Aardwolf

I just added a trans temp gauge, and was thinking of adding either an oil pressure gauge or??? The stock dash has oil pressure but it uses the same location as the oil temp, you have to flip a switch to change it to oil temp. I can have the dash display oil temp and water temp and add a seperate oil pressure. I am stuck wondering what gauage if any would be the most helpful. What gauges do you use the most on the track?

joemoia

water temp gauge in the dash, oil temp displayed on the DIC

DREGSZ

I would say Oil pressure is the single most important gauge followed by water temp and oil temp. No need for a speedo, a tach is ok but not essential if you have a rev limiting pill in the MSD

wtknght1

I like the battery voltage gauge personally.

Bill Dearborn

On my 86 I always displayed Oil Temp. My biggest problem was oil temp (always around 290 deg) and I tended to keep an eye on it and manage it. I believe the oil temp warning light came on at 300 deg so I tried to keep it as low as I could.

Bill

ghoffman

I think they are all worthless or all valuable depending on if they are in or out of an acceptable range. On my GT car I am installing an AIM system, and all I want to see is the shift lights and anything that is out of range or starting to go out of range. I can program the display to show the oil pressure when it hits say, 20 or 100 PSI, but I won't ever see it "live" (it is all recorded for later review) until it hits a value that I specify, either high or low. The same goes for fuel pressure, oil temp, trans temp etc. Whatever goes out of range, it pops up on the display. If all is well, all I want to see is the green, yellow and red shift lights, and lap time with a plus or minus as compared to another specified value.

Tintin

In the heat of competition I prefer lights vs gauges. Gauges require interpretation, lights are immediate and obvious. The most important info is oil pressure which I use a red light for followed by oil, water and exhaust temp which can be gauges but make sure that they are fairly large and of different shape or manufacture to save time when reading them. I use a piece of race tape to cover the dial in the area that would be beyond a given limit. When the needle disapears, it is time to pit... When you see the red light, hit the kill button and save some money... You do not need a speedo, who cares, but a tach is a good thing so you can prepare to shift or delay a shift. You delay shifting if you are qualifying and close to the stripe - often it is better to hold or exceed redline rather than take the shift penalty.

DREGSZ

A fuel gauge is a handy item too.

I have plenty of time to read gauges, things don't happen that fast in a race, the faster you go the slower it seems like you are going

KISS

Tintin

There are corners on the tracks I use...

DREGSZ

What are they connected by?

c4cruiser

For track days, I set the display on my 87 to show oil pressure and water temp. When I get to a long straight, I can flip the oil pressure display to oil temp and check it, then switch back.

If you go with something like an A-pillar gauge mount, you can put gauges there for easy eye-level visibility. One old racer trick is to use 270 degree sweep gauges and turn the gauges so that when they read at their particular normal operating values, all of the needles point straight up.

When you look at the gauges and see a needle that is not straight up, then you know right away there is something not right or may need closer monitoring. You don't have to read each individual gauge and interpret the meaning. Stack the gauges by level of importance; oil pressure on top, followed by water temp, then oil temp.

Joe_G

I run a autometer oil temp gauge (goes up to 300 degrees, most only go to 260 which is easy to peg) to monitor my trans temp and diff temp, with a toggle switch to check both on one gauge. My diff temp gets up there, to 240 on highway even, so far my factory 6 speed cooler seems to be doing a fine job but wish I had the Z06 diff cooler.

Aardwolf

Nice ideas and tips, thanks.