My interior is relatively stock other than the shift **** and the steering column boost gauge. Now i'm going to go single din and sell my double din head unit. I'm planning on to purchasing a DIN gauge panel. I know i want a water temp gauge because i believe this is the most vital part of your vehicle to monitor in any car. Also knowing that the factory gauge is pretty much useless i know that's a smart move....Now i'm just thinking what other gauge i should put on?...i tried doing a search for this but couldn't find anything of relevance other than 1000023223 gauge set ups in FD's it's all good i'm not bashing anyone on their interior setups it's good to monitor everything you possibly can when you take your car to the track but my car is a weekend driver any suggestions? thanks.

 

boost for sure, water and oil. depends on what mods you have and how far you went. may even need a wideband monitor. but likely your car seems mild. so you would be okay with a boost/vacuum, water temp and oil temp. in order of importance.

 

oil temp and oil pressure, you could add a wideband if you know how to use it.

 

If you have a commander, it gives you most of the data you need without having a riced out over gaged interior.

 

If your relatively stock......Boost and either water or oil temp. Water seems easier to monitor.

 

Egt?

 

egt=exhaust gas temp

mine - boost, water temp, oil pressure

 

no i know what it means sorry, is it a need? it combined with the wideband should give a good indication if your running rich or lean wouldn't it?

also with ur set up, what short shifter do u have? with the rx8 shift **** does it sit high, or did you cut the shifter? thanks.

Mark

 

I disagree with the oil pressure. The stock gauge works well enough as long as it has a good sending unit. All you need to know is if it loses oil pressure or if your pressure is too high.

I'd do the boost, some type of temp gauge (oil temp if you have a powerfc), and either a fuel pressure or egt gauge.

 

Very nice BillM and very clean. Oh yea, boost, w. temp, oil pres., and fuel pres. If I had gauges, those would be the ones.

 

 

BillM, What kind of gauges are those?

 

is there not a recommended gauges sticky. it gets asked a lot. or write a basic guideline. this forum is pretty disorganized sometimes

 

^It's not really rocket science. The only two you definetly need is the boost and water temp. After that, it just depends on the set-up, whether it be fuel pressure, dual EGT's, etc.

 

DUAL egts? elaborate on that please.,

 

Commander mounted in cigarette lighter holder and column mounted boost gauge:



I also log AFRs with a wideband and soon plan to log EGTs, but these are only required if you are tuning or have quite a few modifications.

 

Shifter is stock, never cut, here is a side view. Wanted to keep everything as stock as possible but still add gauges.


Gauges are ISSPRO, with some modified chrome rings I got on ebay.
Here is my writeup:

https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-specific-1993-2002-16/din-panel-gauges-577232/

 

if you have a pfc i wouldnt worrie about a water temp gauge, thats just my thought. How that saved me a couple times with overheating.

 

I'm not a fan of light shows or rice either, but....

Boost obviously is needed. I have both water and oil temp. These temps can vary widely and you really should watch both. I have custom oil cooling ducts and dual oil coolers, so my water temp can be 192F while the oil temp is nill (below 140). Good info to have before you get on the gas!

EGT is another one I have and is useful if you understand how to use it. During and after a tuning session, monitor your EGTs. Remember or record your normal and peak EGT. So now you have a baseline. From then on, if your EGT spikes above that then you know you have an issue. Most likely a lean condition. BTW - The PFC or AFR gauge may still read normal but the EGT spiking can show you other issues, like if one of the injectors is starting to fail or something else like TIMING throwing off your temps. A change in timing will not be visible in your AFRs but will be shown in your EGTs. EGT gauge with "peak memory" is what I use.

I also have a narrow band AFR gauge with knock response warning.

The stock oil pressure gauge has been good enough for me, it seems pretty responsive and relatively accurate.

 

if you've got a boost controller (digital) you should have an accurate readout on that, if not, get a column mount gauge as it normally looks very clean and "stock-ish." water temp can be had from the PFC or better yet, linearize your stock water temp gauges so you don't have redundant readouts. as said, the stock oil pressure gauge is just fine as long as you have a good sender unit attached to it. with a fairly stock car, you don't really need to worry about your oil temps or much else, at least that's my opinion... but then, I don't own an FD anymore so take this for what its worth.

 

You don't "need" any additional gages.

Your column mount boost gauge is enough.

You can do the water temp gauge linearization mod to the stock gauge. That way it reads actual temp rise, not the 3 step average.

It looks retarded with two water temp & oil press gauges. Might as well add another gas gauge & speedo to match. Much like the V tech boys with their huge tach, with shift light, bolted to the dash on a 87hp Civic. Looks faaassssst!!!!

Oil temp gauge? What is normal? When should you be worried?

Are you going to do track days at extended WOT? Stop & go traffic will show a rise in temps. Just like your water temps.

People get all bunched up over intake temps & knock reading on their Pfc. End up speeding $$ & untold hours to fix something that isn't broke.

It's never the same as other cars on this forum. Thing is, half those guys are lying anyway to impress you with how much better their car's are & how f@cked up yours must be. (Checkout any of the gas mileage post.)

 

^ I guess if you don't understand them, you shouldn't have them?

 

If I understood the original poster, he's got a "weekend" streeted car (no tracks), he likes the stock look and doesn't like "light shows". You've just recommended 3 gauges that IMO, and many others, he doesn't need.
And tuning sessions? If the OP is as stock as he suggests, he's still running the stock ECU......

 

Yeah Ok. I lost sight of his situation and description of what he is driving.

I'm in the "just get a boost gauge" bandwagon.

 

^^+1

To the thread starter,

Since I was a little more modded than you: I monitored via the PFC the Intake temps and water, using my boost controller I monitored boost.


Now that I am going single I will add two gauges EGT and a wideband.