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Essential gauges for a Turbo car

A31_Cefiro

By A31_Cefiro,
in Engines & Forced Induction

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A31_Cefiro Community Regular

A31_Cefiro

Posted
Posted

This may sound like a silly question but what gauges do you guys deem as essential for a turbo car? I see a lot of cars kicking round with a million gauges on them but the question is would really bother on a street car?

Of course the first response will always be Boost gauge but after that how do the other gauges rate?

Temp gauges? Air/Fuel gauges?

Any feedback appreciated.

:D

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Leewah Veteran

Leewah

Posted
Posted

Besides the stock gauges that come with the car, Ie. speedo, tacho, fuel, etc I personally don't think you need that many gauges unless your doing circuit racing.

If you're simply running on the strip and the occasional squirt on the street, I'd suggest a boost gauge and more accurate oil temp.

I only run a digital boost gauge attached to my timer. The only real reason I've got it is for tuning purposes. I wouldn't really use one any other time as the Autronic combined with the wastegate controls the boost quite well.

I don't even have a boost controller in the car.

Jay95R33 Grand Master

Jay95R33

Posted
Posted
Originally posted by INASNT

talking about gauges, i have been lookin for an air-intake temp gauge to monitor intake air temp!

havent been able to find 1 but

Jaycar sell's a digital LCD temp meter that is pretty quick.

I think it measures -40 to +120 or something. I bought one and played around with it for a while and it works well. It doesn't look that good, so it's not something you've mount permanently.

OH - it has an alarm function too, so you can set it for say 40 degrees and if it goes past that a buzzer goes off, I was thinking about hooking the buzzer output to a relay and operating a intercooler water sprayer to it. But it's best to spray the intercooler before it gets too hot....

But I suppose you could just have the temp adjusted down a bit so it comes on sooner...

I think I just opened up a big can of worms here..............

Joe Community Regular

Joe

Posted
Posted

The only one you really need is a boost gauge.

The rest are a waste of money, normally people on a skyline upgrades there ecu to a power fc & power fc reads boost/water temp/knock sensor/injector duty cycle & a few more that i cant remember.

Look dont waste money on gauges & waste it on something usefull like new injectors or something :mad:

Guest INASNT

Guest INASNT

Posted
Posted
Originally posted by Jay95R33

Jaycar sell's a digital LCD temp meter that is pretty quick.

I think it measures -40 to +120 or something.  I bought one and played around with it for a while and it works well.  It doesn't look that good, so it's not something you've mount permanently.

OH - it has an alarm function too, so you can set it for say 40 degrees and if it goes past that a buzzer goes off, I was thinking about hooking the buzzer output to a relay and operating a intercooler water sprayer to it.  But it's best to spray the intercooler before it gets too hot....

But I suppose you could just have the temp adjusted down a bit so it comes on sooner...

I think I just opened up a big can of worms here..............

so when r u putting yours in?

Warpspeed Experienced

Warpspeed

Posted
Posted

Seems to me you need some accurate monitoring equipment to do some testing if you are going to seriously modify your car. But unless you are trying to diagnose a problem having your car look like the flight deck of an aircraft is just a wank.

I have several pressure gauges with large scales that can be used to measure: Fuel pressure, oil pressure, boost pressure, exhaust manifold pressure, and exhaust pipe pressure at various points. A homemade water manometer is also useful for measuring low pressures in the induction system.

A digital thermometer with remote readout is absolutely vital.

An airflow meter is a handy thing to have, and so is a sound level meter.

A multimeter is very good to have, as is a compression gauge and timing light.

Jay95R33 Grand Master

Jay95R33

Posted
Posted
Originally posted by Silver-Arrowz

Oil temp guage. R owners know hot the oil gets when they've been thrashing their cars around. GTS-t owners would be surprised how quickly the oil temp shoots up.

Your right on.

The first gauges I got were a boost gauge and an oil temp gauge.

Normal driving is around 65 degrees. Give it a bootfull and it'll shoot upto 85-90.

J

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