dear jacobcartmill" you're going to miss a gear and punch your radio in the mouth

lol I have an LCD too, just keep your hand on the shifter, or put a big metal grate in front of the LCD so you dont bang into it.

 

lol, ever tryed to hit an average head unit and brake the display? not nearly as easy as braking a big *** LCD. but if it has a guard over it that's much better.

 

this is mine
from left to right
apex egt temp gauge
apex oil pressure gauge
apex fuel pressure gauge
apex oil temp gauge
apex water temp gauge
apex boost gauge

apex rev speed meter behind the steering wheel
EVC profec B between water and oil temp gauges

 

just realised I never posted a photo...

Here you go.

 

Hey guys, I think the "punch you LCD screen right in the mouth" comment was a joke. Calm down.

I have to agree w/ Jim, All those gauges are too much. I'm going with an LS1 conversion.

 

Doesn't matter what kind of motor you have. Looking at infomation is equally important. What's the difference?

Also, I never understood the point of having gauges in the pass side dash. Perhaps in a rally where you have a passenger it would make sense, or some lesser important gauges such as oil temp or egt with a noticable warning light. If you're racing, you're hardly going to have time to look over there and figure out what you're looking at.

 

Yea Railgun I was thinking the same, esp. when it looks like the gauges in the passenger side dash sit flush, so from the driver's angle, it doesn't seem like you could read them w/o bending over to the right...

 

Geez, don't you know? V8s never have fuel pressure issues.

I agree that some cars simply have TOO many gauges. Really, I don't even need a boost gauge. I always look at my Profec-B Spec II which is on my steering column for my boost reading (especially with the "max boost" feature). I would think about switching to a different gauge in the location if I could think of something that I really wanted. If I could get a wideband display that would fit in that hole, I would probably do that. Can you use a narrow band gauge with a wideband sniffer and get a true reading?

For those of you that have an EGT gauge, is it really useful? I've read that it is used to determine how lean your mixture is, but is this consistent between cars? I would imagine that you would have to put your car on a dyno with a wideband, check your AFRs and then compare them with your EGT. Then, on the street, you could know approximately how lean/rich you're running. Is that correct?

My Microtech display provides water and intake temps but not oil temps. That would be another thing that would be nice to know, but I don't really know what I do with the information once I knew it.

 

Well placement of the sensor does make a difference in your readings. Plus, some guys actually do use it while tuning (they don't use it SOLELY, but they do use it. Steve Kahn's on of 'em). Since he's the guy that's gonna be tuning my car, I asked him where he likes to place the sensor, to help give more standard or uniform readings (for his comparison and thus tuning purposes). He says 6" down the begining of the DP.

 

I can't imagine needing anything more than boost, water temp, intake air temp, oil pressure/temp, and fuel pressure... standard stuff for a high-peformance motor... Boost should be one analog guage, IAT/WT/OP are handled in the PFC commander, and you could get a single SPA dual digital guage for oil temp and fuel pressure if you were so inclined.

 

The point is that the rotarys are so tempermental that you almost HAVE to have a gauge to monitor every function.

Most piston engines are a lot more forgiving.

 

ive got only one gauge, but i like to keep my interior as clean as possible.




or you could try something new that ill soon have in my car too. (with interest of keeping the interior clean)

http://www.turboxs.com/Dtec/dtec.shtml

 

Well from a practical standpoint I would submit the following based on many a discussion I've read and participated in on what is really necessary in the way of gauges. This is what I have: On the steering wheel column a boost gauge - most frequently referenced so it gets front and center. I track my car so temperatures are of utmost importance - oil temperature and water temperature. My oil temp is mounted in a dash top pod - TriPower pod (where the center speaker was), water temp is on the PFC Commander. Also in the dash top gauge pod is a fuel pressure gauge. A drop in fuel pressure during a long sweeping left hander on the track will show up...and I'll know it. Other wise I don't use it much. Apart from these *THREE* gauges I have no others. As for the locations of these closest to line of sight is best and why I did away with pillar mounted gauges. Personally I HATED the location (and too "rice" for my aging tastes and why i removed them)...the dash top gauges are so much easier to locate in a hurry and focus on. What I do have however is a PFC commander and a wideband AFR readout mmounted to the right of the AC controls. Not in the best of locations as they are rather cumbersome units but are in a spot that I can reach when harnessed in. If I need to know anything else (AIT, injector duty cycle, etc) I just scroll through the other readouts on the PFC commander.

