I am ordering some gauges from perrin and am getting for sure an oil temp gauge, but am wondering if i should pair it up with a boost gauge or an oil pressure gauge...anyone have input on which to go with? thanks.
What mods and what are you using the car for? Oil temp is nice for a DD so you know when you're at operating temp. egt/boost/oil pressure are nice for a modded car. Some data is nice to have digitally. Other data is nice to have analog. Some data is nice to have on the fly. Other data is nice to have at specific times. It all depends on what you want to monitor and under what conditions.
right on. thanks for the reply. i am not planning on doing a whole lot to the engine as far as modding goes, i just want to know she is operating properly, especially in these cold months ahead!
Boost, egt and water temp Boost, pretty obvious. egt is the most important gauge there is and if you are doing any kind of tuning it is even more important. There is such a thing as NOT enough timing, and you will never know it unless you are tuning on a dyno or have a egt. Water temp. Install a real water temp gauge and it will be obvious why that is important. And if you want a oil temp to see when the car is warm, the water temp will take that 2-3 more steps. When I was running a water temp on my bugeye wrx, the factory gauge was reading normal at 140 and also at 230 on my real water temp gauge.:eek3: Russ
I'll agree that factory water temp gauges are completely worthless. Mine was reading slightly above normal when I was at 230. Not acceptable. I'm adding an oil temp gague to the mix while my car is down. I'll be running an oil cooled turbo, so a proper gauge will be nice. I'll also use that signal so switch the fan on an oil cooler. With an oil pressure gauge, you can tell when your oil is up to temp by your given oil pressure for a specific rpm. A warm engine typically doesn't make 80 psi at 1500 rpm.
hmmmm, good insight guys, but its only making my decision harder! so if i am looking to keep the car's engine essentially stock, which would be the two most important gauges to go for to keep it running properly?
If considering an EGT gauge for any kind of tuning purpose, I recommend purchasing a setup that couples EGT with boost, RPM, and a wideband O2. Watching multiple gagues while doing pulls isn't practical.