icapture Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 So I was talking to Adrian over at Vildini about getting some wiring done. He told me that the opening for the 3 gauges cluster on my 1975 dash is 2 5/8". I was planning on buying the 52mm Prosport tinted glass gauges, but those are going to be a little small. Luckily Prosport has 60mm gauges, but their selection is limited. Now, as you guys know space inside our interiors is limited and I am looking to retain the stock look as much as possible but at the same time have modern electronics in the car (gauges, turbo timer, boost controller, CD deck) So a question i keep asking myself is "what gauges are necessary to run the motor. Obviously boost is key since i will be playing with boost via my Greddy electro controler. Air/fuel is also key, dont want to be burning seals now, and with boost adjustments i like to know im in the green. Oil pressure is on the list. And lastly I have water temperature. Running a koyo aluminum radiator, but its always good to know how warm your motor is running. Can you guys think of any other gauges that are necessary to run a motor safely? My buddy says that there are like 9 gauges that i NEED. But among those are fuel, and although it would be nice to know my fuel level this car is a weekend warrior and I'll just have to keep an eye on my milage. He also says i need voltage, but i will be running an optima, so lack of power is not really a concern. And if my alternator is shot I will replace it. Here is a picture I got off this site of an Interior I am absolutely in love with. Love the picture, love how leather bimmer seats look in this car, love the steering wheel with the gauge on top. (I was gonna make the steering wheel gauge the boost gauge, but i had to re-orginize with the new information I got from Adrian.) oh and you maybe asking yourself, why not just buy gauges from another company? Well, I really want the tinted glass gauges, and Defi is wayyy too expensive and Prosport is the only other company i found that makes them, and isn't some Chinese eBay company. And although this is kinda cool, Its just way too modern and chopped up - I want to keep as many of the original equipment as possible. And no I do not want to ever race this guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icapture Posted July 8, 2009 Author Share Posted July 8, 2009 43:0 view to post ratio...what what! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mutantZ Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 I just posted a link with some dual gauges, might give you some options to your setup so you dont have some gauge sitting outside the dash. http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=150685 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garvice Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 I personally think your gauges are backwards. You mention you will have a boost Controller. Does that not tell you your boost pressure? Are you worried about it not controlling the boost correctly? I have always thought the boost gauge was a bit useless (I much prefer to have my eyes on the road when my car is boosting hard). A/F gauge. Why do you need this? I see them more as a tuning aid then anything else. If you have EFI tuned properly, I don't see why you would need this for anything other then during the tuning phase, which would mean you could have it temporarily mounted. I personally think Water temp and Oil pressure are a must, would like to have oil temp as well (Had a car drop its water and I had no indication as the water temp gauge was no longer sitting in water and was therefore reading normal, not a Z). I guess Oil pressure could be replaced with a warning light. Personally, I think I could lose fuel gauge (Especially since mine doesn't work at the moment anyway), but would prefer not to. I find voltage handy, as I like to know that my alternator/regulator is doing what it is meant to, but I think it could be replaced with a warning light for low or high voltage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icapture Posted July 8, 2009 Author Share Posted July 8, 2009 I just posted a link with some dual gauges, might give you some options to your setup so you dont have some gauge sitting outside the dash. http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=150685 Those are sick, and I would definitely go that route, but Ive been told that the openings in my 280z dash are 2 5/8" (60mm) - all of those are 52mm and those would be too small IMO. But a good idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pharaohabq Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 (edited) Perhaps you could use those with an 8MM thick ABS tube. Sanded and polished a tube would make a great bezel. though you might have to size one to fit. shouldn't be hard w/ a heat gun. Oh and what B'mer are those seats from, they look pretty nice. Edited July 8, 2009 by Pharaohabq seats Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icapture Posted July 8, 2009 Author Share Posted July 8, 2009 Perhaps you could use those with an 8MM thick ABS tube. Sanded and polished a tube would make a great bezel. though you might have to size one to fit. shouldn't be hard w/ a heat gun. Oh and what B'mer are those seats from, they look pretty nice. I believe they are from late 80's early 90's 3 series bimmers. e30 if I am not mistaken. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evan Purple240zt Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 After daily driving an RB car for a few years now I have finally settled on which gauges are crucial for me. Voltage, Boost, Fuel, water temp. A/F would be nice but is not really needed because when I am out raising hell my laptop is logging it. I would consider buying cyberdyne gauges, and taking them apart to relocate the digit display. I did that with my 240sx gauge and my car displays voltage where idiot lights once were. It is very commonly confused as being OEM by non 240sx owners. You could easily fit two gauges in the spot of one when it came to some of them Evan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icapture Posted July 8, 2009 Author Share Posted July 8, 2009 You mention you will have a boost Controller. Does that not tell you your boost pressure? Are you worried about it not controlling the boost correctly? I have always thought the boost gauge was a bit useless (I much prefer to have my eyes on the road when my car is boosting hard). A/F gauge. Why do you need this? I see them more as a tuning aid then anything else. If you have EFI tuned properly, I don't see why you would need this for anything other then during the tuning phase, which would mean you could have it temporarily mounted. I personally think Water temp and Oil pressure are a must, would like to have oil temp as well (Had a car drop its water and I had no indication as the water temp gauge