aaronc7

With my built motor going in soon, I really want to get a real oil pressure gauge in the car. While I'm changing/adding stuff I think it's time to revamp my gauges..looking for some input.

Right now I have AFR, boost and EGT in triple A pillar pod. I don't wanna turn this into best gauge pod thread.... I don't really like the riceyness of the A pillar, but to me it was functional and cheap. To me the center console/radio gauges look way better, but totally worthless function wise.

Anyways... I wanted to add oil temp, oil pressure and water temp....but my issue is I don't want to turn the inside of my car into the Starship Enterprise. I realized I never look at EGT, so I'm going to wire that into my MS so I can log it (more useful, i thinks). I've came across these VEI gauges that I'm sure most of you have seen... you can get dual display ones that can show oil temp/pressure, oil temp/water temp, etc. pretty much any combo.

Keeping my AFR and boost and triple pod....that gives me 1 gauge slot for 3 parameters I want to add (oil pressure, oil temp, water temp). In my mind their importance is in that order. I know I can convert my stock oil pressure gauge into something somewhat functional by changing the sender, and I see that I can make my water temp gauge (stock) respond linearly...

So, I'm thinking I can either convert the stock OPG to be useful, and then get VEI oil/water temp gauge.. OR... make stock water temp gauge linear/useful, then get Oil temp/oil pressure VEI gauge. I'm leaning towards the latter. Appreciate any input or ideas, thanks!

RedTurboMiata

hey, i havnt seen one in person, but this setup looks convenient.
PS: i do believe you can put any combination of sensors on those gauges
http://www.miataturbo.net/showthread.php?t=42652&page=3

flying_solo

iTrader: (1)

yeah, I second that. There was a thread I was just reading on CR about posting your gauges. I like the idea of replacing the dash gauges like this.

aaronc7

Hmmmm that does look VERY clean and I like it a lot- but each display is like 210 bucks, not including any of the senders, and it looks like a lot of work. Probably just not worth it to me. The VEI gauges are around 80 bucks for a dual display, and the senders are pretty cheap-- I'd end up spending around 100 bucks.

Do you all agree that water temp is prob the least important? If I did the linear response mod, I think over time I would be able to correlate gauge position vs water temp read out in MS as well.

edit: if i was starting from scratch I'd be much more inclined to go that route, but I already have the rest of my gauges.

RedTurboMiata

yea they are a bit expensive, i would say water temp is relatively important. but thats one of those your call things

flying_solo

iTrader: (1)

I don't know how much I trust the water temp even with linear mod. I like the dual oil/water temp gauge that TrackDog sells and will probably go that route myself. But, then again, I flip flop on what I want to do gauges wise every week. So, I haven't done anything yet.

I keep thinking. Dual Pillar pod with Boost/Wideband. 3 DIN Dash mount with Dual Temp Gage, Oil Pressure, ________. I like these electronic ones and blending them into the dash, but I do agree it's a lot of work and my car is slowly being made into a track car anyway.

I've kicked around EGT, TurboSpeed, or Temp coming off intercooler. Dunno. so many choices for that last gauge.

Mazduh

I really like gauges mounted in the center consul... I plan on doing it when I can afford to replace my Bose.

aaronc7

Some stuff center console is fine I think- oil,water temp, for example.

flyinsolo- i find I never look at EGT as a gauge. I think being able to log it would be more useful while tuning... start a log and make a note of peak EGT with respect to changes.

any reason why you don't really trust the linear water temp mod? I realize there's no actual numbers on the gauge....but I think over time you would start to notice what is normal, and compare vs Megasquirt coolant temp readout, etc.

flying_solo

iTrader: (1)

Aaron, you make good points. Why I don't trust it was the lack of actual numbers. But, yeah, I can see figuring out relative to Megasquirt what the real numbers are would work. I also really don't want to tear it apart and do the mod. :P

As for EGT, yeah, that's what I was thinking as well, it's only good for tuning. I'm looking at going BW EFR turbo and think to really rice out it would be cool to have a Turbo Speed gauge.

See, now I'm changing my mind again. I will never buy anything at this rate. Don't' listen to me, I don't know what I'm talking about.

Track

Ok, let me cover a couple of these. Being one of probably 5 miata enthusiasts with both a functioning OPG and water temp gauge, I can probably help you get where you want with only one gauge pod spot.

I have 2 suggestions if you want to stick with the stock gauges route (possibly a third, but it may not be the cleanest).

1)
-Linear stock temp gauge.
-Linear stock OPG with a new sender and a dampening fluid clean.
-use your 3rd gauge spot for Oil Temp.

2)
-Linear stock temp gauge.
-get a second stock temp gauge, linearize it and put it in the location of the OPG gauge, then wire it up to a temp. sender in the oil. You can do whatever you want to change the logo for this Oil temp gauge.
- Use an OPG in your 3rd gauge spot.

3)
-Linear stock temp gauge.
-following Alex (YelloYata), you can put one of those multi gauges in place of the stock OPG and display either OPG or Oil temp.
-use the 3rd pod for OPG/Oil temp that you didn't pick in multi gauge option.