Just wondering what gauge(s) are the most important for a high compression all motor build, i dont want more then two so i wanna choose the best two (planning on running around 13:1). Oil temp? water temp? Oil pressure? etc?? lets hear some theories.

 

Bare minimum, oil pressure.

Ideally, oil pressure, oil temp (especially if you plan on auto-x or road course), wideband AFR, coolant temp (only if you don't like the OE 'dummy' gauge).

 

kinda what i was thinking especially about the dummy gauge...

any one else?

 

Tach and oil pressure, after that coolant and opil temps and that's about all you need.

 

oil pressure.

 

oil pressure
coolant temp/coolant pressure

 

Wideband A/F, oil pressure.

 

If we are forced to choose just 2 then I would go coolant temp and oil pressure (and figure that you are using your stock tach). Wideband would be my third choice.

MB

 

RPM gauge is a must!

 

Wideband A/F and Tunerview

 

oil pressure and wide band a/f......

 

RPM
oil pressure
afr
coolant

 

wideband is completely useless IMO.
first of all, its only a tool used to Tune with, once the car is tuned, its not going to make any difference in how the car runs.
Second, if you see an A/F ratio you don't like, what are you gonna do, its not like its an easy fix such as topping up some magical fluid. Your A/F ratio is dependant on your tune and the proper function of the combined engine sensors and systems, if you need to correct it, you tune the ecu, which brings us back to point one.

 

^^ your right but if you know what you are doing and have a laptop with the software you are using you can change your tune whenever you want.

 

Sorry but you could not be more wrong on this matter.

A/F sensor is the most important sensor/gauge in any kind of car.

If you are on the drag strip and your A/F shoots up to 16.54~ then you can prevent your motor from blowing by...........letting off.

All it takes on an all motor car is a few pings and your sleeves could crack from being too lean.

You never know when a map sensor wire or any other wire related to a sensor could come loose on a hard launch and therefore throw off your A/F because the ECU thinks you need less fuel....etc. etc...

Anyways enough of my rant....A/F gauge should be in every car for insurance and to ensure the longevity of your motor.

 

I agree on getting a wideband and am surpsrised it wasnt mentioned more. Like BeniRacing said if something goes wrong then you can shut if off before you do damage. On a stock car yes its pretty useless but at 13:1 compression I say its pretty necessary.
Thats like saying you dont need an oil pressure gauge becuase if it drops its not an easy fix so there's no use having it.

 

Um, I would stop and not break the motor - what would you do?

 

oil pressure, oil temp, afr

 

Man, you are so right.
The only gauge I have in my car at present is an AEM wideband, (rebuilt 96 JDM B18C (R) with minor mods and tuning, 184whp). The other day, my AFRs got screwy, so I pulled over and saw my TPS sensor out.
Especially with a modified motor and aftermarket ECU, a lot of things can cause ur AFRs to change without tuning.

I'm going for an oil pressure and coolant temp next.

 

unless u plan to pull ur wideband o2 outand clean it all the time it will start to read wronge bc its covered in carbon, just like ur stock o2 starts to mess up after awhile. and how accurate a wideband is it is crucile to keep it clean

 

This may have been true with very early model Bosch sensors, but not today. Now all the L1H1 and L2H2 NGK/NTK sensors and Bosch LSU 4.2+ Sensors have fresh air calibration built into the sensor body.

That said, they are not a lifetime item. However, when they go bad their failure mode is usually a lack of reading, or fixed reading, and is caused by heat cycling, not carbon buildup.

For more info on how they actually function:
http://wbo2.com/lsu/lsuworks.htm

 

Thanks for that info 92typer.

 

oil pressure
coolant temp.
A/F ratio

 

I see your point but if your wires come loose from a lunch then thats kind of sad IMO. if you keep track of your stuff and do things properly this would never be a problem.
if your A/F ratio jumps to 17:1 your going to hear it and anyone who is serious probably knows what pinging sounds like.

 

I had an incident that having my wideband may have saved my motor. I was on track, about 8 laps into a session, when I noticed my AFR's slowly creeping leaner and leaner. By the time I decided to pull in the hot-pits, I couldn't sustain lower than 17:1. It turned out the locking nut on my B&M FPR backed off and my FPR was slowly loosening, causing a loss of fuel pressure.

If I didn't have my wideband in, I would have never noticed, and there was a good chance I could have severely damaged my motor.

There are thousands of other scenarios where having a wideband is justified.

You can apply your argument to all other gauges:
-You shouldn't need a tachometer because you should be able hear and feel fuel cut.
-You shouldn’t need an oil pressure gauge, because "what are you going to do" if oil pressure drops. It doesn't effect how the engine runs, because can you actually differentiate a motor running at 70psi versus 20psi??
-You shouldn't need a coolant temperature sensor, because "anyone who is serious" will know what an overheating engine looks like.
….The list goes on.

But like you said, if you do things properly, ie: proper cooling system, proper oil system, upkeep on all maintenance items - You will never have a problem. So why use any guages? Using your argument, everyone should just ditch their OEM gauge cluster.

These are all "monitors". They aren't for making on-the-fly changes. They are there to provide information. Information can be used to make judgment calls, including whether a motor is capable of performing, how hard to push (or how hard not to push)... etc