OK i dont consider myself smart by a long strech but I am dumb when it comes to some stuff and have some questions so i got the aloe vera gel out ready for some burns. Be reading alot but still dont understand the wideband thing? Is the worth the money? I was thinking about oil temp and presure gauges but have been reading alot of treads about widebands. So i may be lost but I wanna know do i really need 1 to keep an eye on my freshly rebuilt motor? What other gauges should i get? I was thinking about getting 1 of the those cheap tach of ebay with a rev light that i could set low so i make sure i dont over rev my new motor, Sorry so long late confused and upset about my current state with my car.

 

A wideband will show you an accurate air/fuel ratio of the motor. Very helpful if you are tuning the motor, but not a necessity for everyday driving.

 

^+1

Also, do not fall victim to the cheap A/F ratio gauges sold from Summitracing. They are merely a light show. A wideband is pretty much the standard for determining the A/F ratio.

 

Im with this guys

The wideband will help you tune, but if your engine is stock, you have a bigger chance of overheating your oil due to hard abuse. You have no idea how hot it gets in 4th and 5th gear WOT. A cheap option is autometer electronic oil pressure gauge and oil temp gauge. They come with senders you install on the engine bay, that way you dont have a hose of boiling oil traveling to your cockpit.

 

A wideband is really only critical when your boosting the input so you can make sure that its always running at a safe A/F mixture because detonation will destroy a rotary or any engine really. For a fairly stock, non-boosted engine your better off with the oil temp and pressure than anything.

Why buy a tach, you already have one that has an adustable buzzer that sounds when you hit redline or whatever rpm you want it at. It may be disconnected or adjusted so it can't make a sound but its right there on the back of the instrument cluster behind the tach. Read the FSM for how to play with it. Spend you money on something you need. Just my 2 cents.

 

oil pressure oil temp and a lm1 wide band for tuning stock oil pressure gauge is fine in my world as long as it works. i use oil pressure as reference not an accurate gauge. save your money and worry about the wide band after you have broke your engine in

 

I love stupid questions...

 

Instead of buying some ugly aftermarket tach and mounting it on the dash, buy a shift light.

Fwiw, widebands aren't only for boosted engines. They can be a critical tuning aid for squeezing those last few ponys out of an NA.