custom gauge set up
 

I'm thinking of making a custom guage set up and wanted to see if anyone has done something similar.

Basically, I want to center a large tach. Have fuel gauge, oil pressure, oil temp, water temp, boost and wb/o2 all in there as well. Using Autometer gauges.

Anyone done soemthing like this and have photos to help out with ideas?

Attachment 197290

I don't know but if you make one make me one too?

I like it! Never seen it done though...

For the money couldn't you just buy a nice digital dash? Its what everyone seems to use in their race cars.

http://www.proformance.com.au/Images...h%20Logger.jpg

http://www.proformance.com.au/Images...h%20Logger.jpg

That seems hard to read :dunno:

Building a dash would cost maybe 400$. How much is a decent digital dash? I would rather have one like that but they seem quite expensive?

like 1k-1200 bucks for that particular one. Megasquirt can also output to a touch screen display, food for thought.

You really think you can get 8 autometer gauges plus whatever custom piece of (presumably fiberglass) for 400 bucks? Not trying to shoot your idea down, i'd gladly pay 400 bucks for that kind of custom dash.

I already have a few of the gauges. All I need is Tach, fuel and oil pressure.

and I have some old carbon fiber sheets here at home.

awesome
http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/pictur...ictureid=29952

i thought about buying a motor cycle race pack for my miata. Has the mech tack and the digital speed readout.

i did it on my nissan s15-240 rb26,i put the tach inside the clove box,boost,oil press,fuel press,wideband,egt guage,shift light and signal light,i was plannin to do it on my 97 miata after i put the turbo kit and mspnp this end of the month.

I recommend the PLX DM-100. Multi readout and alerting all in one. Reduce your gauge spam.

Put the boost and WB side by side if you do it. It might even be easier to use these. http://www.vgauges.com/catalog/index...835ba06ddd7fb3
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its not.

+1 I really like the STACK setup

http://www.off-road.com/dirtsports/d.../MFD_Story.jpg

I have this pic from a while ago, when I was considering the same thing. I don't know who's it is but I like it! See attached pic...https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...9&d=1274887239

Your centered tach idea is great IMHO, i'd do that and run the vehicle speed off my AEM.

Love it and want to see it done! :drool: Get on it already. Whatta ya do'in wasting time on this forum when you could be building the ultimate DIY dash?!?

HAHA im surprised you bring this up, I was working on mine a couple mins ago, the only thing im doing different from you is no fuel gauge and no speedo. Ill post pics later today

im doing something similar too. not sure when im actually going to get to it though

I dont know when you will either but post up pics, I may want to buy it when you part out your car again.

Someone needs to make something!
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I will.

I'm thiking brush alum now. and fuel gauge can go in the glove box to keep it cleaner

Am I the only one that thinks I could have a mocked up piece within an hour or two? Cardboard, HD aluminum, steel, anything. Especially if I had a few gauges lying around already. Stock tach would be perfect, although I don't know how easily it would separate from the gauge cluster.

When I had an idea to take all the electronics on my bike from the side to under the seat, I had a crappy looking one mocked up in a hour or two. Let's see it boyz.

What about something like this?

http://o.imm.io/zb2.jpg
Using VEI dual readout gauges?

Nice, but I really like the center tach idea.
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The easy part is fabbing the gauge panel - two hours with a set of calipers, CAD and a couple test prints and your there on the cheap - have it laser or water jet cut for 20-30 bucks out of aluminum or ABS. You could even buy some pre-ano'd black aluminum off McMaster for extra bling.


The hard part IMO is mucking with your harness now that you've rendered a large portion of it unnecessary.


I really like Stack set up because it would allow one to consolidate all their gauges into the cluster. I've never cared for gauges on the center console. Hell, I'd even squeeze a wideband in the cluster if I had room though I'd put a switch inline so it didn't become a distraction in day to day driving.

-Zach

I'm thinkin I may just have the wideband ran to the MS and no gauge. Don't really need it unless I'm logging.

The main problem here is I can't use CAD. So it would be a "measure 100 times, hole saw once" kinda thing.

