For Susie I've got gauges up front for speedo, tach, oil pressure, and water temp. I have a gas gauge hidden away because I thought I would need the leftover space for one more important gauge but now that I look at it and think of it I can't think of what that gauge would be.
What would you put in the last spot? I don't need or want a clock.
The rest of the gauges are Auto-Meter Sport Comps
Battery voltage is a nice one to have.
If it's a race car, oil temp is a nice gauge to have as well.
Second on battery voltage. Not an exciting gauge to monitor when all is good, but instantly helpful when things go sideways
Street car? Gas gauge. Race car? Giant oil pressure warning light
Dusterbd13-michael (Forum Supporter) said:Race car? Giant oil pressure warning light
Giant warning light: combined to alert for loss of oil pressure and water pressure
L5wolvesf said:Dusterbd13-michael (Forum Supporter) said:Race car? Giant oil pressure warning light
Giant warning light: combined to alert for loss of oil pressure and water pressure
Quoted for truth.
I don't ever look at the gauges when racing. Give me a nice bright light on the dash. One for oil pressure in red, one for temp in blue. I will add that I want one for the alternator in yellow so I know if it pitches the accessory drive belt.
I run wideband, oil pressure, oil temp, and battery voltage. All have warning light also.
Agreed. Street car: Gas gauge, speedo, tach.
Race car: Giant warning lights for a variety of things. Shift light.
Holley/racepak digital display. 
I got by with these for well over a decade
But I am a person who appreciates simplicity. I think the notion of an aircraft cockpit inspired, dozens of gauges and switches dashboard is less than tasteful.
In truth I can get by without either a tach OR speedometer but need at least one of them at a time. I do miss a coolant temp gauge in the R55 Clubman.
Next dash I am building for myself is heavily inspired by this
Honsch said:Battery voltage is a nice one to have.
If it's a race car, oil temp is a nice gauge to have as well.
Battery is probably more important, but a warning light does 95% of the same function. Oil temp is nice to have an actual gauge for, even on a street car. Especially if you like to run it hard or the engine is at all fragile/expensive.
Boost gauge. Once you add that, you have an excuse to add a turbo as well. :)
Warp plasma conduit pressure.
The current racecar has water temp pre-rad, water temp post-rad and oil pressure. It's plenty as an automatic, but I'd like a tacho with a stick. Most people like lights but I'd rather see an issue before it becomes a full blown problem. I have time to glance at the gauges at least twice per lap.
What I call the get home gauges
Fuel
temp
oil pressure
volts
Speedo and rpm have no real benefit to driving, just distractions. Weird that they are the largest gauges in most cars.
Edit: Most if not all modern cars have a display of some sort. The computer monitors a E36 M3load of parameters. Why is it that the owner can not configure a drivetrain parameter dashboard of their choice and show it on the display? Foe that matter, would it be so hard to use said display to elaborate, in english, on the check wallet icons that come on in the main dashboard? For that matter, why are scanners even a thing?
dps214 said:Honsch said:Battery voltage is a nice one to have.
If it's a race car, oil temp is a nice gauge to have as well.
Battery is probably more important, but a warning light does 95% of the same function. Oil temp is nice to have an actual gauge for, even on a street car. Especially if you like to run it hard or the engine is at all fragile/expensive.
Oil temp is super important on the other end of the scale, too. It's generally not good to run higher speeds until the oil is up to temperature.
If you have an accurate pressure gauge, you can calibrate for sufficient warmup by idle oil pressure. For instance, I don't take my car over 3000ish until the idle oil pressure drops from 90psi (cold) to 50psi or so. Hot idle is normally around 40. It has an 80psi regulator...
Before you add a huge panel of gauges, plan on what you would do with the information.
If you need to strop immediately based on a threshold, perhaps a bright light is better than a gauge.
If you constantly need to look at it because you don't have data logging, perhaps that's not a great idea when you are racing, since your attention should be more on your driving.
Lots of things can be useful during warm up, to make sure everything is up to temp, and then you largely ignore the temps until it's an emergency- when a light will likely get your attention prior to steam coming out.
It really all depends on what you would do with the info.
I had one of these on my last motorcycle to display voltage. Worked very well, saved me once (6th gen VFR's are kind of not great inre: electrical stuff), and would be easy to place in front of the driver somewhere;
A little bezel with "VOLTS" applied to it somehow would clean up the look a little. Just needs a good switched input.
Giant light to show when the generator is no longer charging. The best way to show when you throw a fan belt (a noticable jump in power is another good indicator).
Probably not that useful on non-Corvairs...
Well, F-dat has a big tach, small fuel gauge, water temp, MPH (that is not even close to correct) and a few small warning lights for oil pressure, neutral, headlight on, etc.
But you can't see a single one of 'em when driving in anger so I'd call them not necessary.
We are thinking of adding a shift light that you actually can see.
Dusterbd13-michael (Forum Supporter) said:Street car? Gas gauge. Race car? Giant oil pressure warning light
I used a Semi-truck tail light SUPERBRITE LED for an oil light in my circle track car.
In my street car I want gas, temp and volts at a minimum. Oil is not so critical as the lifters will clatter if pressure falls off.
I prefer battery amps over battery volts, but I'm a DC power tech in the telecom industry. Knowing my amperage is often more useful than knowing the voltage. Both matter, but I like knowing if I'm charging or discharging more than the actual voltage.
OK, how about a 3rd gear light......
So you know to shift into 4th.....or 5th....
yes a Tach would also tell you.......
But there are times when I downshift to 3rd to pass someone and "forget to upshift" because the motor sounds so good !
In reply to Mazdax605 :
The voltage tells you if you're discharging. And with the multi-color LED display I linked to above, if things are green you're charging or right on the line where it's basically static. Amber means slow discharge & a problem. Goes from there.
Mazdax605 said:I prefer battery amps over battery volts, but I'm a DC power tech in the telecom industry. Knowing my amperage is often more useful than knowing the voltage. Both matter, but I like knowing if I'm charging or discharging more than the actual voltage.
When I was acquiring gauges for the GTI, I also bought an ammeter. Even though everyone said they're a major pain in the ass because, unless you have a shunt type unit, all vehicle power has to go through it.
My rationale was, I have to completely rewire the car anyway. And info is cool. 14v is 14v but if the ammeter is showing 50 amps of charge when I'm running with no accessories going, I know that the battery's pretty drained.
Interestingly, a lot of OEMs have amp clamps on one of the battery cables just for this purpose.
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