Ok now that the 2006 MX-5 (I still like to call it a MIATA) has a "real" Oil preasure gauge is there any chance (or way) to transfer that to our cars? I'd love to have a real oil gauge but would like to have it on the original place not on a gauge pod.

 

only if you reprogram the ecu, put in a real oil pressure sender unit, cross your fingers, hop on one foot counter clockwise for 15 minutes, and pray to the gods of mazda. :p

 

Did you know the normal operating range is between 9psi at idle to 90+ psi at higher revs? Put a "real" gauge there and you'll be busy watching the needle dance around all over the place.
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LovelyWendie99

 

Aw, you don't like our "all is well" indicator?

When found that out (about the oil and temp guages basically being idiot lights with needles) I was a little disappointed in the beautiful minds at Mazda for phoning that one in.

 

This oil pressure gauge is for sissies!

I still love and miss the early Miata fuel pressure gauge. BTW, I was not busy looking at it all the time but it was a good way of knowing your engine was healthy and if there was oil in the engine especially in track days.

Our current gauge will tell you that you are "good" whether you have 20 or 90 psi...which sometimes is not enough.

My 2 cents,
Carlos

 

You can have self adjusting Xeon headlights but no real oil pressure gauge!

 

You had a very unique early Miata.

 

Ooops...I meant oil pressure gauge. I even installed a fuel pressure gauge to make sure I had enough fuel to feed the turbo,

Carlos

 

The usefulness of the real gauge to me is being able to judge when the engine has reached full operating temperature. You quickly get used to the normal ranges based on RPM and the difference in pressure due to temperature/viscocity is readily apparent.

 

While we're on the topic of gauges...I think it would have been nice if Mazda actually used the wasted space below the useless oil temp gauge in our manual RX-8s. It's just blank and looks stupid. That's nothing but laziness.

On the automatic RX-8s, they use that space to show you if you have the car in P-N-R-D and if you put it in tiptronic mode a number (1 - 4) lights up depending on what gear you are in.

The pathetic part is that I bet you they're probably not changing it at all for the 2006 RX-8s.

 

I really don't spend much time looking around my interior. The clock is nice, though.

 

Yeah, they should've put a little lcd display there that lights up with messages that say things like "Good for you for not getting an automatic!" or "Slush boxes suck!" :D

 

Not with 5W20 in our cars. That grade is so thin it doesn't matter if it's at 75F or 150F--at idle it's going to be around 9PSI regardless.
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IOLITE VAPORIZER REPAIR

 

Nope, that's nothing but standard cost efficiency. You use the same dash template for both automatics and manuals to achieve mass production cost efficiencies and ignore what you don't need. My manual BMW display does the same thing--it has PND indicators that aren't used. This is on a car that cost more than twice what the RX-8 did.
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APRILIA MX125

 

Since oil temperature is the thing that's really important (before you start ragging on the engine), maybe some people can come out with aftermarket gauges that fit into that space below the oil gauge and show you the oil temperature.