are these pretty decent gauges? i was looking into the liquid filled ultra lite ones, the only reason why is the greddy ones i have are too much loot and i really want water temp oil temp and oil pressure gauges and really don't need playback and memory on these gauges. any input would be appreciated or any other suggestions but the gauges must be silver faced

 

They give a pretty close reading, but are by no means accurate in comparison to other Japanese made gauges like HKS, GReedy, or A'PEXi. They are well worth the accurate readings in my opinion. I have a mix of autometer ones and A'PEXi ones, and every time I replace one of the autometer ones, I am amazed by how off they were. For example...look at all of the Japanese boost gauges. They have "0" as one mark on the gauge, where as autometer ones, all of them, have a "range" for 0! How can "0" have a range if it is accurate? Hope this helps.

 

my main question now is what is the liquid inside? mainly can it freeze? since the fuel pressure one will be outside and it snows here ALOT will the gauge freeze?

 

Not sure, but honestly I wouldn't think it is designed for that. Send them an e-mail and ask. You can e-mail them from their homepage. Let me know what you find out.

 

i doubt the liquid would freeze. the only reason the liquid is there is so that the needle doesnt bounce around in rough conditions. the gauge itself isnt really any more accurate. autometers are cheap.......but they're cheap for a reason.

If u want an electric autometer fuel pressure gauge, ill sell u one for really cheap. i just replaced it with a GReddy gauge to go with my other replaced guessometers

 

is it one of the ultra lite silver ones? let me know

 

well here is there answer verbatim
"Actually the fluid inside the gauge is silicone. We have never heard
of one of the gauges freezing."
so i guess they should be allright!

 

Good info, thanks for sharing it

Let me know how they work for you. Do you have any way of testing their accuracy? Thanks.

 

for the record, i never had any problems with my autometer FP gauge.....i just wanted a greddy to match my others. autometer boost gauges however SUCK ***

 

Off topic but what about the new BLITZ TurboTimer with a boost gauge as one of its features???..I think its the FATT one?..It cost less than 150 and i think its a good deal if you get both the timer and boost gauge. Plus its DIGITAL!...Question is how accurate is the boost gauge????..

 

It's acurate as hell. The problem is that the gauge isn't really a gauge. It is a small readout. I like a big assed gauge that is right in my face when I want to see boost It is more for its peak feature as far as boost goes.

 

[fc3s.org] I read your post about the Autometer gauges have a Zero range. And I was then looking at my autometer boost gauge and started thinking.

A boost gauge hooked up to a car that is not running is acctully reading something. It is reading atmospheric pressure. If it dosn't (It reads boost or vac) than something is wrong with the gauge or mother nature.

In an airplane, the boost gauge is called a Manifold pressure gauge. When the airplane is not running this gauge is reading atmospheric pressure. In a non-turbocharged airplane it's manifold pressure will never exceed atmospheric pressure when running. But if you have a turbo aircraft the manifold pressure will read greater than atmospheric.

Atmospheric pressure could be (depending on weather) anyware from 28.00 " of Mercury (HG) to 31.00" of HG. But it changes.

So, if this changes then the zero point should change too. Is this correct. However, if you have an electric boost gauge (Most upperend gauges) this would not happen unless the gauge was getting power.

So, if these autometer mech. gauges are really reading atmospheric pressure when the engine is off. They should have a zero range. Because Zero or atmospheric pressure is always changing by the minute.

Or does a boost gauge have a spring that always returns it to zero? And it is not affect by atmospheric pressure?

James

 

good point but i don't think it applys to boost gauges even though your vacuum and boost system is a closed system, if it was open to atomesphere you would have a vacuum leak and you car would run like ****. correct me if i am wrong

 

well, boost is referenced somewhere off the intake tract, which is not at all a PERFECT seal, given throttle body plates etc. so when the motor is off, the pressure where the gauge is referenced to is equal to the pressure outside the motor.

 

I use two autometer gauges In my first gen. We use several Autometer guages in both of the race cars. I, and the other guys on our team, have been very satisfied with their performance. They may not be better than The others mentioned but they do a very good job. Performance is, ofcourse, relitive. Autometer is way better than stock. I don't know how much better japanese guages are, but if my AM gauge tells me my oil is 230 deg and it actually 232 deg then I can live with that. If its more than 5-8 deg off then it might start being a problem. We have tested several of the gauges on the race cars and they are very close to what our test indicate. Boost may be a different story. I would want to know exactly how much boost i'm running.

I am cuurios to know if anyone has any proof that autometer gauges are not good. By proof I mean like test results comparing other gauges rather than the kind of proof where everyone says "they suck" so it must be true.


Mike

 

These are good points. What I mean by the inaccuracy of the autometer gauges is the fact that you can look at the "0" reading of the gauge(boost) then start the car, then shut it down and you will get different readings for "0" everytime you do this. I have an A'PEXi mechanical boost gauge, and it reads dead center "0" every time. You can also tap the Autometer gauge and the needle will come to rest in different spots where as the A'PEXi meter does not have this. I honestly have no idea of the reasoning that it is so precise everytime it is shut off. It may be sprung, which makes sense, but I really don't know.

With regard to proof to their accuracy, first I want to say that for the price they are great gauges. If you can afford the better ones, then you might as well. I have a mix of them as I noted before. With some of the readings like stinkfist noted, there is no real need for the top end gauges. A good idea is all that is needed and a few degrees aren't worth the 4 or 5 times more money. Unless you get sponsored by HKS or GReedy or something

For proof I have tested an Autometer Phantom series mechanical boost gauge against an A'PEXi EL series mechanical boost gauge, and the difference was between 1 and 2 psi depending on ambient temperature. 2lbs of boost to me is important to know as far as tuning goes and temperatures throughout the engine including A/F ratio and EGT temps. I also noted 15F difference in the Autometer Elec water temp gauge at one point, but general ranges were 5-9F difference. I do believe that there is a big difference in their model line-up's or series' of gauges like PRO-COMP versus Classic if you follow me.

Overall, anything over stock is good, Japanese gauges are best, Autometer gauges are perfect for 80% of people, but there are just some readings that I want the best data that I can get.