 

I think guys just get carried away with how "fragile" the rotary engine is. Their is really no reason to make your cars cockpit look like a fighter jet unless thats the look your going for.

 

work in progress.

 

It is practicality.

You would suggest that I have a bulky laptop running in the passenger seat, or tucked behind the seat with wires everywhere?

I use the computer/monitor system for that primary function; then the other accessories that come with it are just cake. Nothing like a british chick telling me how to get somewhere (always comes in very handy during out of state events), or plopping in Days of Thunder while racing around Heartland Park Topeka.

 

You bet it is, especially if you are running two of them! One in each runner of your turbo manifold.

 

You might have said this already but whats your software and hardware setup...

 

C'mon...you know the rotary won't take any serious problem well lol. Besides, I'm always going for form + function, and I personally like the cockpit look. It really does it for me. Heck, it's better than squinting like crazy trying to read the glared #s off my PFC...

 

Single DIN space holding the guages, as I can't stand them on the a-pillar. For the most part, things should be stable on the car, so they are fine in this location, only needing a quick glance.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-...7/Dscf0087.jpg

 

Exactly. Plus the gauges are a lot easier/quicker to read. With the amount of information that would be required on the commander would take way too long to read and is too small. Plus in reference to the form piece, the Defi gauges are sweet. You know what's where and have a reference point. Just a quick glance and you're done. That's my $.02 anyway. I'm working on a mod for the commander to flip the polarity of the LCD screen and change the color to either blue, orange, red or some tasteful combination. Such as orange/red or blue/red. The green just doesn't cut it and the polarity reversal will make the text much easier to read (light text on dark BG). I think it will stand out more. I'd like to integrate it into the dash like I've seen some do, but I don't think I'll get to that this year.

As far as the sheer quantity, things can go just as wrong with a piston motor as a rotary; maybe not quite as likely But I'd probably still have the same quantity of gauges...maybe less EGT.

I still think FDNewbie's and my interior are still clean. That's based on the fact of the choice of gauges we chose and the orderly appearance of them. The pillar doesn't interfere with vision.

 

Shinobi, you know in VA, you'd get pulled over for having the Commander up there like that. They call that "obstructing your view." You can't even drive w/ anything hanging on the rear view, not even an apartment pass, etc. Gotta take it off, then put it back on when you PARK lol.

That would be HOT. I'd love to see how it turns out. Keep us updated man.

Ditto...I think it's VERY tidy. Things are layed out, not all clustered in one area, all in excellent view (at least for me, since I sit w/ the seat bottom and back so far back anyways, I have full view of all the gauges, and don't have any view obstruction either). Plus, I love the red on black look for the D-gauges...goes well w/ my red on black theme.

I've gotten so used to comfortably glancing at the gauges that my PFC actually sits in the holder resting on the ground of the passenger side, so I can't see it at all. I have to reach for it to check anything specific (such as intake temps, etc). The gauges are just better and easier to read IMO.

 

My friend Nick (who works on ultrasound machines and has access to lots of screens and equipment) already has done this. His PFC screen is a blue that matches the apexi afc screen. Honestly, when there is glare on it (like when his sunroof is open) you can't see the #s at all. At night his is more visible though.

 

Hmmm, This gives me an idea! We just happen to design and manufacture ultrasound machines here too...We have access to all kindsa displays....I will ask out techie if he could do this.

 

Sorry the wheel is blocking. Only good pic i have. Others are blurry or to much light