QuaTTro Posted January 3, 2019 Report Share Posted January 3, 2019 I'm looking to add gauges to my racecar, and wanted to solicit feedback and recommendations. Specifically: 1. Is there a brand you recommend I buy (or avoid)? 2. Thoughts on Digital vs Analog? 3. Any favorite retailer to buy from? Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technical Advisory Committee mcoppola Posted January 3, 2019 Technical Advisory Committee Report Share Posted January 3, 2019 (edited) We went with a pretty basic setup on our car, and use Jeg's analog gauges. They've proven to be reliable and accurate. Autometer is a top line gauge if you want to spend a little more. If I were to re-do things, I would definitely go for some digital gauges. There's nothing better or easier than just glancing at a gauge and getting an instant reading. Although with our analog gauges, I used a red and green paint pen, and highlighted the bezels accordingly, to show where the needle is in a good or bad area. (Not shown in the pics below.) A complete digital dash would be nice, and by the time you add up the prices of 4-5 separate gauges, the digital dash starts to make sense. Edited January 3, 2019 by mcoppola 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technical Advisory Committee Chris Huggins Posted January 3, 2019 Technical Advisory Committee Report Share Posted January 3, 2019 Its all budget related. I 100% love the dash type gauges with configurable pages and alarms. If you want independent 52mm style gauges, make sure you get some with alarms or flashing or something to alert drivers if there is an issue to be addressed. I have had good luck with ProSport, but don't get the entry level ones, get the "pro" grade ones. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technical Advisory Committee mcoppola Posted January 3, 2019 Technical Advisory Committee Report Share Posted January 3, 2019 ^^^^^ x2 on the warning lights and alarms! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mender Posted January 3, 2019 Report Share Posted January 3, 2019 I use gauges and supplement them with idiot lights. I like to check the gauges to see trends during the race but the lights are there just in case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhr650 Posted January 3, 2019 Report Share Posted January 3, 2019 13 minutes ago, mcoppola said: A complete digital dash would be nice, and by the time you add up the prices of 4-5 separate gauges, the digital dash starts to make sense. This is where I am at, I don’t ever see me installing a standalone gauge in a race car again. The price of digital dashes has come way down and they allow you so much flexibility. Using low cost sensors you can measure pretty much any pressure or temperature that you want. You can setup the main screen with only the minimum to keep from distracting the drivers and put all of the other stuff that you are monitoring on another page, all of those can have an alarm value programmed in and if they alarm they will come straight to the front with a message that hopefully will get the drivers attention... I plan to use a state of the art ECU that has many inputs and outputs to monitor a lot of things in my new car, what’s really nice about this is that I can transfer all of the ECU parameters to the dash with just a 2 wire CAN connection and drastically reduce the clutter in the interior. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technical Advisory Committee mcoppola Posted January 3, 2019 Technical Advisory Committee Report Share Posted January 3, 2019 @mhr650 Wow, your car jut gets nicer and better every time I see a pic of it!!! I like the front tubes running to the strut towers (I suppose.) That's how we did ours too. So many questions.... Is that some type of 90 degree attachment on the brake balance bar cable? (Didn't know they exist, if it is.) Are the 3 braided lines fuel? Brakes, or ???? Your shifter puzzles me - does it pivot at the top on those 2 rod ends? Very clean and well executed build, all around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mender Posted January 3, 2019 Report Share Posted January 3, 2019 http://tiltonracing.com/product/90-degree-coupler-assembly/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bremsen Posted January 3, 2019 Report Share Posted January 3, 2019 I tend to agree with MHR. Once you price out a handful of analog gauges, you're not all that far from a digital dash setup. I haven't researched them in a long time, but I think the AEM logging dash is only like $1200 now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhr650 Posted January 3, 2019 Report Share Posted January 3, 2019 (edited) 35 minutes ago, mcoppola said: @mhr650 Wow, your car jut gets nicer and better every time I see a pic of it!!! I like the front tubes running to the strut towers (I suppose.) That's how we did ours too. So many questions.... Is that some type of 90 degree attachment on the brake balance bar cable? (Didn't know they exist, if it is.) Are the 3 braided lines fuel? Brakes, or ???? Your shifter puzzles me - does it pivot at the top on those 2 rod ends? Very clean and well executed build, all around. Not my car just a random picture I found on the net that does a good job of showing where I am going. I have no idea about all of the braided hoses in this car, seems excessive. My car has the regulator mounted right to the outlet of the pump with a 6 inch return line and only a single -6 line running forward. New car will have PWM controlled fuel pressure and again only a single fuel line. I am not familiar with that shifter but it seems like that top shaft would pivot in those rod ends. That would make it an H pattern shifter and ChampCar legal since you are not changing the concept of the shifting just making the throw shorter. Edited January 3, 2019 by mhr650 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zero Cool Posted January 3, 2019 Report Share Posted January 3, 2019 i've been looking into using a tablet with a program that uses the OBD port and can show real time data from the ecu. the Nexus 7 can be configured to turn on and off by adding or taking away power to the power plug. the tables are only 7" but can be picked up used for around $50. i currently have an OBD scanner app on my phone that can do close to what i am looking at doing. so i know it can be easily done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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