autometer A/F gauge, is it worth it?
 

i just bought one today, hoping it'd give me some kind of idea on if i'm running too rich or lean.
so far, i dont see any use from it.
now i havent actually ran the car on the road but, when the car idles its as far lean as it can go.
then when i free rev it movies up to stoich, doesnt reach that Rich portion of the gauge at all.
i have a turboed-NA with 550cc primaries, and 680cc secondaries..
i can only assume that its running rich since it floods out fairly easy if i dont start it up properly.

the only other thing i can think of is that its only accurate readings are when you apply load.
can anyone clarify it for me please.

The narrow band gauge ($50 one)? I have one, but it's really only useful if you want to see when the ECU is metering at partial throttle, or get a *rough* idea of the mixture at WOT. But even then, the range is only about 14.1 to 15.1, so you can't see very far past soich. 14.7.

The wideband kit is $350, and would be far more useful if you're playing with boost levels.

i thinkg thats what i'm getting next.
i saw a wideband on craigslist for 200 only opened up, never used.
i just saw it up there and decided to buy it just so that i could have somethin to go by.

Oh, another thing. If the gauge is never reaching the rich range, there's a good chance your O2 sensor is dead. Mine's always pegged about 2-3 bars from the end of the rich range at WOT.

i'm pretty sure mine is dead, lol.
(i havent changed it and i'm sure the previous owner didnt either)
i think i'll go change it asap.

I don't like narrow band gauges they never seem to tell me much.

Narrow bands are pretty useless for tuning..they are Basically Blingy Lights that Look nice.Get a Wideband on there and it will Tell you more about your AFR's and be helpful in Tuning the car's engine.Especially if you have a aftermarket Fuel system.