Just FYI:
$25 ABS plastic at advanced autosports:
http://advanced-autosports.com/image...ate_dash_L.JPG
buy here

$50 Aluminum at Iron Canyon Motorsports:
http://www.ironcanyonmotorsports.com...el-200x200.jpg
buy here

Just out of curiosity, why would you choose to not have a wideband gauge over anything else? That is one that I really cant live without, its helped me a lot.

After seeing how cheap some of those cluster blanks are it's really not worth it anyhow - especially if a hole saw can do the trick.

-Zach

again, im not parting it out - im going to sell the car as a whole :)

FYI, there's room for 5 2-1/16" gauges across the inside of the gauge cluster, so you won't be able to arrange them like your original photo. You'll want to look into SPA Designs gauges to combine a couple of the gauge, use a smaller tach, and even then you may need to switch to a low oil pressure light and relocate the fuel gauge to the glovebox.

That's not a bad idea. I like the low oil press light. A light is more likely to grab your attention than reading a sweeping gauge.

If I get rid of oil pressure and fuel gauge I think I may be able to fit the rest a long with some LED's for warning lights and "high beam" "e-brake" etc.

Try to find some info on "www.miatagauges.com" clusters. The site seems to be down (maybe they're no longer in business..) but I was looking at them at one point and they were very close to what you're describing, looked pretty nice too.

its 404'd

Me too.

The only guages I bother with are WB02 and boost, with boost plumbed off the vac signal to the FPR. I will have some sort of knock wanring light as well, and thats about it beyond what the factory gave me.


Edit: Heh heh. I was just remembering how I mounted my PLX WB02 gauge in my Laser. I got a vato-zone hose clamp and tightened it around the gauge. I used an oversized one, so I had a awesome strip of metal protruding out. I then cut a small inscision into the gauge cluster bezel, and slipped that strip in there. I worked fucking awesome, plus I could pull it in 5 seconds and hide the gauge. Which is good when you have wierd squirely white guys/gang bangers/illegals/sociopathic frat people all in the same area. The pics were on my hard drive which ate itself.

Widebands are useless from day to day and only good for logging or if you're actually watching it. When was the last time you were going full tilt around a track and literally WATCHING your WB02? Last time I checked I don't even look at boost because I'm too busy driving.

IMO if you have a compitent tuner tune your car there should be no reason to have a wideband. OEM turbocharged cars dont have them so why should I?

2 weeks ago? I spend a lot of time looking at my wideband on track. It's saved my motor at least once, when the fuel pump slipped off the hangar and fuel pressure was limited to 50psi (14:1 in boost, felt normal).

Ok I don't think anyone said they'd be staring at the WB around the track. It's saved me once or twice. Fortunately one time was a wastegate that fell off so it was running 14.7 exactly as I wasn't making any boost (stock ecu with bandaids), but another time was a dying fuel pump. Tuners can't tune that out.

My shit also seems to lean out with time on the track (assuming heat soak, could be dying fuel pump). I would have had no idea this was happening if I didn't have a wideband gauge. The more I think about it, the more i'm pretty sure that is where my detonation damge came from on my pistons.

Another time my IAT sensor plug came loose and when that happens all sorts of shit goes wrong with your fueling. I noticed something was wrong when i noticed my WB02 gauge readings.

A boost gauge isn't as important since MS has boost cut but is really nice to have.

Oil pressure has definitely saved me. I really wish I had oil temp too and that will probably be my next gauge.

Aaron, I dont think your argument about factory boosted cars is quite valid. You're comparing apples to oranges, especially when you consider they have well calibrated knock sensors.

Edit: one more thing is that i've found having closed loop enabled helps a lot with fuel mileage. Also, if you're changing altitude which happens pretty often for me, you NEED closed loop enabled or shit WILL break. 4-5000 feet seems to make my AFRs about 1 full point leaner. No way I would have known that without my wideband gauge.

I can see that point...

An interesting case for wideband gauges:

Due to where I have my LC-1 in the cockpit, the wires run near the shifter. One time after pulling a bunch of shit apart on my car, one of the crimps came loose. When I was driving, the gauge would start reading very lean under certain conditions, most notably when I was in third, and 5th gear. Pushing the shift lever up would sever my wideband connection to the megasquirt but not the gauge. Looking at datalogs, the wideband input would drop to 7.4:1 afr every time I shifted into 5th, so the car would pull fuel when I was cruising.

