Aux gauges - What's most useful? (1 Viewer)

[Feldrian]

With the twin stick install completed by @torfab it's time to decide what gauges I install in the DVS console. Planning to run Autometer Ultra-Lite gauges, which give great visibility and have been durable in previous builds.

I have 3 holes to fill -

One will definitely be transmission temp. The other two I have no idea and need some ideas. There will be a Blue Sea voltmeter in one of the cigarette lighter rounds, so no need for that to be duplicated. Anything else is game. I've considered the following, but not sure how much use any of them will be:

• Engine oil temp - Useful for the "don't beat on it until it reaches 180" factor ... but it's a 1FZ so I'm not sure it matters as much as a modern aluminum block.
• Air pressure in locker manifold - Do we care? It's working or it's not. Having a gauge will just let me know 2 min earlier that I have lockers that won't engage.
• Engine oil pressure - The dash seems fine. Again, you either have pressure or you don't. Not sure how fine of a read out I need.
• Black Box oil temp - I guess it might be helpful to know when to turn the cooler on, but I tend to automatically do that if I drive at speed of any length of time.
• Power Steering fluid temp - It gets hot. It has a cooler. Haven't had a problem so far, but might be nice to know?
• EGT - Might be useful if I ever turbo, but I can always swap that in later. Definitely not useful at the moment.
• uhhh ...

Pic of the Setup in the Unicorn. All have been useful, but it's an entirely different build and use case. That one needs a fuel temp gauge too

I'm waiting in breathless anticipation of all of your great advice. And no, Autometer doesn't make a "dollars invested" or "dollars per mile" gauge. That might get me divorced.

 

[LongDuck]

Calibrated coolant temp sensor? Once you've overheated, you start to pay closer attention to your radiator.

Given any thought to putting these in L->R priority order? I'm thinking of panel-scan tendencies from a piloting perspective; i.e., putting the most important gauges right in front of your eyes, or in the most visible location your eyes tend to look. Partly why HUDs are so popular on new cars.

Can you tell me a little about the dual-handle trans case levers? For some reason, my brain equates those as prop pitch and manifold levers!

 

[Feldrian]

Calibrated coolant temp sensor? Once you've overheated, you start to pay closer attention to your radiator.

Given any thought to putting these in L->R priority order? I'm thinking of panel-scan tendencies from a piloting perspective; i.e., putting the most important gauges right in front of your eyes, or in the most visible location your eyes tend to look. Partly why HUDs are so popular on new cars.

Can you tell me a little about the dual-handle trans case levers? For some reason, my brain equates those as prop pitch and manifold levers!

Interesting thought - In my first set up I think I did that naturally, though I'm not sure it makes a lot of difference. given the distance to the gauges if you glance in that direction you'll see all three.

There's a diode mod for the temp gauge in the instrument cluster that makes it hyper accurate. Good thought though. Seems like data on chronic problems is more useful than acute ones, since there's rarely anything you can do about an acute one with 10 seconds of notice.

The truck has a NFW black box in front of the transfer case, so effectively it's twin cased. One shifter for each t-case.

 

[PIP]

Ambient temperature is a useful one if you are located where it freezes.

 

[LongDuck]

As for the factory Coolant Temp gauge, you're referring to the RavenTai mod, but it's still not calibrated to any degree of accuracy, as the gauge face doesn't have temps on it - the mod just frees up the dead zone of the needle to move.

A gauge that's tested to give accurate coolant temp readings would be top on my list, and would provide useful, actionable information. Once the temps start to climb out of the comfort zone, rev the engine higher, turn on cabin heat to full, and then watch for effect.

 

[daytonadogie]

I wouldn’t worry about oil temp unless you are running boost.

 

[jjdeneen918]

On mine I have boost, AFR, water temp, oil temp, oil pressure, EGT, IA temps, open/closed loop.

 

[Somebodyelse5]

Transmission temp is really the only thing I'd be looking for. Most everything else is available on a scan guage and I would struggle to justify all the extra electrical and sensor mounting. I would likely end up using those other slots for a dual battery monitor or a multi-display deal like this, if you don't want a scanguage:

OBD OBD2 OBDII Touch Screen Multi Gauge | Auto OnBoard Diagnostic Scan

Read your car's OBD2 data and more with the world's most versatile car gauge. PLX's newly added touch display makes it even easier to toggle between data.

www.plxdevices.com

Calibrated coolant temp sensor? Once you've overheated, you start to pay closer attention to your radiator.

Given any thought to putting these in L->R priority order? I'm thinking of panel-scan tendencies from a piloting perspective; i.e., putting the most important gauges right in front of your eyes, or in the most visible location your eyes tend to look. Partly why HUDs are so popular on new cars.

Can you tell me a little about the dual-handle trans case levers? For some reason, my brain equates those as prop pitch and manifold levers!

The diesel guys running A Pillar gauges like to orient the NO-NO point as either horizontal needle, or vertical needle... knowing the number doesn't matter so much as not turning your block into playdoe ... easier to see that way.

Is the computer output not calibrated enough for temp? My scanguage pulls that data and shows me.