Gauges
 

Adding a couple more gauges to da' boat...




Engine is EFI & Procharged..


Currently have all the "normal" gauges and
also have a wideband / vac - boost "Failsafe" gauge already installed..

I WANT to add water pressure, Oil Temperature & Fuel pressure..
Only have room for two of the above in the dash without major surgery.

What would you choose ?


THANKS !


Doug

Priority order: oil, water, fuel. That's what I was told.

Doug this could probably be debatable but SecondWind could very well be right. I think everyone would agree oil temp number one and the other two both important. Just thinking out loud considering your procharged I could see where fuel pressure is of great importance as it can drop drastically however being fuel injected your dealing with electric pumps that you'd think either work or don't work unlike mechanical pump that can easily lose pressure under high boost runs. Yet your AFR's would be out of wack in either case.

If water pressure potentially dropped it would in effect show up in water and oil temps. If fuel pressure dropped is it possible injectors would stay open enough for engine to continue to run but in a lean condition. Again I'm just thinking out loud here thinking what I would do as all gauges play their role.

If I had to make a choice without expertise of others I would say oil temp, fuel pressure, water pressure but I could very well be incorrect. Remember there's always another place for the least important gauge even if it's mounted in a side panel etc. Hope you get some good insight from others so you can make a good decision moving forward

John

I fixed that for ya.

Fixed it even more better

The funny thing is you do actually have to keep your eyes on all of the above and can also get costly if you don't. Lol.

Anyway anymore thoughts for OP. I might be off on my post but just wondering what others take on it is.

My thoughts SO far.. and maybe I'm wrond in my thinking tho'

Have a mechanical gauge on the fuel pressure regulator in the engine bay just for troubleshooting purposes...

If it DOES happen to run low on fuel pressure, I think my wideband would catch it....
If's a failsafe gauge that reads MAP & A/F .. you can program it as to what is "safe".. If it goes in to alarm mode it has a ground output that could be connected to a warning light, alarm, or even a rev limiter...


or will it react to slow and allow me to melt pistons.. ??


THANKS !!!


Doug

Do you have a water dump out of the side of the boat you can see while driving?

If so, I would do oil temp and fuel pressure.

If not, I would do the oil temp and water pressure and put a mechanical FP gauge somewhere thats visable in the engine compartment for troubleshooting like you said,

if you have a gauge not in the harness, like hour meter , move it into the engine room, then you can add all 3

ust get a warning light/sensor for oil temp. Pick something under what you fear.....like say 250*F.

Is there such a thing as adjustable pressure sensors that could be wired to a colored dash light? Like through Hardin marine? Would be nice for some of us old school guys? Especially after a box of beer and a day on the water. A Red light triggers something in our brain and says back off but 16 gauges to monitor gets quickly forgotten about. Lol...

Was typing when you were. We must be brilliant anyway. Hah

I would never run without a water pressure gauge in a boat. I would do water press, oil temp and if possible do the fuel pressure in the bilge.

I disagree, you need oil temp and fuel pressure with that setup...which I had before, either low fuel pressure or high oil temps you need to know at a glance..

But the women won't come without the beer though!

If you go the warning light route put it in a dark space. I've read where the light went off but was invisible in the light of sun on the dash. It worked great when testing in the garage though, lol.

I have EFI
I have oil temp and water pressure.
I let the EFI watch the fuel pressure.

What efi?

My efi doesn't even watch A/F ratio let alone fuel pressure.. :whistle:
(it's an old FAST classic ECM... )


Was talking to the wife about my thought on using the A/F gauge to be able to tell if the fuel pressure drops, and her reply was well, if you're going to do that why not watch the water temperature gauge to tell if the water pressure is low... puts things in perspective...


Looks like I'll be able to fit ALL THREE ! :)

Just have to mount the A/F gauge behind the steering wheel... :cool:

So...

Water pressure will go on the left in place of the smartcraft gauge.
Fuel pressure will go in the upper right in place of the trim gauge.. (why build a boat with electric. & mechanical trim indicators)
Oil temp will go in the lower right in place of the depth gauge.. (have a Garmin on the dash now)
The A/F ratio gauge will go centered just above the steering column,..


http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...szybjcme7.jpeg

The warning lights are great. You can rig up warning light and or an alarm, for about anything.

I have mine setup for fuel psi (drops below 4psi light comes on), intercooler water psi (drops below 4psi light comes on), oil pressure (drops below 18psi alarm comes on) water temp (at 210* alarm comes on)

Next time the engines are out, I'd like to have everything on an alarm and or LED warning light. Gauges are great, but really, when you're running hard, especially if the water is kinda rough, or in a fairly populated area, you can keep your eyes on the water, rather than staring at the dash. Its not easy to read all the gauges when running. Pressure/temp switches are cheap, and so are LED pilot lights. Gauges are for monitoring things, but not there for immediate shutdown safety.

You have all kinds of room.[IMG]http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/a..._135428058.jpg[/IMG]

You put the real important gauges where you can see them without the wheel getting in the way. The less important ones you put where you might need to move your head a little to see.
My A/F is in that hole in the bottom right corner with an angled bezel.