I would have been cruising at 18-19:1 for quite a while if I didn't have a guage to alert me to the problem. Also, I use much better crimpers now :D.

Very good. We would all like to think we're infallible, but shit does happen no matter how solid you think your setup is. By the way, this is why I only use (or try to use) un-insulated crimp connectors, solder after the crimp and shrink tube the connections. As solid as if there wasn't a join there at all.

Another point i'd like to bring up for Aaron is that you shouldn't forget that you tuned your setup with a leak between the manifold and turbine flange. This leak isn't just hurting your spool by letting exhaust out, air is getting in and that ruins wideband readings. I've been battling exhaust leaks a lot this past 6 months and having a wideband gauge has helped me correct them because even a small leak shows a big difference on the gauge.

About once per shift personally. I sweep the boost guage, the WB02, then the tach, shift, and repeat in 2nd-4th when drag racing.

OEM cars also run crappy intercoolers, IHI turbos that fail at stock power levels, time-bomb diffs, ECUS that cant really do jack to richen the mix below 4K, etc. That was just off the top of my head. But I do see your point there to an extent. The engineers for OEMs do usually have a great handle on making a car last on the street at stock power levels. Beyond that some extra info is very good though.

There is no way I would be able to look at 3 gauges before I hit the rev limiter rowing through gears... lol

I'm getting the leak fixed and putting a new head on. Along with the cat coming out and proper boost control, I hope the re-tune can net at least 225wtq at 14PSI especially with that new head.

You'll hit 225 no problem. People have done much better than that with the greddy turbo.

My plan is to build a bottom end up, throw that FM head on it, get the 19t wheel and run it up to 20+PSI on water. Can anyone say 300whp? :D

Ya, but I want it to last this season without causing me any issues. Keep it "reliable"... so to speak.

Wanna assemble my bottom end for me?

Any legal issues w/ removing odometer?

I don't see why not. We don't have rules in Canada. It's a free for all....


That being said... I'll most likely keep the ODO hidden in the back somwhere ticking away just for my own records of what the car is at. Don't plan to sell it anytime soon.

The legal issues would only matter if the car was a street car, or you were trying to sell the car and didn't say that the odometer was off.

Sure! I still have plenty of plastigauge from my build too (not that its terribly expensive or anything). Are you having your cat removed locally or shall I help you with that, too?

I'm going to get my block bored out to my new pistons. Going to run the cat power rods Jeff has. What else do I need other than main studs? I can always leave it with you and you can order the bearings you will need and just let me know when it's done. I'm thinking of going with the boundary oil pump gears as well.

So you're just doing a bore and hone? Are you going to have the crank ground and/or balanced or anything like that?

I'll just need your:
Pistons
Rings
Rods
Crank
Main Studs
OPGs and an oil pump if you decide to go that route. You can probably handle the OPGs yourself though if you wanted.

I can figure out the bearings and order oversized if necessary. If you're not getting any crank work done then it probably wont be though. I didn't have to for mine.

I love engine building. Probably my favorite thing to do.

DO get boundary oil gears.

Give a lot of thought to main studs. I've never heard of anyone overpowering stock bolts, and once you go with studs, you really need to align bore the caps.

I remember having this discussion with you at Jason's house. While I agree with you that studs may be overkill, i've never heard of anyone having to bore the caps but I've never used them personally.

To be honest, I've never used them personally for this very reason. I was going to on my last DSM, but I was talked out of it by my machine shop since I had already bought bearings and whatnot.

It seems to be a 50/50 split. I agree with you that it doesn't necessarily make sense 100%, but if it is absolutely overkill, and 50% of engine builders say that a bearing failure could end up being the result, those aren't good enough odds for me.

If I had unlimited cash flow, I'd do it anyway since I've never seen definitive results, just opinions.

Good logic. I'm going to continue to skip out on them in my builds til I hear of someone failing the stock bolts.