Accurate Gauges?
 

Well Im tire of using gauges that are unreliable, and give many different readings. Im builiding my car for future time trials, hopefully future road racing. And I want something I can depend on. Boost, water temp, oil temp, and oil pressure will be the gauges

lol yes i know about them, but Im looking for a brand. Ive found autometer to be off, and not very accurate. Can you be more specific as to what brand they sell that are half decent

myself ive never hurd anything bad about racetech, and there prices are decent in the grand scheme of things. vdo seems to work fine for friends. also ive never had any problems with autometer myself, however have hurd of other people having problems. which autometer line didyou use?

I've heard of Autometer having issues, but never experienced it myself.

My VDO stuff has been very accurate.

water and oil temp are easy, you can put the sensor in boiling water, and calibrate from there

how about the SPA dual digital gauges? Anyone have experience? or know about them?
http://www.pegasusautoracing.com/gro...roupID=SPADUAL

For race applications, personally I prefer analog gauges - a big red needle is much easier to check at a glance than having to read digits off of a display (IIRC there has been some pretty good research by the military in this area). Esp if you turn the gauges so that the "normal" reading is vertical. Anything that is not pointed "up" is potentially bad.

What sort of accuracy do you want/need? FWIW, my VDO "vision" gauges seem to be pretty good - my boost gauge is off by about 1 psi at full reading (10 psi) which is fairly reasonable. The temp gauge is fairly accurate - but this is dependant on keeping the sensor connections very clean.

Are you looking at electric or mechanical gauges?

I would prefer everything to be electircal, besides the boost gauge. Looking into things, Ive heard good things of the greddy gauges. My last autometer depending on being in the sun would show vacuum when sitting still! and in the heat, show 1-2psi of boost. And water temp gauges was about 5 to even 10 degrees off.

Why does every thread on gauges end abruptly without a good answer?

I'll bump this one rather than starting a new one.

Looking for good, economical (NOT CHEAP), accurate gauges.

The temp range affecting the reading of the autometers is enough to turn me off.

I'm also still debating mechanical or electrical... On one hand, I'd rather not plumb an oil line into the passenger compartment. On the other hand, if I have an electrical failure, the gague will drop. It will also be affected by the stability of the voltage going into it, as well as the previously mentioned cleanliness of the contacts.

here my .02...

ive noticed that in competition the drivers really pay no attention to the guages anyways, in my experience you can have the most accurate guages in the world on the car, and they will tell you it overheated cause they spit on the front pulley and it boiled.... build the car so you dont need 10,000 guages, and you'll be much better off, and since you dont have guages, prolly much more relaxed too. watching a temp guage move around, can get kinda nerve wracking.

greddy: i find them easy to read, and the temp (water and oil) seem to be pretty accurate, they are electronic so plumbing is simple. they are basically my favorites, mostly for the easy to read, and rice factors

autometer: the boost guages suck. ive got one too, even without the car its boosting like 5 psi somedays. i also have some temp guages and they seem pretty good. they are also easy to read, but dont always come in the ranges/color/styles you want. price is right too. they look out of place in a japanese car a lot, so like greddy.

hks: fugly...

defi: their boost guage was futher off than autometers.... $$$ too

vdo: they are prolly really good, they look nice, but they have a confusing guage/sensor list, and greddy is easier. if i had a turbo 1st gen with the posche "turbo" badge on it, id get vdo.

lol I forgot I even posted this, I ended up going with VDO, pretty cheap, but dependable, however as you said the sensors are weird

I've seen this before. I'm looking for a brand...

I'ma check out VDO.

ill go with the analog guages, didgital is not only a bit lame for me but very hard to read especially if the sun is directly behind you. Anywho, I use autometer, not autoguage, use ones meant for racing, I have pro-comp liqui filled and havent had any problems personally. Good luck!!!