Aftermarket gauges advice needed

[Richo460]

Hi all. I am about to buy a turbo and do all the installation myself on my 88 GQ TD42. My engine has over 400 000k's on it so i really want to keep a close eye on all the temps and pressures. I have been looking at guages on evilbay to see what around and have found huge differences in price. I am after EGT, boost, oil pressure, water temp and a tacho. My rig doesn't have a tacho for some reason.

I have seen a cheap LCD one that monitors 5 things all one the same screen that would be nice and compact compared to having 5 x 2" guages mounted somewhere. I know you usually get what you pay for but then there are alot of times you pay for alot more that you get. Seems eveything is made cheaply and imported with large markups so i'm not sure how to go.

Can anyone recommend any guages or tell me which ones they are using?
Cheers

[97_gq_lwb]

I am using auber instruments egt gauge http://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5_26&products_id=231

[nissannewby]

VDO mate. I have 4 in my GQ (boost,pyro,oil pressure,water temp) And will have 3 in the GU once the pillar pod turns up (boost,pyro,water temp) They arent to badly priced the pyros will always be a little pricey cos of the thermo coupling but the rest are normally arounf the 50-70 mark.

With your tacho are you aware of any transmission swaps that may have been performed on your car? It may have had an auto at one stage as i know some of these didnt have a tacho

[Richo460]

Not aware of any swaps with the engine, i just thought it was because its the first GQ (1988) and it looks like the povo pack. I am half tempted to put a custom dash in it with all aftermarket gauges but the speedo is the one thing that stops me. The Auber instuments looks good as it will work with nearly any sensor as long as you program it. Does the GQ workshop manual have specs on the voltage range for its standard sensors?

Also another thought i had. Some of the egt gauges (like th Auber) have an alarm when it reaches a setpoint. So i could set it up when the egt temp hits 700 that it could activate a water spray onto the intercooler. Now i am yet to fit any of this but then i got to thinking about how to set up a spray system. I guess adding another washer bottle setup but does anyone know where to get water atomisers from the work with lower pressures?

[nissannewby]

Could set up a water meth injection to spray when you alarm is ativated.

[Richo460]

that injects straight into the intake right? I was just thinking about sprays onto the intercooler, not inot it, but that sounds like a heaps better idea. Might need a better control system than what iwas thinking though. Does water and methanol help diesel and petrol engines? I'm not real familiar with it.

[ozzymalone]

There might be something in this Richo....I used to do hillclimb races and a couple of the fellas with big 8's were running mist bars directly onto there intercoolers...something like this
http://www.airpowersystems.com/wrx/my01/water_spray/water_spray.htm

[nissannewby]

that injects straight into the intake right? I was just thinking about sprays onto the intercooler, not inot it, but that sounds like a heaps better idea. Might need a better control system than what iwas thinking though. Does water and methanol help diesel and petrol engines? I'm not real familiar with it.

Yeah can be used on diesels and can be used to the affect of what you are trying to achieve there are a few patrols running water/meth and i dont think its overly expensive to setup.

[Richo460]

Yeah either spray onto the intercooler or water and methanol into the intake will cool the air charge and shuld bring down EGT. I live in a hot climate so it will benifit me alot i think. The good thing about water sprays direct onto the intercooler is that i can't really stuff it up. As for water/methanol injection i wouldn't know where to start, i guess there is alot of info on the net somewhere. If these breakdows at work would go away i could have more of a look.