I am looking into purchasing gauges and I was told greddy, apexi and defi make some of the better gauges out there.

Gauges wise I am thinking about doing this mix, if someone have any tips or problems with this mix please let me know. I am thinking of doing...

A-Pilar

boost
fuel pressure

clock pod

EGT
oil pressure
water temp or A/F:confused:

What do you guys think I should do gauge wise, what do most WRX guys run for gauges?




Jay

All gauges serve a purpose and they all have a level of usefulness. Sometimes their usefulness can change depending on what you do with your car. For example, a person with a stock set-up could use a boost gauge to help fuel economy, driving style (for performance), and as a monitoring device to alert him of potential problems. On the other hand, while a person with a modded car might still use the gauge for the same purpose as the other guy, he will probably use it for tuning purposes as well (i.e. checking/changing boost levels). Some gauges (like oil pressure) have a pretty straight forward use (IMO).........I think of it as a heart monitor for your car and consider it just as important as a water temp gauge. Although monitoring A/F & EGT levels could help alert you to potential issues on a stock set-up, I believe they are more useful to folks that tune/mod. Does any of this make sense? I hope I'm not rambling.

Anyhow, I have a stock set-up and went with Omori gauges (Boost, Oil Pressure, and Volts) in the center pod (I may be getting Oil Temp and relocating my boost gauge to the column). I'm sure others will chime in to help out. This is just my take on the whole "gauge thing".

Regards,
Kean

I'd have to agree with Kean on the general idea of "necessity" of particular gauges.

For driving style feedback, imho, only the boost gauge is useful.

For health monitoring, boost gauge + oil pressure would probably be the minimum setup, and maybe a voltmeter (especially if you like to run a lot of electronic accessories or have upgraded sound system). I'm not sure if you'll see anything significant with the other gauges from the point of view of healh monitoring a stock wrx.

For practicality, I'd say get an analog clock to replace that digital clock; it takes less time to figure out what time it is with a well placed analog clock, as you only need to glance where the needles are. You'd have to read the numbers for a digital clock, imho. In addition, the needles can be more visible than the clock display under certain circumstances.

For eye candy, imho, boost gauge, a/f ratio, and pretty much anything that changes rapidly are nice.


Another thing, which is strictly a subjective matter, is how the gauges you add blend in or stick out. If you want the gauges to blend in with the interior, gauges like omori's "oem look" are nice, because the needles and look match the yellow (my2002-03) and red (2004) needles on the tach/speedo cluster. Since they're not that inexpensive, there's always the DIY route. Get inexpensive gauges and open them up, and paint them to match whatever scheme you please. The more expensive the gauge is, the less likely one would be willing to do such a thing. Here's an example color matching done on inexpensive autogage boost & vdo clock:
http://mechatro2.me.berkeley.edu/~satrya/pics/photos/wrx200307riser/dash20030705.jpg

....here's a pic of my Omori's so you can visualize what Satrya was talking about (regarding the "oem" look of the gauge):

http://home.earthlink.net/~kean1/_uimages/gauges1.jpg

This is an old pic. I actually arranged the gauges differently when the installation was completed (L-R is now boost, oil, volts).

Kean

thanks alot guys for all your help, I appreciate it

satrya that is an awsome setup.

Originally posted by 128d
satrya that is an awsome setup.
Thanks :)

Do you have any other pics of your interior?

Originally posted by 128d
Do you have any other pics of your interior?
PM'ed you