monitoring petrol

[scubasteve]

Gday guys
I just got a 89 tb42 carby maverick and want to know what I should be monitoring on it. Im used to a diesel where egt is important but im pretty new with petrols. At the moment it has a water temp gauge on the radiator hose after the engine before it goes back thru the radiator (havent seen it go past 85 yet). What are the main things to monitor/get gauges for on a petrol?
Cheers
Steve

[Parksy]

Like the diesel the petrol motor is pretty rugged. If the valve train is noisy you may need to set the tappet clearances. The heads are alloy and tend to crack. Petrol motors run a 82 degree c thermostat so 85 is a good temp.
Sometimes you may get coolant leaking on the drivers side of the engine. There's either a oil cooler or just a plate fitted instead and over the years the sealant degrades and it starts to leak. This is an easy fix. No gasket, just silicon.
Don't know much about the carby setup on this engine, hopefully someone has some valuable points about it.

[threedogs]

I would be fitting an oil pressure gauge along with your water temp to monitor motor
and maybe a small volt gauge to keep an eye on whats the alternator is doing.
I wouldn't be relying on red lights to tell me something is wrong,
drive to your gauges I say
You could monitor dual batteries but not sure how many ppl actually do

[Ben-e-boy]

a good vacuum gauge is IMO just as important for petrols as a pyro is for diesels.

it can also be used as a diagnostic tool

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