Aftermarket Gauges
 

So since I have my turbo now. and I've been driving it hard everytime i drive it since the boost is so much fun. I figure its important to be able to monitor the condition of the car knowing stock gauges aren't very good. So im thinking about starting with Boost+Oil Pressure+Water Temp, and maybe a air/fuel.

I've been looking for gauges. I like the autometer C2 series, ok price and looks easy to read.

But I've been wondering. There are the Faze gauges, what they sell at autozone, and thats what my friend uses on his turbo civic, they look cool But Im wondering are they accurate and can they be trusted? Or what about the gauges on ebay. I've seen Boost+Oil Pressure+Air Fuel going for about 100 bucks shipped.

I mean if they all work the same I would rather save my money and get the cheaper ones. If not I'll drop a little more for autometer or is there another good brand out there that is good quality and good cost.

I would start with a water temp gauge specialy if you have a S5. Then there is also oil pressure and boost.

I wouldn't trust ebay or autozone gauges but they might work just fine. I personnaly have a Greddy electronic temp gauge and haven't had any problems.

You'll also have to choose between mechanic, electric and electronic gauges. Electronic ones are the most desirable but also are the most expensive.

Do it right the first time ... go with quality. I have posted several threads about different gauges. Personally the Greddy V2 line match the cluster PERFECTLY. Plus you are getting quality parts.

I would definately start with boost, water temp, oil pressure (although the stock gauge is pretty acurate if you get a new sender for 35 bucks at discount auto), and dont get an a/f .. get a wideband. I like the aem or lt1x or whatever its called

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...e/IMG_2796.jpg

PS only go electric ... trust me

I'll assume you mean electric OR electronic since that greddy turbo gauge is electronic. And I wouldn't use a mechanical gauge either.

yea the only mechanical gauge i was gonna use was the boost. Because Running a Mechanical oil pressure and water temp inside the car doesn't seem that good of an idea

Whats the difference between electric and elctronic????

You don't have to spend 100++ on a single GrEEdy gauge to get accuracy and consistency.

Most aftermarkets that aren't plastic and $10 on eBay do the job just fine. Instrumentation isn't something that only a Japanese Tuner company can do well. Look into aviation gauges (www.aircraftspruce.com) as well, many are very inexpensive and well.........accurate engouh for use on airplanes. EDIT: Sunpro is an example of a cheap and reliable gauge thats readily available. I've ran them on countless vehicles and they've never let me down.

I prefer electric in many cases because for things like fuel pressure, you don't want to plumb gas into the cabin. Plus, wires are usually easier to route then vaccum hose/etc.

Electric gauges have a 90 degrees arc where electronic ones have the full 270 degrees.

Yes but would you trust the autozone gauges? Maybe I'm just paranoid.

If you want inexpensive gauges that you can trust then get VDO, they're quite cheap, but they also do gauges for companies like BMW and Porsche, so you know they're good.

Gauges with intergral warning lights are good so that if you're not paying attention and you start to overheat or loose oil pressure then you're warned. Nordskog (available through Summit) have programmable outputs so that you can wire up a warning light and you set where you want it to go off. They're also full sweep and apparently very accurate (popular with racing boats), but they're 2 5/8", making them harder to mount (won't fit in most pods, etc).

IMHO there are 3 gauges that every car should have, oil temp, water temp and oil pressure. If you want other gauges then they should not displace these ones, they're key to making sure the engine lives.

Really? what about a full sweep mechanical? Or 270 mechanical? I've seen all types of different sweeps available. The difference is whether its electric (ie. sending unit) or mechanical (whatever's being measured feeds into the gauge) I've never heard of two different types of electric gagues.

I'd have to try them.

As mentioned VDO is another great inexpensive line.

I personally like my AEM gauges.. Just keep your vacume lines as short as possible under the hood.

been looking at these but I'm with the majority here, I don't know whether to trust cheap items like this:

http://stores.ebay.com/GLOWSHIFT-GAU...Q3amesstQQtZkm

I'm goign to be running a Glowshift fuel pressure gauge. I have the gauge in the car - it works fine as far as turning it on an getting a correct reading...(verified by my old mechanical guage) Long term testing will commence in the spring.

yea those were the ones I was looking at... but are they reliable?

Why would anyone spend so much money on a car and motor but then cheap out on the gauges to monitor it???? It shouldnt really be a question wheather or not to buy a $20 gauge should it???? They had to cut production costs somewhere right???

