http://www.egauges.com/

 

I ordered a 2 3/8" autometer boost guage before Xmas, , no problam, in stock.. two days later I find out autometer has 'delayed' all sales of thier products, most anyways till after the new year.. I finally got the guage last week.. Oh, apparently, sticking a big bright 'NEW' sticker on the package pushed the price of the same part up by 100%.. autometer, in an attempt to get back the 40% sales loss they had last year has changed to a plug in back, no longer make mechanical guages except for one single line.. and that's about it.. oh and the 70 - 100% price increase.. Considering I payed $420 Canadian for this thing and the DEfi link guages are $450 I'll take the HKS or Defi anyday now.. Autometer can kiss my Canadian ***, ( I phoned them to find out why they waited two years to finally drop the metric guages after I'd put a deposit ion one and they strung a few people along for those 2 years?.. the answer I received from the autometer sales rep was " this is america and we're autometer, go find your 'metric' somewhere else. "..

nice, well I did and I can say without a doubt that autometer is going to loose more buisiness with this price hike.

you want well made american guages go get some westech aircraft guages.. they make two in and three in ones as well.

 

I really dont get it........why the prices for such cheap things (gauges) are so high. And I dont mean "cheap" as in "cheaply made", I mean "cheap" as in cheap things to manufacture.......

Charging the obscene amounts of money that HKS, Blitz for such small and cheap things is IMHO a total rip-off. You will do JUST AS WELL forking out 30-40EUR (or $, now Euro is more expensive that Dollar) per gauge and get a couple of VDO gauges (mechanical boost, water temp, oil temp, mechanical oil pressure).

With all the above, you will still have paid LESS than a SINGLE "high-priced" gauge i.e from Blitz, you will do your job just as nicely, and you will have more info (due to more gauges). If I were into professional racing ONLY THEN would I consider buying the "high-tech" gauges with P/H features, various other elements etc etc.....

 

I do like these..



From a vendor on the Impreza boards. He's trying to get a group buy on these and others.

Sales Thread

 

Those aren't very easy to read, like on the go. I mean everything is blue. They should have made the needle orange or red or something IMO.

 

Well he has these too that are cheaper. I do see your point! I figure the Boost guage is one of the most important to have so I may spend some money one.

 

Never once had a problem with any autometer products. My phantom gauge used to read right on with my profec.

 

Well, features, size. Most VDO and Autometer gauges only come in 52mm. My old ones were, and I found them hard to read. Features. My greddy gauges are dual lit, autometers are single lit. My gauges have peak/hold, and warning. The only autometer gauges I see with that, are huge ricer tachs. My gauges are electric. Alot of people, like myself, dont want to run tubes into their cars.

Now, I paid $187 for my Greddy 60mm peak/hold Boost gauge. Thats about $40 more than autometer's comprabile electric boosy gauge, which probably isnt as big, and doesent have the same functions. EGT was $196. Thats pretty cheap, considering its size and features. We wont even talk about the autometer equivalant, which doesent even read high enough for a rotary engine. Finally, my a/f meter, same type as the other two was $250ish. Its definately an item that you get what you pay for. Id rather use a rock and wire to figure out my a/f ratio than Autometers a/f gauge. Definately not worth the joke of a $60 they charge for them.

 

But you see, thats what I'm talking about.....200 EUR/bucks for a gauge. Even if it has super duper features, has 14 different backlights, and can sing "Row-row-row your boat", the components themselves and the time required to build a single gauge DO NOT justify this cost.....

Examples of this "effect" are usually more easily found in the electrical gauges, which if you open up will reveal an electronic circuit which does not cost more than 5-10bucks (at wholesale prices). Put in the packaging, the lights, the extra circuit for the P/H or Warning light, and you reach maybe 25-30 bucks. Add the manufacturing cost, the shipping cost, and the wholesale profit, and you reach AT THE MOST a figure of about 50-60 bucks (again, if the gauge is "Top Notch" with gazillions of features, AND "brand" name).

Where do you attribute the rest 140 bucks ??????

 

The same place all the big names attribute their extra $400+ they charge for a 3in exhaust, when corksport sells them for half the cost.

 

No-one has mentioned one very good gauge. The STACK gauges. Now before anyone writes back, i know they are expensive, and this is not what the thread is about. But anyone planning to use over 6 or so gauges could justify one... I think a street stack gauge cluster costs around $1100. Which can monitor over 10 things, plus you get rid of your speedo and tach, no one will look in your car again and say "oh your car can only go 160?" But IF, IFFF, you were spending alot of money on separate gauges, then I recommend stack. They are used in almost all forms of racing. And it makes your car look like a real race car.

 

I wouldnt trust my cars aerodynamics going much faster than 160.

 

You might be suprised. I wont say what speed I had mine at but lets just say it was up there, and I was being passed by another t2, I found once you reach a certain speed the T2's kind off suck down to the ground and are actually very stable.

 

lol wasnt that you and max at a meet last summer?

 

My SPA speedo/tach goes up to 999mph, but I don't think that even the ricers will believe my car really goes that fast. Hmm, then again, I do have a lot of stickers. :)

The stock aerodynamics are actually pretty good. A 10AE with no added aerodynamics other than a clear chin spoiler and wheel covers made it to 191mph at Bonneville. I think the main problem with taking a stock FC over 160mph would be the limitations of the tires and suspension, and of course the driver's skills or lack thereof. For those who don't know, VR tires are only rated up to 150mph, so please don't try the 160mph speed runs without the proper equipment.

 

Hehehe, I have always said that the cooling system is easy to assess because it either works or it doesn't. There aren't too many binary performance items like this.

However, the stock radiator is difficult to bleed properly, the plastic end tanks do nothing for cooling and tend to crack and leak, and the radiator is too small for a real performance application. The next time you are at the road race track, count how many FC's retain the stock radiator. It's not many. Now contrast that to how many retain the excellent stock oil cooler, and you will see what I mean. RETed doesn't seem to think much of it either:
http://fc3s-pro.com/TECH/MODS/COOL/rad.htm

I am glad that you and Dale like it, but I think the stock FC radiator is a piece of junk. Here is a thread with the complaints of others:
https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...threadid=17496

 

I think anyone who goes like 170 on anything but z rated tires is nuts

 

http://realbig.com/pipermail/detomas...ne/013778.html

 

Lets think about this for a moment. The corksport exhaust is great, but only for people running a stock cat and forward, since their "3 inch exhaust" tapers down to a smaller diameter. Yet the big name JIC exhaust doesent do that.

 

Tony if you had been to corksports site lately they are making a full exhaust (due out on the 3rd). Im going to be disappointed if its over priced like hks/racing beat etc. I am hoping they price it at about the cost of the downpipe + cat back + test pipe.

 

Havent seen their site lately. Ill check it out. If they made their exhaust with a 3 inch flange, id be all over it.

 

If the VDO's are so great why are they sooooo cheap? They're like 30 bucks a gauge!

Oh and can someone explain to me the diff. between "traditional lighting" and "thru dial lighting"

I assume the latter is better from the Vision series VDO's but what do they look like when compared to others?

 

Expensive doesnt mean good quality. Buy one and open it, youll realize how little there is to them. And thats why they are 30$. Greddy, hks, blitz etc you are paying for looks and the brand name. VDO gauges are simple, just a black face, a needle and some white numbers and a light bulb.

 

I've got a blitz indiglo, bought it from the rx7store a while ago. It's damned accurate, I've tested that thing using minivac and low pressure air and it was always dead on. *shrug* Some people have good experiences, others have bad.

 

Anyone got pics of VDO's at night? preferrably the Vision series, I have bad eyesight and need good night illumination.