Necessity of aftermarket gauges

[grayman_TT]

When I purchased the car, one of the previous owners had a shop install some aftermarket gauges. They put in a tach/shift light, boost gauge, water temp gauge and AFR.

Here is a pic:


I have since removed the tach, and pulled the wiring for the water temp gauge. I'm looking at relocating the boost gauge, probably under the radio (similar to the 300 Degree gauge plate).

My question is, would it be worthwhile to keep the AFR gauge? It is slightly modded, so I'm not sure if they installed it for that reason during the tuning process.

Thanks.

[ThisIsSparTTa]

How much do you care about the health of your car?

Boost and AFR are the most important to have visible while being able to keep your eyes on the road. Having them on the A-pillar means you can slightly shift your eyes while still watching the road. AFR isn't always as critical, but if you start leaning out, you need to back off or toast your engine.

Water temp gauge would be a good candidate to move under the radio. It's not as important second to second, but should be monitored.

Seems plausible that if they had all that, they had a pretty serious high power setup. You might want to reconsider moving everything unless you plan on dialing back the boost, or are okay with toasting your engine.

[itsa300zx]

My thoughts on AFR gauge. If it is just running off the stock O2 sensors, the gauge IMO, is useless. The flashing lights are just for show. Now if the gauge/sensor was a wide band, then totally useful.

[ThisIsSparTTa]

Would be pointless if the external AFR was narrowbands, agreed. All it does is alternate between rich/lean. Assuming that anyone that installed an aftermarket AFR would be for wideband.

[grayman_TT]

It is a wideband. Im going to keep the boost gauge, just move it. I may also move the AFR under the radio, keep it out of view to other drivers.

Thanks for the replies.

[grayman_TT]

I have an update to my post.

Replaced the Autometer gauges with some Defi Racer gauges. Also made an aluminum insert to house my gauges in the center console.



The color is ok for the moment, may try later to color match it better.

[DCaff300ZX]

Pretty cool, I like the fasteners you used and the clean look.
Not sure I'm with the black and white gauge face thing though, makes a color for the plate hard to decide on and matching the dullish finish and color of the DIN panel will be sketchy.
Maybe a cf applique or film for the backer? The cf may pop just enough to define the gauges but not be TOO much...

[wisniaPl]

Aem has black gauge face for afr gauge easy swap would look really clean

[evildky]

Aftermarket guages are NOT necessary. A lot of people like to wax poetic about boost and A/F but unless you are strapped to a dyno they are all but useless, even then the dyno typically tracks both. Unless you are tuning the car the a/f and boost should both operate within a safe range. If you have to keep an eye on them to make sure you stay in a safe range your tune is garbage or something is broken. Yes they can be handy tracking down a problem when something fails. The boost gauge is most useful for dialing in a manual boost controler, once it's set, it's set and the gauge becomes useless.

[NolimitZ32]

The way I look at it, A/F, fuel pressure, and boost are a must, I spent a boatload of time and money building my car and want the peace of mind of knowing that the most important info is always in my face and if something goes wrong like my fuel pressure all of a sudden drops for whatever reason that I am not going to blow my engine. To me its a worthwhile precaution.

[ThisIsSparTTa]

I'd ignore this if you are doing anything beyond a straight OEM setup or the most basic mods. Pretty much just...no on all counts.

Aftermarket guages are NOT necessary. A lot of people like to wax poetic about boost and A/F but unless you are strapped to a dyno they are all but useless, even then the dyno typically tracks both. Unless you are tuning the car the a/f and boost should both operate within a safe range. If you have to keep an eye on them to make sure you stay in a safe range your tune is garbage or something is broken. Yes they can be handy tracking down a problem when something fails. The boost gauge is most useful for dialing in a manual boost controler, once it's set, it's set and the gauge becomes useless.