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Old Jul 6, 2004 | 09:32 AM
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Question Mechanical or Electrical?

Thinkin about gettin a few gauges for a 3 pod pillar setup. I'd like to get A/F and Fuel Pressure but not sure about the 3rd gauge to get (and I want a 3 gauge pod, not 2). What would be the most beneficial 3rd gauge? And also, should I go with electrical or mechanical in terms of benefit and time/cost to install both?
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Old Jul 6, 2004 | 09:43 AM
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I didn't know either so I put a 2 1/16'' AutoMeter Quartz Clock and love the way it looks. You can also put two A/F ratio meters and something else. That's what I plan on doing now that I put some LTs in.
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Old Jul 6, 2004 | 10:03 AM
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Mechanical fuel would want an isolator line,
not straight through (Mr. Cheap = Mr. Crispy
if Things Go Wrong).

I would put a vac/boost gauge as #3. Just
for amusement mainly, at least it does
something (manifold air pressure).
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Old Jul 6, 2004 | 01:15 PM
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Since you've got a '99 car, I'd go with a water temp gauge, so you have something more useful that the idiot light gauge on the stock cluster. Or an oil temp gauge.
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Old Jul 6, 2004 | 01:24 PM
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Electrical!!!

Don't get fuel pressure, it's really expensive and almost as useless as an A/F ratio gauge. Water temp would be the first one to get, way ahead of any others. You can also get oil pressure, but thats more involved in terms of install. I went with water temp, trans temp, and A/F ratio. The A/F gauge is useful if you know how to use it, but it won't give any hard numbers. The trans temp can be useful on long trips or race days, but it's more for an A4 than an M6. All three wer cake to install.
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Old Jul 7, 2004 | 08:09 AM
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I really like the idea of the quartz clock. Haha, very original, i must say. And it would probably be more useful than the rest of the gauges. However, I had no idea you could put a boost/vac gauge in to monitor the intake. Has anyone else done this? What exactly does it measure (obviously boost/vac), and what exactly does that mean to me?
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Old Aug 4, 2004 | 12:51 AM
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Originally Posted by Ferocity02
Electrical!!!



Don't get fuel pressure, it's really expensive and almost as useless as an A/F ratio gauge. Water temp would be the first one to get, way ahead of any others. You can also get oil pressure, but thats more involved in terms of install. I went with water temp, trans temp, and A/F ratio. The A/F gauge is useful if you know how to use it, but it won't give any hard numbers. The trans temp can be useful on long trips or race days, but it's more for an A4 than an M6. All three wer cake to install.
With the M6 ... is your trans temp gauge mechanical or electrical ?
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Old Aug 4, 2004 | 01:33 AM
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Originally Posted by Fierce-LS1
With the M6 ... is your trans temp gauge mechanical or electrical ?
Electrical. I wouldn't know how to do a mechanical tranny temp gauge...

Electrical gauges cost about the same as mechanical, except for fuel pressure.
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Old Aug 4, 2004 | 01:43 AM
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Originally Posted by Ferocity02
Electrical. I wouldn't know how to do a mechanical tranny temp gauge...

Electrical gauges cost about the same as mechanical, except for fuel pressure.
thanks for the quick reply
Where did you hook up the wires ? I'll order a gauge tomorrow but don't even know what to tap into once i get it
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Old Aug 4, 2004 | 11:51 AM
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The sender wire of course comes from the tranny. I ran it up to the engine bay, through the firewall, and then over to the pillar. For ground, there is this black triangle loking thing under the steering column. I drilled a hole in it and bolted the wires to it. For the power, I just mashed a wire into thr fuse box. It looks tacky but no one sees it... If you need more help just let me know.
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