Keeping track of engine vitals - guage setups
 

As I'm getting ready to dedicate the rx8 to 99% track duty I am looking at different gauge setups to make sure I can monitor engine vitals.

Being NA right now I'm primarily interested in watching the basics, oil temp, water temp & oil pressure. I've not found a OBD gauge that can handle all 3 of these so far, but wanted to ask what gauges everyone here is using?

I've seen the mecanical gauges at the ashtray & the 3 pod gauge setups on top of the center console, both of which are pricey.

Im removing the radio from the car, so I have a large open area to work with, just wondering what everyone's else's setup looks like

You won't get oil pressure or temp off OBD as there are no sensors for that. You can get Coolant temp.

Build a block off plate for the radio are and put some guages of your choice there......or put them on the center console top....or off the vents...there are mounts for all those options available

Personally I would just mount them on the center top where you can see than better....

As a FYI...there is lots of room under the center console top...and under the front passenger airbag area if you remove the airbag unit ( which you might as well do)

I'd definitely get an oil temp gauge, it could save your engine, plus it's inexpensive and easy to install. Others I'd consider would be a vacuum gauge, great for diagnosing a problem, and air fuel ratio gauge, which could also save your engine, but is expensive. A gauge I've seen on some vintage race cars but don't recall seeing on any modern cars is an exhaust temperature gauge, that seems like it could be useful. Don't know why they aren't more popular. Maybe a/f ratio gauges have replaced them.

I don't know how good the stock oil pressure gauge is, if it's not, I'd consider one of those.

Other gauges are available if you get an OBD2 device, they'll tell you what every sensor is reading, and then some. I have an Ultragauge, works well.

It probably wouldn't be very difficult to build a three gauge dashtop pod, or, you could get simple individual pods and install them on top of the dash. I've seen people just bolt down bare gauges with simple clamps on top of the dash. Looks kind of cool, if you like the raw and unfinished look.

Ok, sorry correct me if I'm wrong here - the OBD gauges I've seen can read water temp & oil pressure since those are what the factory gauges read. So if I get an OBD gauge then I would only need to get a single oil temp gauge seperately and that would cover the 3 basics for now.

I guess I'm also asking what others are using for their gauge setup along with what they like dislike or would change if starting over.

All my gauge experience has been with a 97 Miata, so the RX might be different, but the OBD2 gauge cannot read oil pressure because that gauge doesn't send info to the computer. It has an old school design that probably isn't much different from what cars had decades ago. The reason for this is because the computer doesn't need to know oil pressure to keep the car running properly.

The water temp does send info to the computer, so you can get a reading for that with OBD2.

I've got Prosport gauges in the supplied cups mounted on top of the stock gauge cluster for easy viewing, yet they don't interfere with my view of the road. No need for additional hardware, so it was inexpensive and looks decent. Perfect place for them IMHO. I've got oil pressure in the diagnostic location using a proper 1/8" BSP to NPT adapter, water temp in the upper coolant hose and oil temperature in a drain plug adapter, getting the temp in the sump.

Do you have any pics of this? I'd be interested to see how this looks