I bought a set of Splitfire gauges (never again) a few months ago but the water temp seems to be giving off the correct readings?!

Water temp never goes above 60 (sender in front of head) and takes forever to give off any readings. Oil temp is a bit more normal, although it takes a good 15-20mins before it reads passed 60 (sender in sump) is that normal?

Just dont think I can really on them for track use! I dont want anything fancy, just somthing that does the job!

Any recommendations?
Dan

 

I had exactly the same as you using Tim gauges and thought the gauges were crap (which they probably are) but the low water temp was due to a jammed open thermostat and the oil does genuinely take a long time to warm up. Takes a good half hour of driving for mine to read over 80 deg.

 

In fact mine takes about 15 mins of driving to get to 60 deg and mine is in the sump, replacing the drain plug so recon yours is reading right.

 

Sound like the oil temp is ok then.

But the head has just been completely stripped and rebuilt so i dont think there can be any blockages etc. And its pre-thermostat so that shouldn't have any effect on the readings?

 

I would say the SPA's are one of the best but a bit pricy

 

get what you pay for IMHO

I have the SPA ones and they are excellent

 

I have full Nomad Gauges in the Cossie, they are excellent

Al....

 

Dan,

I use raceteck one's in mine.... seam okay to me

And not bad - for the price either.

 

Dan I use the Aurtometer Phantom gauges.
Had them for years and just bought a few more.
I think they are a great looking gauge


I've got 5 of them now Dan

These two are oil pressure and boost.

Bought these two from SCC the other day.



I'll talk to you tonight if you want to know more about them?

 

Thanks mate.

Not really bothered how they look tbh (apart from the spa's) just want somthing to tell me how hot the water is getting! not much to ask i thought

cya tonight.

 

spa, blitz, greedy, defi ect are all good proven gauges

the steve warner ( SW) gauges are ok and seem fine, same as the nomad ones


personally i would have the SPA ones but thats cause you can get 2 gauges into one so a neater arrangement

DO NOT get a narrow band afr gauge as they aint acurate on turbo cars, even some wide bands are not all that too

 

I have a Racetech one for boost and a SPA one for oil temp and oil pressure

 

autometer quality gauges and such a wide range

 

heres a few pic of mine

spa these are oldish pics






marco

 

Defi's all the way mate...............you get what you pay for!!


All off Rimmer Rainbird!!

 

Do they make 52mm Defi gauges?

Those SPA's look good Marco, but i dont think they suit the S2 interior. Although if they do the job does it really matter what they look like lol.

Got a Carbon Fibre gauge holder as well.

Dan

 

Yeah Dan they do! But my eyesights going with age!

I had Autometers before..........absolute crap IMO.

SPA or Defis all day long.............Defi's for looks though

 

hmmmmm tempting but they are very exspensive. I'll probably get somthing cheap that works for now (nomad or autometer i've been told?!) . Thanks for the help!

 

i've got the spa dual digital ones for oil pres/temp and am saving up for the boost and act ones

you get 4 gauges in the space of 2 and eve though they are about as pricy as you can get, you pays your money etc etc

i've had my sump drilled to take the oil temp and the oil pressure one runs directly from the switch, the only thing i had to do was to make sure i put some of that heat sheilding stuff around the wires to ake sure they don't melt (bad experience with a oil pressure gauge with plastic piping) so you may want to factor that into the budget too if you are spending

 

I have been told by Tony at SPA they are making new anolog Gauges

suppose tobe the bizz ,i'm going to SPA some time this week and i'll get a pic of Tony and upload it on here

Marco

 

Don't get a pic of Tony - just get some pics of the new gauges..........

 

Would be very interested in those marco! Any chance of some rough prices to?

Cheers,
Dan

 

i've tried a lot of gauges and if you are running less then two bar then defi's are the best, expensive and you have to buy the controller but the accurcy of the gauge is unreal and they look the dogs at night and if you have acouple they are class with stepper motors starting up. and if you are running more then two bar apexi gauge is the one to go for contact mike rainbird

 

For something cheap, but accurate, I'd go with Autometer.

For money no object bling factor, it's Defi all the way.

Not really a fan of SPAs on track, as I like the analogue read out - at high speed etc, it's a lot easier to check the position of a needle, than read a figure IMO.

 

I'm with Rich on this

 

SPA!!!
May be pricey however they are the business,very acurate and look the muts nuts!

 

once everything is up to operating temp i'd rather just rely on the warning triggers then look at gauges anyway

 

SPA is the (expensive) way forward

 

 

Have to admit that I only use my plethora of guages as a guide. I tend to use my ears when I'm driving at full chat as I don't like to take my eyes off the road.

Can't say I really looked at them once on track at Bedford

 

but thats where the SPA stuff comes into it's won
it's got lights and stuff to warn you, plus they change colour

 

I'm running Omori - good quality analog guages. Also got a Blitz boost guage - good but the Omoris are certainly worth a close look. They're not fancy like Defi, just a good guage, accurate, long lasting (shout to the dark SPA posse although I've heard they have sorted this) but they are also expensive as they come from Japan.