What gauges can you put in a car

Rather than spinning freely, the armature in a stepper motor moves through discrete steps, allowing for precise needle movements. Which is best?

They both work well enough, with needle-sweep being the primary difference. Needles on conventional electric gauges move side to side through 90 degrees, while the needles on mechanical gauges sweep through degrees. The length of the scale and associated needle movement is the main way you can pick conventional electric and mechanical gauges when looking at their faces.

This is a typical mechanical temperature gauge. The probe and capillary line come fixed to the gauge, with the only electrical connection being for illumination. Matching the correct sender to an electric gauge is essential. A moving coil mechanism from an electric gauge - current entering a coil creates an electromagnet, which interacts with a permanent magnet, making the needle move. Adequate engine oil pressure must be maintained to avoid destructive metal-to-metal contact.

The excellent thing about modern aftermarket speedometers is that they can be accurately calibrated to suit any wheel, tyre, gearbox or diff gearing combination that you want your car to run. Not all gauges are meant for the driver. The fuel pressure gauge on this race engine has been mounted directly to the fuel rail and is used to monitor fuel pressure on start-up. You know you want one. A big one. Over-revving an engine is bad but if you truly need a big tacho, you probably have a rev-limiter anyway.

Tachometers have always been pretty smart instruments but new models are available that do more than ever before. Older bi-metal coil meters rely on heating coils of wire wrapped around bi-metallic strips which distort and mechanically push the needle.

They have a sweep of 90 degrees. A vacuum gauge can provide penetrating insights about operating conditions in your engine, including the general state of things like valves, valve springs, manifold leaks, detonation, head gasket leaks, ignition, and carburettor problems.

A vacuum gauge is one of the best gauges you can fit. Newer, twin-coil mechanisms use one coil to drive the needle up the scale and an opposing coil to drive it down. As we mentioned, these are the preferable means for assessing the state of your electrical system. Basically, if the meter reads lower than 11 volts or more than about 16 depending on operating conditions you have charging system problems.

At a glance, fitting multiple electric gauges can seem daunting due to the sheer number of wires. However, things are not as complicated as they look. On each gauge, a couple of wires power and earth will be for illumination. Then there will be an earth connection for the gauge itself, plus one for switched 12V power ignition and one for the sender unit — five wires in total.

Multiple gauges simply mean multiple sets of these five — all the earths can hook together; all the switched 12V inputs can hook together; all the illumination wires can hook together. That just leaves the individual sender wires to be routed out to the appropriate locations. Tachometers and speedometers are a bit more complicated but not that much. This article is an introduction to gauges. All the retailers that advertise in SM have mountains of in-depth tech on their ranges, so give them a call.

Paul Tuzson. Gallery 4. Either way, a Boost Gauge is just as important during regular daily driving as it is during the tuning of your car. Two types of gauges are:.

An analog boost gauge reads how much boost the turbocharger is making via a vacuum hose connected to a boost source, which is then routed to the gauge display. While being a perfectly acceptable means to displaying turbo PSI, it requires the routing of a vacuum hose into the engine bay. This can create issues if the hose develops a leak, and can also be difficult to route without large enough openings in the firewall.

The other type of boost gauge is a digital type, which reads boost pressure through a sending unit attached or near to a boost source. The sending unit then sends a signal to the gauge housing which converts that signal into a digital readout on the gauge face. These are much easier to install, as a wire is much thinner than a vacuum hose, but are sometimes passed up as they take up extra space in the engine bay - something most enthusiasts try and avoid.

Oil Pressure is imperative in a turbo system. Without it, you're going nowhere, and likely spending a ton of cash fixing your broken turbo, seized engine, or in most cases; both! Without oil pressure you have no oil moving through the lubrication system.

To keep it short and sweet: oil is what makes the world go 'round. Just like boost gauges, analog and digital oil pressure gauges work in two very different ways but each provide the same information. We recommend digital oil pressure gauges for a few reasons, the most important being that you don't have to route an oil feed line into the cabin.

Most analog oil pressure gauges come with a cheap, plastic hose. This hose is usually thin, but made from very weak plastic material that can crack, kink, or tear. This will cause incorrect readings or in the worst case, leak hot oil all over the engine bay or in the cabin of the car.

Another category of gauges to consider is one that involves the speed of the vehicle. In short, these are advanced speedometers and tachometers. You already have a factory speedometer in your car, but a stylish aftermarket speedometer can lend a whole new look to your interior. Meanwhile, a tachometer sometimes just called a tach will show you how many revolutions per minute your engine is making.

This can help you keep from over-revving and blowing your motor, which is good for those who like to drive fast. Again, there are several gauges within this subcategory, all of them worth considering:.

Some specifics types to look for include:. Another category to mention is the one encompassing electrical gauges. A few you might consider include:.