What gauges do you guys consider necessary for a boosted car? What if you could only pick 3 gauges? Which 3 would be most helpful?

Wideband A/F; Boost/Vacuum; and oil pressure

are u going to be tuning the car based on the gauges?
if not then i'd go oil temp air intake temp and something
else, maybe CH temp

basically once u've tuned ur car the afr's arent needed
and u rarely look at the boost gauge unless u start
cranking it up/down

as for oil pressure i'd rather a warning light instead of
dedicating a whole gauge too it =]

of course that is if i only had 3 ehehh

at the moment i have boost/vac, oil temp, oil pressure, water temp
and i'm adding some more soon =]

Wideband A/F; Boost/Vacuum; and oil pressure
+1

Wideband/Boost/Nitrous Pressure :devillook

on a more serious note... wideband/boost/EGT

Wideband/Boost/Nitrous Pressure :devillook

on a more serious note... wideband/boost/EGT


EGT is one of those things that pros can use to tune and amatuer freak out about. I think it's safe to say that Wideband/Boost(vac)/and oil pressure should be adequate. If you're AFRs are too high (lean) your EGT will be high too, so having both is silly. The delay on the EGT gauge makes it hard to tune solely by, so I rarely use one.

are u going to be tuning the car based on the gauges?
if not then i'd go oil temp air intake temp and something
else, maybe CH temp

basically once u've tuned ur car the afr's arent needed
and u rarely look at the boost gauge unless u start
cranking it up/down

as for oil pressure i'd rather a warning light instead of
dedicating a whole gauge too it =]

of course that is if i only had 3 ehehh

at the moment i have boost/vac, oil temp, oil pressure, water temp
and i'm adding some more soon =]

It's always a good idea to keep an eye on your wideband gauge if you have one. If the AFR changes from what you're used to seeing, you know to start troubleshooting (or back off the throttle!)

A warning light for oil pressure is just fine, the trouble is, the factory light comes on when it's TOO LATE. So run a gauge, and get used to keeping an eye on it, and if you can find one that will trigger a warning light, great.

If you're running a turbo, you probably need a full time boost gauge, just to make sure you're not leaking boost or overboosting, or have the boost controller set on high by mistake. :)

If you're running a supercharger, you can live without a full-time boost gauge (for instance, watching your AFR can tell you if a belt has started slipping). As far as a reading vacuum, if you suspect a vacuum leak, it's simple enough to test using a handheld, without needing a dedicated gauge in the car (and really, it's HARD to test vac lines under the hood with a gauge in the cockpit).

But boost gauges make great bling, and they're like a membership badge into the FI club, so everybody has one. :)

I'm a big fan of oil temp gauges as well. An oil temp gauge shows you when it's time to play. :) All too often, people start romping on the car before the oil is up to temp, just because the water temp (OEM or aftermarket) shows warmed up.

Water temp is handy at times, but the factory water temp gauge usually does the job for most people.

And finally, if you only have room for three gauges, why not double them up? Check out SPA dual LED gauges (http://www.bimmerworld.com/html/spa-digital-dual-readout-gauges.htm).

M Coupes come with stock oil temp gauge. I've added the following dual SPA gauges: boost/egt and water temp/oil pressure.

Neil

i run a whole bunch of gauges in the ute.
oil pressure, oil temp, trans temp, water temp.

the projest is going to get:
oil press/temp, water temp, intercooler water temp, A/F, gearbox temp, fuel pressure, boost/vac.
or i might just get the MoTeC dash.:evil2

but if i had to pick three: oil pressure, fuel pressure, A/F.

oil and fuel pressure are needed, cos if they drop :help
and A/F can let you know soooo much, if your overboosting, who cares unless your leaning out?? bad fuel, A/F change, you just have to know how to read them in conjunction with what the car is doing.