Gauge Setup; What would you monitor? Need Input

[DrJosh]

I'm going to get a vent setup since it is 20% off, but the problem is figuring out what to monitor?

It is a N/A M20B25 that does see some track time but is primarily my DD.I have oil pressure, oil temperature and voltage in mind… but what do you suggest for the 4th reading?

You can see the option I can pick from here: http://www.podi.ca/ExtraVentDualDual...=15&GroupId=11




All input is appreciated!

Thanks,
Josh

[nando]

AFR but a narrowband would be useless. perhaps MAP?

[Farbin Kaiber]

DHtV?




(Dead hooker trunk volume)

[SA E30]

Water Temp.

[semaj4712]

I was looking at this last night...since I already have a voltmeter...I figured a wideband AFR was a must need, oil temp and pressure, are also needs...but if you dont have a voltmeter add that too, I think my last one was either water temp or intake temp

[ak-]

Ditch the volts and get the AFR and Water.

[evandael]

coolant temp, oil temp, oil pressure, and AFR.

[e30nub]

coolant temp, oil temp, oil pressure, and AFR.

This is what I would do

[jlevie]

Coolant temperature, cooling system pressure, oil temperature, and voltage. NA M20 engines don't have oil temperature problems, so there is really no need to monitor oil temperature. Monitoring cooling system pressure will let you know if a leak has developed or a hose has blown out and will alert you to an impending failure before the temperature will react. In a like manner, monitoring system voltage will let you know if the fan/alternator belt lets go way before the engine overheats from a lack of coolant flow.

Data from a wide band sensor can be handy if you can log it, gear, and engine rpm. Looking at the data during a full throttle pull through fourth gear is almost as good as data off a dyno.

[DrJosh]

There are a lot of good recommendations here guys. Thanks for the input. I had been bouncing back and forth between water temp, AFR, and fuel pressure. But Jlevie brings up a couple really good points. There are just so many options.

[Kershaw]

jlevie's suggestions are on the practical side of things, as always. they are good.

but personally, i like to watch my AFRs bounce around in my rx8. that's always cool to see.

[mrcheezle19]

diff temp

[nando]

stock coolant gauge already tells you temp accurately enough if you make sure it's working properly (really not that hard). no use having redundant gauges, especially if it's a street car.

either AFR or MAP gets my vote. oil temp really just tells you when it's OK to romp on it, maybe not important on a race car, but again, a street car is different. of course, you can also use a pressure gauge to guestimate oil temp too, because your pressure at idle will drop significantly as the oil heats up.

[mikeedler]

motor oil pressure
motor oil temp
dif oil temp
wideband 02

[Cyrix2k]

That's a pretty sick looking gauge setup. For you, I'd do oil temp, oil pressure, water temp, and intake air temp. The battery light works fine for voltage imo.