Ok, when I bought my gauges I got an oil pressure gauge (along w/ boost and EGT), because most people agreed that it was a good thing to have. But why do I have it? The reason I ask is I spent $210 on the GReddy Electric Warning gauge, and began thinking that I could have better spent my money elsewhere.

I was thinking of selling the gauge and using the money for something better (like maybe the GReddy A/F gauge) or atleast selling it and getting a cheaper one.

So what do you guys think? Whats so important about it?

 

no one?

 

Okkkk...

Honda's have high oil psi..
VTEC engines need good oil psi to function properly
Turbos need good, constant oil flow...

A drop in an psi could be a sign of a old/bad oil filter, need for an oil change, a clogged oil passage, failing oil pump... blah blah blah..

It's just a gauge to keep you on top of things!

 

only get an A/F gauge if it has a wideband 02 sensor

 

I second that. I have an a/f guage with the stock o2 sensors and it's not very useful... it's almost always full rich or full lean.

 

Greddy and Tomei are semi wide bands that come with it's own o2 sensor and heater/amplifier. I will be finishing my Greddy install this evening after work. Both gauges react faster than the stock guage and cost a lot less than the short life span wide bands..

 

a/f gauges arn't good for anything but show.

My top three gauges are Fuel pressure, Boost, EGT, and fourth would be Oil pressure, pretty much in that order.

I noticed you didn't mention fuel pressure, I would take that over oil presure if I had to choose between the two. IMO FP is more critical to monitor than oil pressure, although the OP is a close second. Driving a turbo without a FP gauge is a dangerous thing...i still dont have an OP gauge and my turbo install was 40,000 miles ago (although soon EGT and OP gauges will be added).



[Modified by greyzone, 6:10 AM 11/23/2001]

 

I'd have to disagree with the air/fuel gauge being useless. I use it a lot with my setup, I use it for closed loop tuning and idle. Its true if you don't have a standalone and running a FMU setup, its totally useless. For boost tuning i always hit the dyno with a wideband o2.

 

okay, but as far as a true indicator of a/f under full boost that is giving reliable information as to whats happening in real time it dont cut it.

Too many rely on the a/f gauges to accurately give the results of a/f under boost while they're hauling *** and they just arnt that reliable.

I cant tell you how many times i hear, "You been on the dyno?" answered by "Nope, but i got this dope a/f gauge so i'm okay!"


[Modified by greyzone, 6:27 AM 11/23/2001]

 

can the greddy and tomei o2 sensors withstand leaded fuel?

 

uh, but can someone answer my question?

 

didnt drealgsr answer ur question?

 

err...yeah i guess

 

we are getting bit off topic here..

He asked about oil psi gauges and I answered his question!
He asked about Greddy AF meters and I answered his question!
Yes, I have experience with the Greddy AF Meter on Mazda and Nissan turbo cars and it works like a charm. My car is the first Honda/Greddy AF meter install that me and my friends have done and the sensor is still burning-in.

Because I know how to use the info that is gathered I have the following gauges:

Greddy AF meter
Defi Boost
Defi EGT
Defi Fuel psi and a mechanical gauge located on the FPR
Defi oil psi
Defi oil temp
Defi water temp

only the first three gauges are readily visible to the drivers position while the other four are located in the glove box. I only look at the other four after hard datalogging runs or when the car bobbles and stumbles.

Everybody has a setup that they like but EGT, fuel psi and Boost gauges are a must for Turbo cars. While a GOOD AF meter and the rest are just tuning toys.

Have a nice weekend guys and I promise I'll post about the Greddy AF meter after it is setup correctly. Sometimes the sensor takes about 4 or 5 days to burn-in.

 

thanks..... I know we'll all love to hear what you have to say about the GReddy unit. I know its $$$, but to see how it compares to a wideband O2 would be great

 

Do you guys think that an uder the hood Fuel pressure gauge is sufficient? As long as you check it at idle and so forth? And of course under boost at the dyno.

 

I think the importance of a fuel pressure gauge depends on your set-up. If your running an fmu and 100psi of pressure, then its pretty important. If your running stock pressure levels the chance of a fuel leakage are slim.

 

I have a mechanical Fuel PSI gauge under the hood too because I can see the psi increase/decrease as the FPR is adjusted and the gauge was given to me...

 

i think an oil pressure guage is a waste if you already have a factory one,like my Si's idiot light,when oil drop's off completly,light comes on,that's all i need.

 

By the time the factory light comes on you will probably have alreay destroyed your engine! This is one of the reasons why they call it an idiot light!

 

What do you think..the factory light has a 5 minute delay in it or something.

 

If you know factory indicators as well as you think then you would know that factory idiot lights do not come on until something has gone array.... IE: Temp too high, PSI too high.. blah blah blah! It doesn't flash until it hits a preset temp or psi that is usually too far into the red zone! OK?

actually it's about a 3.676 minute delay if you use an Official Honda Idiot light activation timing watch...J/K!!

 

hahahahah...that was funny "Official Honda Idiot light activation timing watch," get yours now for $49.95 on the Honda Idiot light web site at udumbfuku.goodlight.com hahahah



[Modified by greyzone, 11:05 AM 11/25/2001]

 

what about oil temp?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by D-Man &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">&lt;BLOCKQUOTE&gt;quote:&lt;HR&gt;By the time the factory light comes on you will probably have alreay destroyed your engine! This is one of the reasons why they call it an idiot light! &lt;IMG NAME="icon" SRC="http://images.zeroforum.com/smile/emsmile.gif" BORDER="0"&gt; &lt;HR&gt;&lt;/BLOCKQUOTE&gt;

What do you think..the factory light has a 5 minute delay in it or something.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Maybe because the Honda oil pressure light comes on at like 6 PSI. At 8k RPMs you will destroy the motor almost instantly at 6 PSI.

FWIW anything but a real wideband (WTF is a semi wideband, it either is ir isn't) is 100% useless. Anyone that claims to tune with a narrowband AF gauge lightshow has not a clue. And to whoever said something about 'the short life of wideband sensors'.....WTF? I daily drive my wideband and they last forever. **** the Bosch LSU4 sensor lasts 100k+ miles in its OEM application.