What gauges to get?!
 

Well, I have my MegaSquirt, my injectors are on the way, and I have the money in the bank for the turbo kit... Now I just need some gauges!!

I was originally looking at the Innovate MTX L, but the only boost gauge I can find that really goes with that is their MTX D..

What about the innovate DB gauge? Are there any good boost gauges that match it well? I found some "glowshift" ones and stuff, but not sure how reliable those are? Form follows function here, but I'd like them to look nice and match.

If I go with the MTX L and MTX D I think I'll put them on my a-pillar for LOS on the shift light, but if I'm honest I'd rather find a nice blue digital gauge which matches the innovate DB LC-1 gauge and put them down on the DIN.

I kinda like the Prosport EVO gauge, but they don't *quite* match...

What gauges do you guys have to match your innovate db lc-1?

Defi.... baller status....

You want the wideband to be visual and I found the best spot to be the center vent. Then buy a DIN panel for the console. The separation of the DB from the DIN panel makes matching a mute point in my books. Just match the two or three guages in the DIN panel.

That's a pretty good idea actually.

Ok, so how about the DB LC-1 vs the MTX L ? I really like the look of the MTX L, but not sure if it would be nice to have the LC-1 so if I ever want a different gauge I can just do that?

EDIT: Am I the only one who thinks it's really weird that Innovate has matching gauges for literally EVERYTHING they sell except for the DB which seems to be probably their most talked about product?

Honestly wideband is all you really need extra. If you have an android based phone I would just use one of the android apps to interact with the MS to get the additional gauges that you need. I have had a boost gauge installed since my first turbo kit went in in 2007, honestly it is next to useless. When in boost, I am busy paying attention to other things to notice it.

This sounds dope. I have a bluetooth OBD-II thingy already, will I be able to use that to interact with the MS via my android? I've heard MS breaks OBD-II communication.

To be honest, I'll probably end up getting the gauges anyways just incase.. I know I won't be pulling the other guages up on my phone every time I get in my car, and I'd hate to overboost on my way to work some time and blow my stuff up. but I'd like the capability.

I'm kind of thinking the same thing. MS can have over-boost protection. So far, I am still NA, and all the Vacuum / Boost gauges I have seen, including the one I have, are -30" Hg to "0" to XX PSI. It would make much more sense to me, and be more useful if the gauge were in kPa so that all the MS info would be intuitive on the gauge. As it is, it tells me very little.

Hmm, now what should I put in the other hole in the DIN panel if I remove this gauge? A real working oil pressure?

My other issue is that I went with a G5 AFR (love analog) and there are no gauges that match it. My bad.

The glow shift is the ebay special of jdm parts so that should tell u all u need to know.

As far as the DB gauges, i only have the wideband gauge but i love it. Very bright. I would highly recommend connecting the dimmer switch though as its too bright at night. (blue)

That said having a digital boost/vac gauge would make tunning a shit lot easier.

The OBD-II bluetooth device you have will not work. You can either buy a serial->bluetooth adapter from Phil Tobin (guy who makes TS), or if you have a device with USB OTG and android 4.2+ you can run a usb wire to it. There are more threads in the MS section that have info about doing all that.

With the MS if you turn on overboost protection you don't have to worry about blowing things up. In the order of gauges that I would install in a car would be AFR, digital oil and water temp, and digital oil pressure. I think the only time that I have found a boost gauge to be useful was when I blew off a intercooler coupler and it confirmed that I was no longer building positive pressure.

Right on.

I think I'm going to put the MTX L in the vent, and then the summitracing 2gauge din panel with either a Prosport EVO boost and water temp, or the Innovate G2 analogue boost and water temp gauges.

I lean towards Innovate except that I don't like the vac line going right to the gauge, I'd rather hide a sender under my dash somewhere.. Plus the summit racing DIN has two switch holes that I could turn off the EVO gauges if I felt like it.

EDIT: I've got a buddy with a spare oil pressure sender and gauge from an early NA so I'm covered there.

Glowshift and prosport are basically the same gauges, prosport makes the gauges for glowshift. They're meh, the electronic boost gauges is kind of slow and mine lasted for years in my cavalier then shit the bed after about 20 minutes of getting the shit vibrated out of it in the miata. The fuel pressure gauge sprung a leak from the sending unit, and not from the threads. Voltage gauge works tits though. I wouldnt get a wideband from them or buy gauges from them again. Just get an LC1 or MTX-l and use VDO gauges for the rest. I get my VDO gauges now from egauges, they're rock solid dependable units that arent flashy. My racecar is getting water temp (placed into the stock location), mechanical boost, and oil temp.

Those VDO gauges are really clean. I can't seem to find any images of them at night.. I'm assuming they light up?

Yes, they light up with an incandescent bulb, like autometer gauges.

Hrm... I think I like the innovate analogues more then.. G2 etc. Those VDO are soooo clean tho. :-\

Last silly question for now: do I need to do anything special if I'm going to mount a gauge in the vent ring? Block off the pipe going to that vent or anything? I imagine they're fairly resistant, but will they withstand blasting the heat/ac for extended periods of time ok?

LC-1 + VEI = win

Start here: D1-Series Dual Gauges | Catalog Categories | VEI Systems

Have them build you a D-1 with AFR on the top and Oil Pressure Gauge on the bottom, then stick it in your cluster where your factory OPG used to live. Make sure you tell them you want the "motorcycle mod" for the button so you can remote mount it.

http://www.veisystems.com/products/i..._front-26.png/

EO2K thats looks like a really good deal.I figured they would be much more expensive.


OP as a side note IMO that if you get an LC-1 you might as well get the DB gauge. Its such a small price difference.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1389071290
Wrong. AEM Failsafe. Boost,AFR and datalogging on one gauge. Love this thing.

Yeah this looks pretty awesome, but you still need the LC-1 and the other sender as well, which puts it right up in price with a lot of the other options.

This is also pretty good looking, but it doesn't look quite as nice as the innovate ones in my opinion... gah. too many choices. I think I just need to fricken pick one and go with it--at the end of the day it's just a gauge and I just need it to give me an accurate number.

Yes.

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I think if you see it in person or on video you'll change your mind. It's actually a screen, not just a LCD that can just display numbers. It makes my UEGO look ancient. You can program the OLED colors on the edge of the gauge to show what you want too (ex: Green in vacuum, yellow in boost, red overboost, etc). It can also alarm and pull a ground if your AFR drops too far in a given region or if the boost is too high. It costs a bit more but having everything in one place was worth it to me.