Why spend money where its not needed? I bought a $20 sunpro oil pressure gauge back in 1998 and have used it since on various cars ranging from my first (84 Vw jetta) to various RX-7's i've owned throughout the years. Alwyas works fine, I've had to replace the bulb in it I've used it so much. Do I need to spend over $100 per gauge to out fit my engine monitoring repitoire?

Please tell me what the extra $80 I would spend on buying an Hk$ or GrEEdy gauge will get me. I'm very interested to know as $20 netted me years of trouble free use, accuracy and reliability.

As far as the glowshift gauges are concerned I'm testing one out in my car. As of right now, the electric sending unit fuel pressure gauge (haven't clicked the link but the one I have is tinted face....goes black when its not on) works FINE. It has the exact same reading as my tester and as my original mechanical gauge I had threaded into my FPR. How long it works this well I do not know, I'll find out though.

I agree that the expensive gauges don't usually get you much extra, but there is something to be said about knowing that it's accurate.

Some good features that the more expensive gauges can get you that are worthwhile are full sweep for better resolution and warning lights to alert you to a problem if you didn't happen to be looking at the gauge at the moment.

Yes very true, the warning lights can be useful for sure!

and how do you know that it is accurate?? Did you test a quality mechanical one in each of those cases? Why the hell would anyone want to risk it? You wouldnt buy a $300 turbo, WOULD YOU???? The way i see it, when the gauge fails its probly to late.

If you re-read my post, the glow shift gauge was checked against my tester (fuel pressure tester...........from snap on.) and my original mechanical gauge that was threaded into the FPR. They all read the exact same reading.

Risk what? They (sunpro and VDO gauges.......I have experience with all these, I'm still just "testing" the glow shift as I've said all of three times now) work perfectly fine and have for years. If you feel the need to spend over 6 times the amount needed to monitor your engine thats fine. I'm just letting people know what works and has been proven.

Funny story actually..............BW S475..........search that in the single turbo section. Not quite $300, but really close.

Well lets examine this for a second using an example of a crucial gauge. Oil pressure. Say it gives me an inaccurate reading.......it won't matter in the grand scheme because paying attention to the *trend* the gauge displays is what matters. If it bottoms out, there's a problem. Now, sure, it should be accurate to the TEE and most (the ones i mentioned) are. But you need to know what its telling you, thats my point.

Another type of failure would be the gauge simply dying........well hopefully you realize its showing you 0 oil pressure and you shut the car off. You do a little digging and realize you still have oil pressure.........and you replace the gauge.

Another failure would be a stuck gauge, or solid reading. One would imagine that when your car is shut off, and you have 40psi oil pressure, that the gauge is probably off a smidge. Replace if that happens.

FWIW none of the mentioned scenarios have ever occured using a sunpro or VDO gauge in my experience. And anything can fail, high dollar or not. As long as you know what your guages are telling you you'll be fine.


There's nothing wrong with using any of the pricey stuff like Defi and Blitz etc. but the point is that there ARE other options that ARE reliable and accurate, its up to the owner to decide whether they need to cough up hundreds of dollars to put their mind at ease or not.

I was thinking about using a Cyberdyne gauge. Jegs sells them and they don't seem to pricy. They come in blue, red, and amber from what I can see.

"Some good features that the more expensive gauges can get you that are worthwhile are full sweep for better resolution and warning lights to alert you to a problem if you didn't happen to be looking at the gauge at the moment."

if you never pay attention to your gauges whats the point in having them.

Warning lights are for extra protection, if you loose an oil line for instance, you can drain all your oil and have 0 pressure pretty damned quick, having a warning light can save the engine, because looking at it every few minutes isn't always good enough. Also on track you don't have time to look at the gauges more than once or twice a lap on average, so having a warning light is good there too.

This also brings up the point of placement. If they're far out of sight like under the stereo you're less likely to look at them as often and you won't be able to notice out of your peripheral vision that the temp needle is drifting upwards for instance. It'll also take less time to look the higher up and farther away they are, as you don't have to shift your sight and re-focus as much.

Analogue gauges are better for speed too, since the numbers are pretty much irrelevant, all you need to see is where the needle is pointing and know if it's in the ok or not. With digital you have to look, read, then decide, which takes longer.

You can check the accuracy of a temperature gauge with some distilled boiling water, since that has a known temperature point.

Having an accurate gauge is important and having one fail could cost you an engine. Say it tells you that your temps are ok, but really they're into the danger zone, you could overheat without knowing and need a rebuild.

well we kinda have a buzzer that warns us when the car is down to 3qt. i think

yea but sometime the buzzer has a mind of its own ;)