I used a dual digital boost/water temp gauge (SPA DG 206) in a single a-pillar mount for a while. It was great seeing the water temp number, especially while warming up the car. However, the boost portion of that particular gauge was useless (the way the gauge did its polling/filtering/averaging was terrible and made it essentially impossible to read the boost level real-time).



So whenever I adjusted boost I would tape an Autometer mechanical gauge to the column, with the feed line coming through the passenger window. Works great.



A few weeks ago I removed the digital gauge and a-pillar mount, and I have to say after driving with it like that for a bit I am digging the zero-gauge look&feel. However, I feel like I'm somehow being irresponsible by not having boost/temp gauges! I have some ideas for re-equipping the functionality, but I'm kinda leaning toward just not putting any gauges back in. The way I see it, boost is really just a diagnostic instrument. When I tune in the future/if I have boost issues, I'll just tape the Autometer on again. It's not like watching a boost gauge while driving in normal circumstances is of any benefit. As for the water temp gauge, it was interesting to see what affect the Koyo radiator had, but now that I've driven under many different circumstances and see that my water temps never get anywhere near dangerous, do I really need it? If there is a catastrophic failure I still have the OEM gauge, as un-ideal as its center-weighing may be.

What're you thoughts? Are boost & water temp gauges really necessary?

 

With your reasoning, I have to agree with you. I would say no they're not needed BUT things happen randomly and one day things will be different. You have a power fc, just use the commander. It shows both water temp and boost. Zeitronix makes a multi display which I've had in my car for years now. It shows up to 4 parameters for whatever you want including afr. The screen inside the display is actually removable so you can install it into a panel and have it look oem. There are a few examples on the website.

to answer your question though, use the commander to monitor water temp and boost. You don't need any other gauges

 

I don't even keep my commander plugged in.... I have my Datalogit velcro'd under the passenger footwell for easy plugging access and the commander stashed in one of the bins Never tried watching boost with the commander, I wonder if it's useable.

 

It is.... it shows map sensor values though. So whatever the map sensor sees or thinks it sees then what you get. I calibrated my pim scale according to chuck Westbrook and it's pretty accurate

 

Gauges are a personal choice. Some prefer few or none. Others like the Boeing 747 look with flashing neon strip-joint lighting. Sounds like you made your choice.

FWIW if you have an old commander I highly recommend the newer OLED version...way easier to read. You can set it up to display what you deem important, including temp and boost. It will give it to you in ‘C’ and ‘bar’ but it doesn’t take long for most to get adjusted to it. And I also like keeping an eye on the peak values it gives.

 

I think the trend with a lot of FD owners recently has been "less is more". I think one or two gauges is a decent way to go, but the Starship Enterprise approach of having EVERYTHING on a gauge is pretty ridiculous.

You could even go a step further and get a 99 cluster with the boost gauge instead of oil pressure and linearize the water temp gauge on it.

I'm fortunate that my car has had a solid boost pattern pretty much forever so I've never really had to worry about the pattern itself. It is good to keep an eye on peak boost, especially in colder weather/higher gears.

I have an "old school" (bought them new 15 years ago ) set of Greddy gauges (boost/water temp) in a center speaker pod. They're very clean looking and have been dead reliable. I've actually had non-RX-7 people think they were stock.

On a stock or near-stock car, the boost gauge isn't as big of a deal. Water temp can be a good idea to watch for trends - a slowly failing thermostat or a fan that isn't working could result in higher than normal temps that could cook water seals. Again, going with a linearized stock water temp gauge might do the trick here. My old FC stock had a linear water temp gauge and it was really handy for diagnosis - you didn't get a number, but you could easily tell if it was running hotter than normal.

Dale

 

the newer Mazda's do not have a gauge anymore, instead they have an LED, its blue when the car is cold, and red when its too hot, and when the car is in the middle, its just off.

it would be very easy to implement something like this, the Double throttle turns off at 80c, and the fans turn on at whatever you set them at...