What Gauges with Forced Induction Motors (Supercharged or Turboed)

[chasenichols]

I am planning on putting a blower or turbo kit in my 95 cobra and want to be able to manage everything as well as possible in order to protect my investment. So I need to know what is going on inside.

Here are all the gauges that I think could be of some value and why I think they may be needed.

Water Temp and Oil Temp so I know when the motor is ready to rip.

Boost/Vac, A/F Ratio (via wideband O2 sensor), Fuel Pressure, Oil Pressure, and EGT so I can know if I am outside of any safe operating limits or if something has broken.

Now that is a $#!% load of gauges, 7 in total. 2 gauges (water temp and oil pressure) are in the original cluster but are almost worthless. Even if I used the 5 I think I need that would clutter the hell out of my interior (no offences to those who like the look).

My question is, out of these gauges which ones do I really need? Boost is obvious, A/F is critical for FI an engine, so is fuel pressure, and oil temp is good to know, and EGT would be really nice.

Let me know what you think!

 

[turbogt]

Vac/Boost, Fuel Pressure, Wideband O2...

 

[FlyBy763]

Vac/Boost, Fuel Pressure, Wideband O2...

+1

 

[Guero]

Vac/Boost, Fuel Pressure, Wideband O2. My opinion is that if you dont like the look of the gauges you can do without the fuel presswure as your a/f reading will drop and indicate a lean condiotion due to the lack of fuel or fuel pressure.

 

[turbogt]

Vac/Boost, Fuel Pressure, Wideband O2. My opinion is that if you dont like the look of the gauges you can do without the fuel presswure as your a/f reading will drop and indicate a lean condiotion due to the lack of fuel or fuel pressure.

Great minds think alike.. that was the only thing I was going to add

 

[sage2k]

Gtech EGS pro, all your gauges in one

 

[Tom95gt]

What king of A/F gauges you guys running?

 

[millhouse]

IMHO, once you get your tune down.....you really only need an accurate h20 gauge an maybe an oil pressure gauge. The boost/vac gauge is nice....but it only tells you what you already know. The same with a fuel pressure gauge. If it were me in your shoes....I'd skip most of them and pony up for a wideband with datalogging capabilities.

 

[final5-0]

When you get right down to it ...
A gauge is used for a reference point

True ... You want to be accurate
but
Even if you are a bit off ... You'll see a prob if something is different

I tune my Stang myself and Yes ... I got a WB but it is not displayed cause
I found the digital display box was skewing my results somewhat

Now ... I can see my true a/f ratio in my data logs or realtime with the LT
but
Like was said above ...

My tune is stable and my need to see the ratio is not really needed
so I have no concern about seeing it ... at all times

Also ... I like to keep a real low profile
so
Without all those gauges ...
It looks like any other Stang you see parked in the parking lot

Now as for your boosted application ..........

I'd be wanting to see my fuel pressure & boost at all times :Word:

Seeing fuel pressure rise with boost would give me peace of mind

Grady

 

[fish254]

turbogt what indaglow gauges are thoes in dash??

 

[turbogt]

turbogt what indaglow gauges are thoes in dash??

They are not.. They are factory SVT gauges with White L.E.D. bulbs behind them making them blue.. They were originally green.. I can find a link to the thread on here if you are interested...

Then my other guages are Autometer phantoms with BLUE L.E.D. bulbs.

 

[Black Stampede]

What king of A/F gauges you guys running?

I have the AEM wideband. Since my other gauges are autometer phantoms the white faced aem matches up really well to those.

 

[turbogt]

What king of A/F gauges you guys running?

Innovate LC-1 with the DB-1 gauge... now down to $229. smoking deal..

rated the most accurate wideband.. hooks to my laptop to datalog.. and will be plugged into my PMS

 

[Tom95gt]

Innovate LC-1 with the DB-1 gauge... now down to $229. smoking deal..

rated the most accurate wideband.. hooks to my laptop to datalog.. and will be plugged into my PMS

Do you have to weld in a bung for that?

 

[Stanger007]

I don't run any gauges in mine, but if I were to pick one for a f/i car it would be AFR. Second choice would be oil pressure.

My take is that if something is up with the car I will know it and get off it - the rest of things happen to quickly to interpret a gauge and take action... at WOT gauges are the last thing I am trying to pay attention to.

Wes

 

[turbogt]

Do you have to weld in a bung for that?

You'll need to weld in a bung for any wideband...

 

[chasenichols]

Damn! I just posted this Friday and now i'm checking it Monday! You guys must have way too much free time on your hands! JK, thanks for the input.

So to summurize, it sounds like V/B, fuel pressure, and A/F (via wideband O2) is the best three to get.

Apparently no one thinks the EGT is of much importance. I guess there is nothing more to learn than what you could get from a WB O2 as far letting you know if somthing is wrong.

And same for the Oil temp...nice but not nesessary. Any one think differently?

What does everyone think about Oil Pressure? the stock one is pretty much on/off. Will that really cut it?

Water temp sucks too, but i guess we can live with the crap that Ford gave us.

Thanks for the input!

P.S. TurboGT - Your gauges look sick! I did the same fix for my main cluster and HVAC controls. Looks amazing and only cost like 23 bucks! I feel like telling everyone with 94+ they need to do this!

 

[Stanger007]

I tune with EGT on the dyno for vehicles setup for it - EGT is a relative number that is influenced by sensor placement, altitude and a multitude of other things. I think it would be hard to utilize that gauge usefully in vehicle driving.

Factory gauges/dummy lights aren't bad from a "wow something is wrong" point of view but aftermarket is nice when you want to know exactly what is going on.

Wes