Are any of my fellow n/a guys running gauges? like oil temp, water temp. a/f ratio? if so what ones to get? what are the most important?

if you got any pics that would be awsome too

Thanks

 

I have a few on my na. I got them because my oil pressure gauge dont work and I found out the hard way. I also have a coolant temp gauge. Both are mechanical and liquid filled for accuracy.They are made by autometer, a little pricey but well worth it.

 

wideband gauge is definitely the most important IMO.

then i would go oil pressure gauge as the stock one is just junk...

 

i had oil temp, water temp, oil pressure, and wideband on my s4 n/a. Honestly I didn't really need any of the temperature gauges. N/A's rarely run hot. I would track the thing for 30 minutes at a time and never get over 210 water and oil temps with all OEM cooling system). The s4 factory temp gauge is accurate enough (s5 and FD are useless) to see if you are running hot or not, as 1/4 up corresponds to about 180ish and halfway up is closer to 210, with over that being too hot. I had the triple gauge pod in the center console. The wideband is useful if you are self-tuning an Rtek or SAFC.

EDIT: I see in your sig that you have an s5. you should get an aftermarket water temp gauge at least.

 

what is wideband? please don't laugh....lol

 

Lots of n/a's have extra gauges, try searching first next time. The 3 most important are: oil temp, water temp and oil pressure. If any of those go too far beyond normal, you'll need a new engine.

Wideband is a wideband O2 gauge, but that's really only useful for tuning, so I'd say it's not really needed. If you're tuning, tape it to the dash, data log it (if possible) or some such thing, then you can save the valuable real estate for the important 3 listed above.

 

mechanical gauges are cheap garbage. The only exception being a boost gauge. Something about a really thin cheap piece of plastic running into my passenger compartment containing 200* oil just doesn't sit right with me.

Buy the stepper motor gauges for accuracy. Stop posting wrong information

 

Any gauges in particular you'd recommend, TTT?

 

Just to memorialize,

an EGT guage is pretty important if you're going to squeeze more HP by leaning out your air/fuel ratio such as with an Apexi AFC.

 

Autometers new non-single wire sensor gauges (Cobalt, ES ect) Defi has always made a nice gauge and Evil Aviator mentioned a brand that I can't remember that had programable warning lights that I looked at briefly and liked the features but can't comment on the accuracy.

Basically any gauge that uses is own signal and return wires is going to be a damn good bet that it'll be more accurate and superior than a single wire or mechanical gauge. Except maybe mechanical pressure or boost. Those mechanical gauges have thier own plumbing associated problems though

 

Too bad most EGT gauges are too slow to respond causing you to tune the wrong RPM ranges. Not to mention alot of people cut and splice the EGT probes wiring which moves the "cold juction" point to a place the gauge isn't expecting it making it useless. A wideband would be a better choice to tune the A/F ratio don't you think? Fast acting EGT probes are useful in tuning ignition timing when you can log them against RPMS so you know and can see what you're doing. I had an EGT gauge once a long time ago. I found it useless. A "good" one too, I had a Greedy.

 

im rockin the auto meter water temp. gauge

 

My suggestion, as I said, would consider that the tuning would be using an Apexi AFC or the like.

The EGT for my purposes is to monitor things so you know to shut down to save your engine if something craps out since you'd then be driving on the edge of minimum fuel ratios. Never meant to suggest that it be used as a primary reference for tuning.

What I think is relatively useless is an AF ratio gauge that sources off the Oxygen Sensor. Better than nothing at all, but not by much.

Good point in pointing out the evils of Cut and Splice installs as far as the probe is concerned.

What's this I hear about you installing an aftermarket HID kit?

 

Ah, the way it was worded seemed to be contrary to that. I know alot of people HAVE suggested tuning your A/F ratios using an EGT gauge. I suppose if you KNOW that the timing is dead on you could use it as a reference but I wouldn't use it alone for tuning.

Agreed. 5 wire sensors would be the only way to go.

Yeah, something I learned in the last year myself.

Yeah I've got HIDs on my car

 

So water temp, oil temp, and oil pressure and a a/f or egt if im tuning it.

 

Yes.

Wideband A/F would be better than EGT for tuning for the reasons mentioned above. As stated above, EGT is not really fast enough for tuning, but I do like it for normal driving for a "sanity check". If EGTs go higher than normal, something is amiss.

If you have a turbo car, I would say EGT is about as important as water temp, oil pressure and oil temp.

 

A wideband is going to be of no use without some way of tuning the car and the knowledge to do so. If you just want to monitor general A/F ratios and know when you are in closed loop, a narrow band does fine (but it's still useless if you don't know how to read it).

 

This is nonsense.
Many of my British sports cars had mechanical water temp/oil pressure gauges that were perfectly reliable and very responsive.
In addition, all the Yamaha/Suzuki GP bikes I worked on had mechanical water temp gauges...again, no problems.

Certainly, there are cheap and nasty gauges available-and this holds true for electric units as well- but to condemn an entire class of gauges because of the failings of a few is silly.

Physician, heal thyself.

 

No, you're right. I did mention the accuracy of pressure gauges. My problem lies with the routing of the tubing through firewalls. This, I don't think, would be a concern on a bike. I also don't like the thought of hot oil or fuel entering the passenger compartment.

I also don't really see how a mechanical temp gauge can be accurate. I pulled one out of my buddies Landy D-90 that was brand new, had a "failed" sender that was replaced and still didn't read anything - this was a VDO gauge.

I would stay far away from both VDO and Autometer mechanical temp gauges. Pressure gauges, if the thought of pressurized oil in the passenger compartment sits fine with you, by all means. I think there are better and more accurate ways though.

 

If you think about it T3, a good mechanical pressure gauge is using essentially the same materials and connection technology as the elaborate oil cooler setup you're building.
Presumably, you have great faith in it's integrity.

None of the temp gauges I've seen had a removable sending unit...the bulb and line were integral and the main failure was careless handling of the transmission line (in Brit cars, typically copper) which caused a break and loss of the ether.

Anyway, we obviously have the right to our own separate opinions- and, to be fair, my car has all electric gauges- I just didn't want an entire class of gauges slandered because of the weakness of a few.

Electric gauges do have one very important advantage...they are much easier to remove since there's no attached length of tubing to deal with.

 

So ive came to the conclusion that gauges for n/a's are some what useless unless you need a a/f for tuning. thanks for the info

Ryan

 

"Useless" sort of depends on your purpose.

If you are playing with things like e-fans and upgraded radiators (especially if you have an S5), you need a water temp gauge.

If you are tracking the car, you need an oil temp gauge.

If you want to drive for fuel economy, you will want narrowband A/F and vacuum gauges.

I only ever had one gauge when my car was NA: a narrowband. People made fun of me, but then I could get highway fuel economy that was considered "impossible" just by watching the gauge.

 

no, not really.

You had it right in your previous post:

Both oil temp and pressure are critical as well as coolant temp, if the limits of these conditions are exceeded you can lose an engine fairly quick.

 

Well then I've only dealth with the cheap ones that use a plastic/nylon tube and copper ferrul. They always seem to leak and the source and rarely, but I have seen it, at the gauge.

The VDO gauge that I'm referring to had an intergral sender and transmission line with was a steel outerbraid and a copper inner braid. I can't remember what the connection was like at the gauge itself. Regardless the PO went through 2 senders in 11,000 miles and the thing didn't work when we got it.

Fair enough. My experience with mechanical gauges has been nothing but negatives.

 

I have a vacuum gauge with a wideband and afc in my n/a. I've never had a problem with mechanical gauges.