Chronos

Just like the title asks: Are a multitude of guages really nessassary if you have a Haltech system installed and a laptop to monitor it. All I really find nessassary is the boost guage. Well, what do you guys think???

jspecracer7

Are you going to be looking at your laptop constantly to see if the water temp rises over 100 degrees celsius?

...then you better get a gauge...

Bill B

iTrader: (1)

Are you going to have the laptop with you every time you drive? Are you going to squint to see the numbers? I doubt it. There are very good reasons that we "upgrade" the gauges, water temp and oil pressure among others are VITAL in any engine especially a rotary.

Chronos

thanks a lot guys...Just got my 7 today!!!!!

The real problem I was initially facing is where I was gonna fit all the gauges, and how it was gonna look when done (Don't really wanna look like a 'Rikki' with his 1337 gauges in the door frame :P)
I was also wondering...which gauges should I put in? The car has a P.O.S. autometer turbo gauge in a center wheel mount that doesn't even light up :\
Since I plan to race my car I would assume I DEFINATELY need A: boost gauge B: water temp C: oil temp - Which I could mount on the center wheel mount and a Border front dash mount (two gauge mount)

I was also thinking about oil/fuel pressure gauges (perhaps that Greddy dual needle pressure gauge?) and air/fuel ratio gauge, what do you guys think? did i leave anything important out? Are the Pressure gauges important enough that I have to be looking at them while track driving? Or are they just for tuning purposes?(in which case I could get away w/ just the laptop)

THanks again for the help!

Jason

Chronos

come on guys....some input plz?!?

weaklink

gauges are really a matter of personal preference. a boost gauge would be sufficient. if you plan to race, as you say, you might want a temp gauge. I would go with water temp, since coolant seals are really what you need to be concerned about. laptop LCD is bad for several reasons:

1. would require some sort of power source-will kill the batteries very quickly and there have been problems with inverters.

2. where would you mount or position this thing? People have trouble mounting a PFC commander. if you are going to race, this thing is going to be flying around all over the place.

3. viewing-aside from mounting it where you can see it AND drive, have you ever seen a lcd in a hot car? it goes black very quickly.

4. security-are you gonna lug this thing inside with you every time you get in/out of the car? or leave it in the hopes someone will smash your window and take it?

just my limited observations from having the datalogit and a laptop in my car...

oh if it's just for tuning, on a dyno, it should be fine, but I would still get a good boost gauge.

Chronos

yeah, i just basically need the essential gauges for racing...

I guess the real question is: Are pressure guages and air/fuel gauges really nessassary to observe when racing or driving hard?

Also the EGT gauge...is it at all nessassary? I don't see what purpose it serves with people are running straight through pipes shooting flames out the back with no worries

jspecracer7

The pressure gauge's and a/f guge are necessary to tune, but after that, they're just for troubleshooting and monitoring.

The EGT can be used to tune your fuel and timing. Basically, the lower the better.