I've had both fitted and much prefer the electrical ones.

Initialy I had the mechanical ones fitted and the extra noise in the cabin due to the path the tubes have to go was intrusive. They just seemed to carry alot of vibration and hence noise.

Re accuracy:
as the mechanical ones have a bulb of whatever it is that heats up that then has to travel along 9ft of tube to exert pressure on the gauge, I'd say the electrical ones would be quicker to react to changes as it's pretty much instant via the black magic of electricity.
The mechanical ones are also more prone to pick up heat sink of the gearbox/transmission tunnel.
A main dealer here in the uk, managed to break the oil temp bulb by the oil filter while I had the mechanical gauges fitted, but after 30minutes of driving the gauge would start to pick up purely down to heat sink from the length of tube running past the engine, transmission tunnel, gearbox etc. the thing wasn't even connected!

add in the 'worst case scenario' of something failing:
electrical - new resistor, sender, sensor
mech - oil up the back of your dash/ in the car.

Go electrical -
it's quieter, cleaner and simpler.

It's a 'no brainer'

 

gotta love the black magic.
juey: which digitals do you have?

 

I went mechanical route being old school. Again, I'm not worried whatsoever with the oil especially since I will be doing what Expo did replacing the original plastic line that came with the gauge. Never had issues in my racing days and I think people worry too much about "What if" for things that never happen. The gauges will be the basic water temp, oil temp and pressure gauges. No FI here so no need for any air/fuel gauges.

Keeping in mind the temperatures that oil and water are at are far higher than the temps that can be felt from the tranny below in the interior, the influence would be minimal if any at all. Being particular about stuff like this I've decided for better accuracy and robustness to go with the mechanical gauges.

The only question I have left is for Expo regarding replacing the oil pressure line: Is the 6ft necessary? I would of thought with it being directly almost near the filter that a 3 ft meter tubing would suffice. Was there a lot of slack left over or did you really use all that 6ft up?

Thanks for all the input.

 

I finally join the club. Thanks to all and especially expo1 for the stainless steel oil pressure line suggestion (the included tiny diameter poly-plastic doesn't instill confidence like the SS). Works great!

 

Congrats Huey!!
welcome to the club.

 

As an ol' EE I did very much appreciate your electrical gauge course Jedi54, but I'm old school when it comes to automotive gauges.

 

we all have different tastes and preferences, that's what makes this place so much fun.
Gauge pod looks good.
do you find yourself watching the temps all the time?

I know I did when I first installed the pod.



P.S. holy crap!!! That was my 14,000th post!
I need to get a life.

 

^ LOL I do. I hope this won't lead to a 'no looking at gauges' law along the lines of 'no cell phone while driving.'

You've got a good life; this is just part of it.

 

Bah, those gauges take the same glancing effort to look at as it does to look in the rear view mirror. I never understood people's beef saying it's too hard to glance at it. Takes more effort to look at the passenger side mirror.

 

yeah, I kept hearing people criticizing the RB pod because they were 'dangerous' because you had to 'take your eye of the road'

uhhh... if you can't safely drive while ocassionally having to take your eyes off the road in front of you, guess what; you CAN'T DRIVE.
(checking rear view mirror, side mirrors, blind spots....)

I think they're in a great location. I'll take this setup over the Lotek pod ANY day of the week.

 

Any thoughts on how hard it would be for a performance shop to mount the oil temp and pressure sensors on the 09 RX-8? The senor position adapter mount included with the RB kit won't work with the 09s. I'd love to get this kit, but want to be sure it's doable for the shop I take my cars to. I don't have any sense for what this adapter mount looks like and how hard it would be to fabricate something similar.

 

It seems you are NOT going to be able to use the RB adaptor plate. I found the included photo in THIS thread. The aluminum part behind the filter would interfere. A oil filter relocation kit however would work.

 

Has anyone had trouble with the mechanical oil pressure needle bouncing at idle?

 

You need the 6 foot SS line for the oil pressure. You don't end up with much slack, just a nice service loop near the oil filter adapter and another tucked behind the gauge pod. See my pic's.

My oil pressure readout stays quite stable at idle, but then my idle stays pretty stable.

 

what do your oil pressures usually stay at around idle? mine seem kind of low around 12-14 usually

 

konig: mine is anywhere betwee 10 and 15.

 

^^^ I suspect you guys are using 5W20

 

5-30 for me

 

I'm 12-14 also and 5w-30

 

Thread resurrection!

Went with the Cobalt gauges too.

 

I'm sure this is a dupe... I apologize now... does anyone have the wiring diagram / RB instructions for tying into the dimmer with the gauge lights?

I tapped into the ashtray light and was expecting the dimmer to work but it's not dimming my gauges... I tapped into negative rather than going directly to ground but doubt that's my problem.. Maybe the actual light doesn't dim? I believe there's an additional tap for the ring around the lighter itself but I dunno for sure without plugging the ashtray harness back in.

If you've got a quick answer (or link) I'd really appreciate it.

Shell

 

ashtray light should dim when the headlights are on

 

Resurrected thread. Can anyone confirm this? Does installation of the RB kit increase level of road noise? (A few posts later, someone suggested this is only a problem if you replace the plastic tube the kit comes with with a braided stainless steel line.)

I'd like to install this kit, but not if it increases road noise in the cabin.

 

Hey New Yorker.

Personally I would say yes it does, quite noticeably.
In particular the transmission noise.

This to me however was music to my ears but understandably undesirably by other.s

The only thing I can put it down to is how the instructions have you run all the lines down thru the shifter boot.
The kit does provide a small foam piece to help seal things up and prevent the oil pressure line from being crushed, however you just can't lock the entire unit down as tight as before.

FWIW ... it's the way I see it.
If you ran the lines another way it would likely mitigate the extra road/trans/exhaust/clutch noises.
Maybe some pink insulation behind the pod .. golden

 

^ Hey, thanks for the quick reply. Good to know; I'll have to think about this.