Engine Gauges

[BJV]

Alright guys, I've got a spare din space in my dash so i thought i may as well plonk some gauges in there for a quick reference to what the engine is doing.

So my question is; what is the three most important readings should I put gauges in for excluding boost?

[and3_3]

Oil pressure and temp are the big ones, maybe a air fuel ratio gauge too.

[BJV]

Oil pressure and temp are the big ones, maybe a air fuel ratio gauge too.

Cheers mate. Which one would you drop if I had to put a boost gauge in there?

[joeyjoejoejuniorshabadoo]

a/f ratio

narrowband is pointless and ghey

[bubba]

I have electric oil pressure and boost gauge on my pillar and I have water temp reading from the ecu and another tacho on my indash screen via carpc/datascan (also has RPM and speed alerts).

Will be getting an oil temp gauge when I put an oil cooler on and will throw the gauge in the gaping hole where the drivers air vent used to be (previous owner had the mech. boost gauge there).

[D_Stirls]

Oil Temp and Pressure and Water Temp as the one on the dash is basically useless, by the time it's reading above normal it well above 100 degrees.

[bubba]

Oil Temp and Pressure and Water Temp as the one on the dash is basically useless, by the time it's reading above normal it well above 100 degrees.

Yup, noticed that too and that's why I take my readout from the ecu.. also I noticed the tacho in my dash is slightly out compared to the ecu

[BJV]

bubba you've done exactly what I'm aiming to do in my car with the car pc. Are you running a power fc? I'm looking at running that into the car pc and a mate of mine is writing a graphics program to take the readings from the pfc tunning software and displaying it as a gauge. Damn... I thought it was an original idea to.

Back on topic though, since most of this build is trial and error I wanted to know which readings I should have separate gauges for as a back up (and it's a bit of a tribute to my 33). Anyway, I'm thinking Boost, oil psi & oil temp. Swapping out boost for water temp if I can find a good place to mount a boost gauge by itself. Does that sound right?

[bubba]

I'm running a remapped stock ecu, consult cable permanently plugged in and running Nissan Datascan for my readouts/logging. I also use RoadRunner as a media front end

If your mate is cluey he could make RoadRunner display stuff from Datascan.. *hinthint*

Edited November 24, 2008 by bubba

[Beer Baron]

the regular AF ratio gauges that read off your stock sensor are rubbish. complete waste of time and tell you nothing.

the most important is oil pressure, oil temp and water temp. also important are fuel pressure and boost. then if you still need more look at EGT.

[BJV]

Big thanks all!

I'm running a remapped stock ecu, consult cable permanently plugged in and running Nissan Datascan for my readouts/logging. I also use RoadRunner as a media front end

If your mate is cluey he could make RoadRunner display stuff from Datascan.. *hinthint*

Sounds like you've already got this sorted mate, I've got a brand spanker pfc so I'll probably stick with the original plan. What's roadrunner? And is datascan only for stock ecu's? Any pics of your setup mate?

the regular AF ratio gauges that read off your stock sensor are rubbish. complete waste of time and tell you nothing.

the most important is oil pressure, oil temp and water temp. also important are fuel pressure and boost. then if you still need more look at EGT.

Yeah I heard the same about a/f meters beer baron. Book in oil psi, oil temp and water temp!

Thanks again everyone.

[r33cruiser]

egt gauge, oil pressure gauge, oil temp gauge.

if u have a tune, afr's shud be bang on, and if u have a pfc u dont need a water temp gauge

'

[r33_racer]

Having good mechanical gauges is the way to go. Digital gauges run into dramas more often then mechanical.

+1 for Beer Baron's answer.

Oil Temp (after cooling), Oil Pressure, Water Temp, Fuel Pressure

If this car gets thrashed or raced on a regular basis and makes or will be making descent power eg. 300rwkws+ then another Oil Temp before cooling, assuming wetsump system here probably in the pan somewhere would be ideal or inline between pump and cooler. (Good for keeping an eye on bearings)

If you get digital gauges and tap into the computers sensor wires...if that sensor plays up or fails(which they do when they are XX years old), your gauge will only see the same readings or lack of....having a second independent sensor will stop that from happening. Gauges and sensors seperate to OEM is ideal.

Edited November 25, 2008 by r33_racer

[BJV]

Having good mechanical gauges is the way to go. Digital gauges run into dramas more often then mechanical.

+1 for Beer Baron's answer.

Oil Temp (after cooling), Oil Pressure, Water Temp, Fuel Pressure

If this car gets thrashed or raced on a regular basis and makes or will be making descent power eg. 300rwkws+ then another Oil Temp before cooling, assuming wetsump system here probably in the pan somewhere would be ideal or inline between pump and cooler. (Good for keeping an eye on bearings)

If you get digital gauges and tap into the computers sensor wires...if that sensor plays up or fails(which they do when they are XX years old), your gauge will only see the same readings or lack of....having a second independent sensor will stop that from happening. Gauges and sensors seperate to OEM is ideal.

I'm definatly aiming for digital gauges this time around, after pumping the sump into the cabin of a previous car via a deteriorated gauge hose, I'd rather risk electrical failure. I'm also definatly using seperate sensors to the factory ones. They wouldn't be a very good backup system if they are running off the same pickups they're supposed to be backing up lol.

[SirRacer]

sorry to dig up an old thread, but im finally wanting to install my oil temp gauge. its been sitting in the car for quite some time, however has never worked. i dont run an aftermarket oil cooler in my setup so was thinking of welding the fitting into the sump.

where do most people normally have this gauge feed coming from?

cheers

[lachlanw]

the oil filter housing