WHICH GAUGES

[ThomS]

Which gauges are most important? I can only add two.
I am sure most are going to say Boost gauge. next is oil temp gauge or fuel/ratio gauge, which are the most valueable? or maybe water temp gauge?
Let me know what you think?

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

vacuum/Boost and Air/Fuel. Even a narow band A/F gauge is better than none.

[socal pat]

Agree with tom, but if you decide a temp guage is in order...look at the dual sweep guages with both oil and water temps. Two birds with one stone etc..

[ThomS]

Thanks Guys. I will follow your advise.

[chuckerants]

Thom,

Why only two gauges?

I used something like this to install a Vac/boost, Water Temp, and an Oil Temp gauge.


http://www.trackdogracing.com/website/photos/guages-s.jpg

[raceskier]

Check out this thread from few months back. Lots of options discussed. I have one of the dual oil/water temp gauges Pat mentioned, along with boost and AFR.
http://www.fastforwardsuperchargers.com/miata-forum/boost-guage-s-vacuum-especially-vt47.html?highlight=

[ThomS]

Thom,

Why only two gauges?

I used something like this to install a Vac/boost, Water Temp, and an Oil Temp gauge.


http://www.trackdogracing.com/website/photos/guages-s.jpg



I will loook into this. Thanks

[Banshee]

Thom,
I recommend getting a boost gauge with a peak hold function. Its too hard to stare at the boost gauge when you're at WOT.

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

The vac/boost gauge with peak hod is what I have in the 99. Great but not cheap. The 05 has the mechanical gauge ($45) but doesn't re-zero itself and you have to watch it. Both serve th purpose but you do have to take your eyes off the road to see it. They are best utilized with a passenger keeping his/her eyes on it.

[Kyp J]

The vac/boost gauge with peak hod is what I have in the 99. Great but not cheap. The 05 has the mechanical gauge ($45) but doesn't re-zero itself and you have to watch it. Both serve th purpose but you do have to take your eyes off the road to see it. They are best utilized with a passenger keeping his/her eyes on it.

I wasn't thinking when I put my boost gauge on the window post (nearest to the steering wheel). It gets really crowded with the passenger on my lap at the track and it makes the car way too heavy on one side.

Seriously though, I think you need at least 4 and probably more gauges to be safe with all the possible ways to screw up your car with a supercharger if you use it to have the maximum fun (irresponsibly?). If you true up the water temp gauge on the dash it would reduce it by one. Its just easier to put in a real water temp gauge than go through the linearization procedure on miata.net.

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

I also did the "Oil pressure gauge FIX" from mnet. It can be a heart stopper when you get the oil hot the first time and then idle. Actual oil pressure drops pretty low. But I love it for track use. Water temp gauge fix should be next on my list. I think that is an important piece of data for tracking the car as well.

I think the original question was which two are most important? For daily use, I still think the order is:

Vac/Boost
A/F
Oil Pressure
Oil Temp
Water Temp

Oil temp is a faster indication of pending problems than water temp.

[Serpico]

I strongly recommend an oil temp gauge.

The oil temperature takes about 10-15 minutes longer to warm up than the water temps do.

I've also done the upgrade to the oil pressure gauge and added the vac/boost, A/F and oil temp gauge from TDR ( a very nice gauge kit).

Next thing I'm doing is replacing the narrow band A/F gauge with a wideband gauge/sensor .