gauge to your column. You need a volt meter to make sure your car is producing enough volts to produce enough spark for your ignition system. Especially with a blower. If you have a big stereo it will draw alot of amps and take away from your ignition system (causing detonation).

low voltage causes misfire not detonation from weak ignition, but more importantly it reduces fuel pump output and increases injector latency and reduces pulse width which could lean your motor and cause a boom, and for this reason fuel pressure and AFR are more important than voltage (which came about from the carb era racing with no battery, or crappy batteries and crummy generators yes it is more important then).

Oil temperature tells you if your oil is still thick enough, oil pressure tells you how well you are actually oiling your motor, since the oil light on the Z doesn't come on until after you've looked in your mirror to notice a streak of oil being shot out of your oil cooler behind you i would venture to say the pressure gauge is more important (not to mention the ecu will limp if your temps get to high but it wont if it suffers oil pressure loss).

Fuel pressure will tell you when you run out of pump, but afr will too (and soooo much more), so i would take the afr over the fuel pressure.

If you have an afr gauge you don't need the egt on anything other than a turbo car and even then it is more about placing it near the turbine inlet, so you can monitor the turbo to prevent cooking it while running, or coking it after shutting it off. AFR trumps EGT while driving, EGT is mainly used while tuning a car and after that it is mostly ignored.

Coolant temp is important and it sucks that the factory gauge sucks so bad, i swear the middle dot has got to have a 50 degree range to the next dot.

If you think you need fuel temperature, make sure to get it in a combo gauge with an altimeter and a barometer so you can monitor how light-headed and high you are. Boost is good to check your boost maker and cuz biches.

A knock light is a GREAT thing to have and you can just poke a hole somewhere for it, but the ecu will try to save you when the ish goes down.

IMO the list would go AFR, boost, oil pressure, coolant temp, fuel pressure, oil temp, voltage, EGT(unless it's turbo then slip this in between coolant temp and fuel). I use that list for buying gauges and order how to place them based on best visibility to least, then clock them all so that while running at the track all the needles point in one direction so i don't actually have to read them cuz it's a waste of focus, just have to notice one isn't pointed in the right direction.

Sub-note: Most people should just buy some gauges that look pretty and do a number on the biches, as you won't be reading most of the time(i don't) or understanding them anyway past coming on here and starting threads like "is 211degrees too hot for coolant temps?" There are gauges a tuner needs and then there are gauges YOU need.