I'll pick one of those up then, sounds like a good idea.

I got these:

http://www.autometer.com/cat_gaugeli...&opid=2&szid=2

are those the cheapo ones??

 

Yes

-Brian

 

So whats the major difference between these and the three wire gauges? I assume the more expensive ones are slightly more accurate but aren't these going to be a bit better than the stock gauges? I'm thinking especially for the boost and coolant these will be better than stock.

Thanks.

 

Probably not. Single wire senders use the chassis grounds to measure resistance. 3 wire senders use voltage, 2 wire senders send thier own signal and measure the resistance

 

FWIW, nearly every S4 water temp gauge I've come across (so long as the sender's hooked up) are fairly accurate actually. Very linear. S5's are another story. And either series the boost gauges did bite large chunks of ***.

 

Thanks for the explanation.

I understand that the stock gauges might be accurate in the sense they are linear but watching the temps and boost on the Palm compared to the stock gauges made me realize that they can be misleading. My stock temp gauge rests at about a 1/4 like the rest of them but I would prefer a better indicator. Same with boost, I'd like some kind of numerical view instead of the stock.

Thanks for the input though.

 

I hear the stock gauges arent very reliable, by gauges, they mean the meters inside the car and the wiring too them or do they mean the sensors? ( thermostats etc )

 

I have always been under the impression that aftermarket boost and coolant temp gauges are recommended. The stock ones might be consistent but they don't necessarily coincide with the parameter they measure - by that I mean that the S4 coolant gauge reads 1/4 when the engine is fully warmed up, one might assume that half way up on the gauges is normal operating temp but the fact is that the gauge doesn't normally register past 1/4 unless your overheating.

The stock boost gauge also works but doesn't give a readily available readout of boost level in psi.

So, I wanted a coolant gauge that displays the actual temp in degrees and a boost gauge that displays actual pressure in psi.

If you know where the stock gauges normally rest and how that corresponds to the parameters your monitoring and you can live with that then there is no need to switch to aftermarket gauges.

I opted for a change from the stock to these autometer units, I am aware that there are better gauges out there, nice digital units with warning lights and bells and whistles but I just wanted to read boost in psi and temp in degrees.

Hope that helps.

 

I wish there was some kind of motec that could be placed maybe in the vents or anywhere else but not in the instrument panel, a motec wich basically can measure everything on one screen

 

I have an Rtek7 2.1 ecu which displays all types of stuff and has alarms and triggers built in but it's on a tiny Palm pilot screen, great for data logging but not so good for on the road monitoring.

 

When you say motec, most people will assume you mean EMS. Why not say Motec MDD, SDL, or ADL. That might be a little clearer. While they are really REALLY nice units and I even bought the Motec EMS, I felt that thier displays were a little over priced. I went the AIM route. Oh, and my Motec dealer sold me the AIM unit as he is a dealer as well. Tells you something right there.

Here's my setup. Should have power hopefully this weekend.

 

Yeah well thats not quite what i meant, i wanna keep the instruments in my dash and maybe placed the unit in my central vents or stereo slot.

 

Coolant Temp, Oil Temp and Oil Pressure-

 

mmmkay

So you want to have everything displayed twice??


No warning lights or anything. If you have the rtek, see if it has output capabilities to a real dash. I swear, after 5 minutes of playing with the software I have my dash exactely the way I want it. Even better, if you look at the channels and the fields, they are completly configurable and you can set the setting wherever you want them to be. Anything can be monitored and displayed and alarms can be set to your liking. For $1100 it's really a hell of a deal for anyone with an aftermarket EMS, hell it even has can protocol for the Mazda RX8. Check it out,

 

I can see how you'd become enamored with all the possibilities but for me, nothing beats an analogue display.
You don't have to really look at it, just a glance at the needle tells you if everything is "normal".

Too much information can be as bad as too little, especially when most of your concentration should be on the road ahead.

 

It seems like that aim unit would take a second to take in the data, seems kinda small and too bunched up.

I guess I would have to see it for myself.

Its capabilities are amazing though, plus it looks great.

Oh and TTT.. Nice shoes lol

 

I agree and disagree. The unit can be set up such that you don't even need to look at it. As long as the warning lights can be seen, you just need to pay attention to see if any are going off. The 10 across the top are for shift lights, they go green green yellow red red, you can program them at which point you want them to go on, basically mash the pedal until you see yellow and shift. No need to even look. Keep your eyes on the road as you said. I never liked digital gauges for the same reason, easier to just glance at a gauge but with warning light, you don't even need to look.



those ******* nasty things

 

That's a really good point about the warning lights allowing you to not have to keep a constant eye on the gauges.

Oh btw TTT I hope you know your car really has some high expectations to live up to, I know I can't wait to see it done.

Oh and you should see the shoes I have on right now, but you better believe I'll be ordering a whole new turbo setup in a couple weeks. Its all about priorities.

 

Yeah, it's like these guys that put 3 gauges on the a-pillar, one on the column, two mickeymouse style, 3 where the idiot lights where than 3 more under the stereo without one warning light. Are they really paying attention to all the gauges and not the ******* road? If they are please tell me who they are so I can stay clear.

High expectations, cool..... I can't wait to get her finished either. We're close. I'm hoping to have her at least driving by Turkey day. Fingers crossed. Yesterday I decided that there are a few other parameters that I want to monitor. It means ~$600 and a few weeks to get everything in. Ugh, the price of speed

I know someone that went almost a month eating raman noodles so he could afford a really bitching piece of machinery. Priorities is right, either that or just be a *****. I'm a *****, and my own pimp. Vertical integration FTW!