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Gauge Q's

nisskid

By nisskid,
in Engines & Forced Induction

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nisskid Grand Master

nisskid

Posted
Posted (edited)

hey, i have been tossing up which gauge to buy, cosmetics is not an issue, so i just want to get the best performing gauge possible for a reasonable budget.

i have looked at autometer and the following options are:

mechanical

electric - short sweep

electric - full sweep

veiw here: http://www.autometer.com/cat_gaugeseries.aspx

my question is, what kind of accuracy differences are there in the gauges? i figure the electric ones are easier to install, and i know the full-sweep is the most accurate out of all of them, but if there is minimal difference in acuracy between the mechanical and short-sweep electrical and the only difference is ease of installation and cost then the mech might be a good idea.

also what is the value for all of these as i need to know whats a good buy. does $300 for a 66mm Oil pressure, 52mm Water temp, 52mm Boost/Vaccum all short-sweep electrical and sport-comp, and a DIN holder sound?

cheers

Edited by nisskid
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nisskid Grand Master

nisskid

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Posted (edited)

which are terribly innacurate and inconsistent. i remember once i could smell my engine cooking during a fairly spirited hills run, so i backed off not knowing what was going on, about 20seconds lately my water temp gauge shot up to the high reading over about 3 seconds (real handy, lucky i have the nose of a dog lol). not to mention in the morning it will go from stone cold to opertation temperature within 10-20 seconds, even after a few minutes of driving.

then we get to oil pressure, lol, basically i havnt been able to drive my car for a few weeks now as the gauge is f**ked and i cant get a proper reading, and since i have a few problems related to oil pressure at the moment i do not feel confident driving it without a proper reading of oil pressure.

so then we get to the boost gauge, well i think we can all say without doubt that it is a POS and doesnt even read to what most of us boost our cars to anyway. i am about to install a bleed valve along with a new turbo, so i will need acurate readings to set my bleed valve at the right level.

i actually made a mistake, its a oil temp gauge, not a boost gauge included in that $300.

the oil temp isnt as important, but there is still lag between oil temp and water temp so its a good reading to know.

also i saw these, they have stepping motors etc and seem to be relatively cheap, but they are autogauge so im weary.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/AUTO-GAUGE-52mm-Oil...1QQcmdZViewItem

Edited by nisskid
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Kinks Grand Master

Kinks

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Posted

the stock gauges are idiot dials, they give you a basic indication but are slow to react and hide changes from you (eg water temp gauge shows halfway no matter if it's a cold winter morning or hot summer day).

bear in mind that mechanical gauges are sometimes a defect item - you cannot run a mechanical oil pressure gauge inside the cabin because a leak will spray hot oil around at high pressure which is dangerous. mechanical boost gauge is fine IMO, worst that's going to do is hiss at you.

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heller44 Mentor

heller44

Posted
Posted

Please consider...

Don't buy crap gauges, as well as looking tacky, they aren't reliable or accurate.

The gauges will be your link to monitoring the running condition of your engine.

The autogauge boost gauge that I had started off fine, then went south, eventually checked against a mechanical test gauge and found it was ~5psi out.

Using a mechanical apexi el gauge and happy.

The difference between mechanical and electrical isn't that big so just get what you want. Nothing says that the electrical is going to be any better than the mechanical. If anything I'd trust the other way.

Running greddy electrical ex.temp and oil.temp gauges and very happy with those as well, just wouldn't want to have to pay for them again...

James.

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Kinks Grand Master

Kinks

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^^yeh, i would only consider a mechanical boost gauge as i dont want hot oil coming into the cabin, but i still need to know whether i should be looking at full sweep or short sweep electric ones.

in theory they should be similar accuracy, but a full sweep gauge makes it easier to visually identify smaller changes.

i'd go with what looks better, myself. either way, a quality aftermarket gauge that reacts quickly is better than the stock dials.

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  • 5 months later...
joeyjoejoejuniorshabadoo Grand Master

joeyjoejoejuniorshabadoo

Posted
Posted

I have 3 autometer phantomn guages.

mechanical oil temp

mechanical water temp

electrical afr

the temp ones are both great, but the afr one jumps around so much i never really look at it

happy camper tho. They look great also

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ricsvtr Rising Star

ricsvtr

Posted
Posted

Autometer aren't that accurate. If you do a Google search on Autometer gauges you'll find heaps of ppl saying how crap they are. I had an Autometer Sportcomp mechanical boost gauge which gave me low readings and also never sat on zero when the car was turned off.

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joeyjoejoejuniorshabadoo Grand Master

joeyjoejoejuniorshabadoo

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I'm only aiming at a 250 rwkw daily driver, so they don't need to be perfect... They are easily accurate enough for my needs. And yes they are in cabin :thumbsup:

Edited by joeyjoejoejuniorshabadoo
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Kane_R32 Experienced

Kane_R32

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Posted (edited)

As far as I know any mechanicel gauge is illegal as mentioned but they don't really bother with boost. Oil/Fuel/Water on the other hand is a dangerous one.

Has anyone successfully installed a Autometer oil pressure short-sweep electric into a rb20det r32 with the fttings they supply? Also where is the oil pressure sensor and what is the procedure to fit the autometer sensor/sendor unit into position.

Edited by Kane_R32
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