Gauge Opinions on a NA zx2.

[joshalabama]

My mods are as follows: 99 zx2 MTX, Spec Stage 2 Clutch, MMI CAI, Esslinger 25% UDP, Kamikaze Header, Trubendz 2.5 Borla Exhaust, etc. SCT Xcal2

I am in the process of getting a Gude Head that has cams, ported/polished milled to 10.5:1 etc.

I will have a FRIM soon after that as well. Along with whatever mod I can get my hands on.

So too my point.

I have a, a pillar, gauge pod that holds 2 gauges. I want the best possible for our engines safety and monitoring.

Is Oil Pressure a problem with our cars? Do we have issues with oil pumps going out etc. that I would need a guage to monitor. I know on most cars oil pressure is pretty constant.

If Oil Pressure is fine, then I think I will run a Water Temp Guage and a Oil Temp Guage. I feel those would be the most important.

Opinions?

[joshalabama]

Oil Pressure will obviously rise slightly with load and rpms..but otherwise it is a constant if running correctly.

[droptoutzx2]

no the oil pressure is annoying, i have a digital gauge and it is non stop up and down with my rpms

[joshalabama]

So oil temp and water temp are good though right? I want functional, especially for safety. Narrowbands are pointless, a wideband is semi-pointless on a mildly built na motor..I mean once i'm tuned once on it, it should be fine. Volt Guage is a waste of space. EGT arn't really necessary for my application. Fuel Pressure is def. not needed on my application.

BUT

Water temp would give me an accurate reading on my cooling system.
Oil Temp is vital for engine safety and performance. Knowing that the system is actually warm, and plus Oil can overheat as well.

[droptoutzx2]

water temp and oil pressure are good ones for function, cause if the oil pressure is gone you'll know to turn the car off before your engine locks up, water temp is good also

[olekeg]

trany temp?

[DOUGIESTYLE]

I'm running narrowband A/F and oil pressure when I hook-up my nitrous kit.

[mechtech]

1 Oil temperature, or secondarily, oil pressure.
2 Voltage gauge.
3 Vacuum gauge, but good luck finding one.

[99fordzx2]

Why a vaccuum gauge?



-D

[joshalabama]

If and when I do nitrous I will def. have a wideband. Narrowbands are useless. Pretty lights. I do not want or need a volt guage.

Pretty much i'm decideing here between oil pressure, oil temp, and water temp. I need 2 out of the 3.

[TheEvilZX2]

get a scangauge. you can monitor water temp and SO much MORE.

then get the oil press and temp gauges...scangauge cant monitor those two.

just my 2 cents.....but what do i know, i use sniper...

[joshalabama]

If you are going to bring that sniper crap in this thread you can leave now, I'm not going to argue about it and I don't want this thread turning into that. Leave it in one thread.

I don't really want a scan guage. I'm just trying to figure out which two out of the three would be more useful.

[jdrzx2]

A vacuum gauge can tell you a lot about your car if you know how to read it. I'll send you a link to a very good website about vacuum gauges if I can find it on my old laptops hard drive.

Actually, there you go.

http://www.secondchancegarage.com/public/186.cfm

[99fordzx2]

That was a pretty interesting read. Ive always thought vaccuum and boost gauges were the same.


-D

[mechtech]

Vacuum and boost are the same - kinda.
A dedicated vacuum gauge won't read boost [not needed for NA].
Many boost gauges read vacuum, but the scale is narrow and rather useless.
Monitoring your engine by vacuum readings will show you when something is amiss. Also, driving with attention to the vacuum gauge will result in gas economy increases, no doubt.

[Buster]

I've always wished I had a voltage gauge (lost 3 alts in the ZX2).

Definitely do one of those.

[Beodude123]

You would want reduced vacuum right? Since more vacuum would equal a loss.

[mechtech]

When at full throttle, you should have zero, or maybe a hair of vacuum.
When cruising, you always want the highest vacuum. It vaporizes the fuel better, for one thing. This is more important on a carbureted car.
High vacuum readings are good.
We can also visually check pulsations, for any incipient misfires, cylinder, or valve problems.
We should accelerate with the highest vacuum. If it is zero much of the time when you are just tooling around, you are too heavy on the pedal.

[ZX2guy19]

It's supposed to be between 15-20 psi at idle, right?

[zx2loon]

A vacuum gauge can tell you a lot about your car if you know how to read it. I'll send you a link to a very good website about vacuum gauges if I can find it on my old laptops hard drive.

Actually, there you go.

http://www.secondchancegarage.com/public/186.cfm


Good stuff there.....

[TheEvilZX2]

It's supposed to be between 15-20 psi at idle, right?

vacuum is measured in inches of mercury (inHg)

but i havent installed mine yet so i dunno what to expect it to be at....anyone know?

[jdrzx2]

I forget, IIRC the car sat at 21hg but I could be wrong. Its been quite a while since I had a dedicated vacuum guage in my car.
Posted via Mobile Device

[mechtech]

15-20 is OK at idle.
Stock cars get higher readings at idle. Hot cams will lower the idle reading a lot.
Smoothness tells a lot. Not just the actual reading #.
Many kits have a restrictor in the line to avoid wild pulsations of the needle. Strike a balance if you fool with this.