was no longer sitting in water and was therefore reading normal, not a Z). I guess Oil pressure could be replaced with a warning light. Personally, I think I could lose fuel gauge (Especially since mine doesn't work at the moment anyway), but would prefer not to. I find voltage handy, as I like to know that my alternator/regulator is doing what it is meant to, but I think it could be replaced with a warning light for low or high voltage. Well, you may have a point there with the boost gauge. With a manual boost controller you would probably need a gauge, but your right, i think the electronic one has a controller in it already - i mean, how else would it control boost if it didnt have a reading. As for A/F. I would imagine that if you are playing with boost you would want to make sure your car getting the right mixture of air and fuel. If my motor is running lean I would want to know. Or is that not something that one really has to worry about if all they are doing is playing with the boost controller? I really like the idea of having gauges that have multiple functions, but most companies do not make them. I dont know if its because they are not in high demand, or if its because they make more money by selling us individual gauges. Maybe its a little bit of both. But I think the dual function is cool because it replicates the stock look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icapture Posted July 8, 2009 Author Share Posted July 8, 2009 I would consider buying cyberdyne gauges, and taking them apart to relocate the digit display. I did that with my 240sx gauge and my car displays voltage where idiot lights once were. It is very commonly confused as being OEM by non 240sx owners. You could easily fit two gauges in the spot of one when it came to some of them Evan Thanks evan. But digital gauges are not an option. way too modern for my interior. I'm going for the whole nostalgic JDM feel. Oh, i checked out the Defi link display unit. Holy christ that stuff is expensive. 450 for the display, 160 for the control unit, gotta buy all sensors seperately, and those are around 120-150 each! and then you gotta get all that stuff installed professionally. Yea, if i wanted to spend that kind of cash i'd just buy a Ferrari. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhp123166 Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 I have like 5 extra gauges as well. The one that wasn't mentioned is an extra water temp. sensor. I can now tell when the thermostat cracks open whereas with the stock water temp. gauge I could not... An oil temp. gauge is one that I have also but I don't know why other than I like gauges... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icapture Posted July 8, 2009 Author Share Posted July 8, 2009 I have like 5 extra gauges as well. The one that wasn't mentioned is an extra water temp. sensor. I can now tell when the thermostat cracks open whereas with the stock water temp. gauge I could not... An oil temp. gauge is one that I have also but I don't know why other than I like gauges... Any pictures of your interior that you could show me? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garvice Posted July 9, 2009 Share Posted July 9, 2009 As for A/F. I would imagine that if you are playing with boost you would want to make sure your car getting the right mixture of air and fuel. If my motor is running lean I would want to know. Or is that not something that one really has to worry about if all they are doing is playing with the boost controller? As I see it, you only need the A/F while tuning. Tune for the maximum boost that you are going to run, (This is when you need the A/F reading). Then you can play with your boost controller as much as you like, as long as your car is tuned correctly up to maximum boost. An oil temp. gauge is one that I have also but I don't know why other than I like gauges I guess if you didn't have an oil temp gauge you could still run into the same problem I had when I was relying on only a water temp sensor, lose all your water and you won't know it until it is too late. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evan Purple240zt Posted July 9, 2009 Share Posted July 9, 2009 A/F gauges are great to have if something goes awry and your in the middle of nowhere trying to figure out what is wrong. That said, if you get one.. stick it in the glovebox! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icapture Posted July 9, 2009 Author Share Posted July 9, 2009 A/F gauges are great to have if something goes awry and your in the middle of nowhere trying to figure out what is wrong. That said, if you get one.. stick it in the glovebox! Yea, as I start to think more and more I think my glovebox is gonna be very non functional...well at least in the intended way. I better start thinking about fiberglass enclosures I can make for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhp123166 Posted July 9, 2009 Share Posted July 9, 2009 I also reread your passage and saw you have a water temp. gauge...brain fart on my part. I neglected to mention I have a fuel pressure gauge as well. Enjoy... [ATTACH][/ATTACH] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garvice Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 dhp123166. Do you actually get to see the road when you drive? Man that is a lot of gauges. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pharaohabq Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 Any pictures of your interior that you could show me? here's a multi gauge idea I drew up for another thread: Something like that can be done w/ the high density foam and some elbow grease. you might want to search on Dash Repair for the how to on dash modification. as for a needed gauge, I'd say a real oil pressure gauge, because the stock Oil pressure gauges suck butt for accuracy.. Phar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhp123166 Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 Hey Garvice, Everything is in my peripheral field of vision. I don't have to turn my head to see what is going on. When I first started adding gauges I would mount them in those Autometer gauge mounts in the dash right above the stock gauges. They looked cool but I felt that there was too much head turning going on to be safe. That is the only negative I can see with the setup above. It looks sweet but I would be turning my head way too much, but that is me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garvice Posted July 11, 2009 Share Posted July 11, 2009 Hey Garvice,Everything is in my peripheral field of vision. I don't have to turn my head to see what is going on. Oh fair enough. I only really have time to glance at my oil pressure/water temp gauge every now and again, but as you say, they are in the centre section. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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