Well with the amount of aftermarket gauges on the market I'm wondering which ones do I actually NEED? Oil, Volt, A/F, EGT, Boost, etc... Which gauges do you guys think are important and to what type of car? I mean please make 2-3 list: Gauges for a N/A car, FI car (turbo or SC), mabye one for cars on the bottle? What about a list of gauges for a car that is stock?

 

OK, I'll admit I don't know what gauges you have on you car from the factory, but maybe this will help a little:
oil pres and tach are always good.
FI: Boost and A/F ratio are a must, EGT might be helpful since it indicates incorrect A/F. It's my opinion that intake temp is important too.
Nitrous: A/F and EGT are both good. Not a gauge, but I would suggest that you have a window switch for any amount of nitrous.
Keep in mind none of these gauges do any good if you don't know what they are, what they should read, and how to tell when things are about to go south BEFORE damaging your engine. Figure this stuff out, and you'll have a good idea about what gauges you'll need.

 

IMHO, EGT is universally a good idea. For more hardcore users, multiple EGTs are possible. Shameless plug: The AEM EMS now supports per-cylinder fuel tuning based on up to 4 EGT probes. Yum.

On a FI car, or any car that's going to see heavy track (not drag) use, I additionally recommend a coolant temp, oil temp, and IAT gauge. You could rig all three of these up to a single gauge with a switch. Fuel pressure. Coolant temp warning light would also be handy, especially on say... a finicky DSM with cooling problems.

A/F is a neat toy but unless you use a wideband sensor, its mostly just an in-car christmas tree, as so many Autometer gauges are. Expect to shell out some green for reliable numbers.

Boost is a must for any FI setup. Even if you are SC, it is nice to know what pressures you have, and when. Datalogging is a big plus here.

On an NA vehicle, your discretion really... just bolt ons... don't bother with gauges. As you build the engine up more, add gauges.

 

so what your saying is the auto meter gauge a/f rayio gauge sucks i thought they were good for nitrous set ups and what is a wide o2 why wouldnt the stock o2 work for it.

 

The Autometer A/F unit runs off the OEM narrow-band O2 sensor. Its readings only stabilize under WOT, and it's pretty much only good for notifying you of extremely lean conditions, but it's not really much of a tuning tool. A wideband O2 controller/display unit will not work with your OEM O2 because the OEM unit is narrow-band.

 

On my car currently I have:

coolant temp
system voltage
oil pressure

Eventually I will add an oil temp guage, and a string of EGT's

Again, all these are nice if they're going to be useful, otherwise they just take up room inside the car.

In most cases, intake temperature is a nice to know thing, but doesn't really influence your tuning unless you're drag racing and need ever 1/10th of power.

A/F guages are pointless in my opinion, wide band O2 sensors are better hooked to a datalogger or datalogging aftermarket ECM.

 

if you have a Fuel Pressure Regulator the A/F ratio gauge is VERY helpful just to let you guys know, that think its stupid.

 

An FPR alone and an A/F ratio gauge aren't exactly the best tuning tools. For one thing, an FPR can only richen or lean out THE ENTIRE fuel map, and an Autometer-style A/F ratio gauge is only going to give stable readings at WOT. If all you want to tune is your static fuel pressure at WOT, then I guess they're useful.