I have the mandatory oil pressure, oil temp and boost gauges.

Now thinking or 1 or 2 more, obviously for the monitoring purposes but also so I (or someone )can add a knocklink somewhere on the A pillar post.

So what would be a suggested gauge(s) to get.

 

get a psi3 data mon itor

 

Knocklink is best straight in front off you, to the side and you may not notice it lighting up

Mark

 

air/fuel ratio, battery amps/volts, fuel pressure, charge temperature, still loads more to chose from

 

Wideband and ACT are the most useful mate.

Dont bother with a narrowband AFR as theyre not work a carrot, also dont bother with athe PSI data monitor as again these are pretty useless too. IMO.

The wideband, act and knocklink will be the ones that stop you blowing your motor... everything else will be too late as they will show you after the damage is done.

 

Are the above, Frays Approved though ?

 

Whatda you think?

 

Wow, thats a lot of gauges, but what did you say recently?

Hmmmm?

 

Ok, numpty time here:

What does the ACT & wideband actually measure and what should be a expected reading from them

 

ACT (air charge temp)

This is mounted in your inlet manifold and gives you an accurate measurement of the temps coming out of your intercooler. Botom line is the lower the better. If it starts to go over 40 deg c its less than ideal and if its clipping the 50 deg c then id be taking my foot off the gas.

Stationary after a long run, you'll see heatsoaked coolers put out temps of over 70deg c. Although with an efficient cooler like the sti topmount, these will return to normal after approx 500yds of smooth driving. Bigger topmounts like the APS and ebay item will not return once hot, this is due to their cumbersome bulky endtanks and possible poor cores that do not reject the heat once soaked. A fmic does not have this problem as it is not subject to any heatsoak.

The wideband lambda will give you a very accurate reading of your AFR (air/fuel ratio). Stoich is 14.7:1, you will see approx this reading at idle.

This means that a ratio of 14.7 = 14.7 parts air to one part fuel.
Its easy to see how for example a ratio of 10:1 would be richer and 17:1 would be leaner.

On boost however youre looking at approx very high 10s but more ideally about 11.4ish. These values will chnage if youre using Methanol or other race gas mixes too.

The wideband is a fantastic tuning tool and will be the gauge that if any (except knocklink) will stop you from blowing your motor.

Neil,

They might look nice because ive made em look like that. But i assure you i understand every gauge in my car and why theyre there... how many others can say the same?

 

Frayz, if you keep posting clear, concise, tactfull replies like the one above, people might start to think you know what you are talking about.

 

Ps. I really like the way the wide band and temp gauge fits behing the wheel and the centre gauges, but I just don't like the A pillar fitment. I have then there in mine and find they just get in the way, so now Zak has made the SECS redundant, I will change them to centre at some point.

 

Frayz, thanks for the explanation mate. Need to go and do some shopping now

 

 

dave, get a tyrewall warning gauge!!! lol (you knew it was coming....)

 

Neil. I find the A pillar a distraction too but I literally have nowhere else to place the other 3 meters.

 

To be honest i wished i saved a lot of funking about and just bought a Stack digital dash. lol

 

What about an EGT gauge or is this only really useful on a modified block? I had 2 on my GTO, one for each bank and an EGT.

 

EGTs are onlt really useful to know if youre mapping and more importantly the WOT top end. WOT for prolonged periods are only really where EGTs become an issue. Also if the car is mapped for a customer, chances are it will be mapped with safety in mind and will be slightly richer up to to keep EGTs down.

I have an EGT gauge and in the late 10s AFR i barely get 850 deg c on the EGTs. When im running mid 11s i canb see upwards of 940 deg c.

Inconnel exhaust valves in my new build should mean my EGT are even less of an issue.

Bottom line is that the EGTs are not going to be a beneficial to the avearge user as that of the wideband, knocklink and ACT.

 

sell your guages to Dave and buy one then, then everyones happy

 

Hi Frayz...

If you don't mind me asking... How much were the inconnel exhaust valves? I may need to get them when I remap after the gearbox/clutch upgrade on mine (Zak thinks EGT may be an issue).

thanks
Rossi

 

I havent ordered them yet Ross but i think theyre approx £25 each

 

Thanks fella, I've emailed Axis to see if they were done as part of the stage 4 build.. otherwise I might have to get them done.

Apologies for thread hi-jack .