Im doing a turbo conversion on my xr2i 16v (1.8 silvertop)
It will mostly be used as a track toy.


The engine is built, and have all of the parts for 300bhp.

What gauges would be a good idea to have in the car?

All i have so far is a wideband AFR gauge.

Im having boost control mapped into the omex with a solenoid.

Still worth having a boost gauge?

Would standard coolant temp gauge on dash be ok to keep?

 

Personally I would be running wideband AFR, boost, oil pressure and oil temp.

That's just me though.

 

I've got AFR, combined oil temp & pressure, fuel pressure and act gauges. Act is a good one to keep an eye on imo

 

Cheers for the replies. Take it act is air charge temp?

 

None, nearly none anyway. You will never look at them on the track.

Oil pressure is nice to glance at occasionally, buy when you see no oil pressure its already too late,

Oil temp - I guess this could be handy, gives you a chance to pit and cool down when temps start to get a little excessive.

AFR gauges are great, but again they are hard to watch like a hawk at 120,

You would be better off with an EGT and AFR if you are going down that route. Another great addition is a light to warn of det, either stand alone like the kmon knock unit or via your ecu assuming you can use a knock sensor with it.

Rob,

 

Thanks for the replies! Well ive already got AFR.

Im going to use a knock sensor with my omex, so assuming its mapped properly, the knock sensor should adjust fuelling accordingly?

Im going to wire up an engine cut out to an oil pressure light i think?

Then also go for oil temp and exhaust temp gauges? Think ive got a spare boost gauge in the garage i could use too..

 

The knock sensor won't adjust fuelling, it will adjust timing. But the two most dangerous side effects of running lean are knock and high EGT.

Most ecu's can have a prog output to enable a warning LED, The warning light can be used to warn about a number of dangerous conditions such as water temp, AFR, EGT, MAT, KNOCK etc.

Having one warning light imo is more noticable than a whole host of gauges, when the light comes on, pit and then look at the gauges to work out whats up.

 

I'd have the gauges in middle of dash but warning lights for the serious ones that will flash up in your face to warn u to stop like the last chap suggested