[chet90si]

Well I want to put no more then three Autometer guages in my "mainly Autocross, but occasionaly street-driven" car. I need to know which ones are the most important.

I've already decided on an Oil Pressure guage (thats the most important IMO).

Then for the second slot I was thinking a Fuel Pressure guage... what do you guys think?

Finally, I know that I definately want a Temperature guage. However, I don't know if I should go with a Water Temp. guage, or an Oil Temp. guage. Which one gives a better idea of how warm the engine is? Keep in mind that since this car in an Autocross car it gets driven hard for 2 minutes, and then gets turned off for about 5 min. I need an extremely accurate Temp. guage so I can make sure everything is running okay.

Another thought... Should I ditch the Fuel Pressure guage and get both of the Temp. guages?? Any help would be appreciated!

 

[stick]

Here's how I would rate the top 3 gauges for a daily driven vehicle:

1) Oil Pressure gauge
2) Water Temperature gauge
3) Voltmeter gauge

All three of these help you to monitor the health of your vehicle. I have the Oil Pressure gauge and the Voltmeter gauge. BOTH of these have saved me from being stranded by letting me know there was a problem before my car died on me. The oil pressure gauge also prevented engine damage by letting me know I had a serious abnormal oil pressure drop (resulting from a gushing oil seal). And the water temperature gauge is important because you never want to drive your car if it is overheating.... you can warp the block and all sorts of other nasty stuff.

As far as accuracy, neither of the temperature gauges (oil or water) are going to be 100% accurate. Neither of them will reflect the true engine temperature, because you need to measure the temperature of the liquids outside of the engine (and by then, they will have cooled a little bit). The gauges will give you a more accurate relative measurement. (ie: you drive it for a while and figure out what a normal temperature reading is, and from that, you can have a pretty good idea when you see an abnormal reading). Which one of these gauges should you choose? It's all a matter of personal preference.

 

[ollie]

I guess my question would have to be are you planning on running NA or boosted?
NA-oil pressure,temp,volt
Boosted-EGT,oil pressure,temp
my .02