Are all these guages for aesthetics or for practical reasons?

 

I'm gonna guess pracitcal reasons. Knowing your boost is VERY handy when you have mods on your supercharged car....and knowing information about oil temps etc is necessary with aggressive driving. The cool look is just an added bonus

 

If my car explodes during hard driving, so be it ... I wouldn't change the way I drive because of a gauge, they only would serve to get me "worried"

A shift indicator IS a wise idea

I think most of these gauges are for looks only ... Unless you are pushing the limit, like Turbo and a SC, or if you have software allowing 7500 or 8000k redline

"I don't need no stinkin guages" ...

 

The set-ups in this thread go from basic to extreme. If you had the oil pressure and the boost guage and wanted to use a similar bracket to add two more gagues by the tach, which gauges would you choose and why?

 

**OIL temp.!?** .........should've been b4 oiL preasure, *jus an opinion...

cuz u want to monitor oil temp since ur water temp jus tells u that ur "koolin' now" but u dont know how hot ur oil is b4 it starts to do its job internaly...
-which BTW! is a bit more important for longevity of ur motor & in the kooler months!!

 

Yay for my car being in this thread also here is a free bump for this thread. I am going to be picking up either a pure silver/black or jet black/black MCS soon, I think im gonna go after nparkers idea mixed with the guy who put his v1 remote in there. I think that is so cool!

 

Any progress on this description Larry? I would love to do something similar when my MCS arrives in a month or so! That setup looks super trick and stealth. Where did you mount the detector itself?

 

I just saw this and thought you boys and girls might be interested:

Defi single-DIN guages:

http://www.defi-shop.com/product/din/din_top.html

 

okay i am in the market for some gauges preferably the stock ones but from other's opinions they seem underwhelming/cheap. I have the chrome line interior and would like to have a chrome trim ring. Are there any manufacturers that make a a chrome ringed pod gauge, or could I get an autometer or something and take off the ring and get it dipped?

Mikey

 

This is the ATI E-Pod with the Defi Link System Gauges. Boost on the left and Water Temperature on the right.

 

Its just me again, pushing the A pillar gauges cause the look so friggin cool.

 

Just installed my new Innovate Wideband O2 Sensor(LC-1) and Air/Fuel Gauge(XD-16). It is in the vent on the left side of the steering wheel. It is in perfect view from where I sit. I cut some abs plastic as a back plate and
covered it with carbon fiber. Came out really nice I think.

 

I haven't seen any with chrome rings, but the autometer gauges I have have a removable bezel on the front - you could pull that off and get it chromed....

 

How much and from where can I get a boost and oil pressure gauge? How hard are they to install? Thanks.

 

VDO's new Ocean Line marine gauges offer black or white faces and seven different bezel colors, including chrome. The white faced gauges with aluminum bezels are an excellent match for the silver-ringed tach. Some of the gauges also have provisions for warning lights. I'm going to install the Ocean Line water temp and oil pressure gauges next week. The pictures below are from a quick test fit with the ALTA gauge pod.

I sourced the gauges from egauges.com.

 

ah! I didn't know VDO did gauges. Thought they just did satnav and audio!

Mario - the boost gauge is easy to install - it's just a vacuum line from the fuel pressure regulator (you need to remove your intercooler and install a t-piece) through the firewall to the gauge. You also need to tap lighting power so the gauge can be lit.


(ignore the VGS ducting)

Oil pressure is a little harder - you need to get a t-adaptor to screw into the bottom of the block, so that the stock sender can go on the one end and the gauge sender can go on the other. Then it's just a matter of running the signal wire through the firewall to the gauge.

A search will come up with some good info...
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=38635
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=27280
This one is a mechanical oil gauge - does not use electrical signal:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...install+gauges

 

Thank you, tit.

It'd be nice to have those 2 gauges but it seems a little expensive, or well, for me anyways.

 

True.....I wouldn't have done it either, but a friend was selling his mini and passed his onto me, including the Alta bracket for $50 Aussie dollars (less than USD$40)!!!

You don't really need to buy a bracket, as the autometer gauges come with cups that, with a bit of effort, can be mounted to the tacho. It should't cost you more than USD$200...

 

I view gauges as cheap insurance against expensive engine damage. The stock instruments don't give you sufficient data to tell you the state of the engine.

If your engine loses oil pressure, for example, you won't know about it until the oil pressure switch closes and lights up the warning light in the instrument cluster. Ditto for water temperature. The stock water temperature gauge is damped; BMW and MINI don't want the average driver to freak out when the needle moves.

On my old BMW, to which I added a VDO water temperature gauge, the middle of the factory gauge actually corresponded to a spread of at least 60-80 degrees F. After a cold start, the needle reached 12 o'clock at 160 degrees and stayed at 12 o'clock even as the car reached its operating temperature of 190 degrees. When the car overheated a few years ago, that needle moved fast towards the red. The MINI coolant temp warning light comes on at 240 degrees F, and by that time, you don't have much time to pull over and shut off the car.

A couple hundred dollars invested in gauges isn't much compared to the cost of replacing a warped head or cooking the bearings.

 

I definitley know what you're talking about since my engine went bye bye after there not being any oil in it, I got some noise and pulled over, didn't even get the oil light.(long story) So yeah, you're probably right in what you say. I will look into it.

What gauges are cheap? Wich ones are the best? You mentioned water temp. Is that important as well?

 

"Cheap" and "best" are not always the same.

For cheap gauges, go to the "tuner" aisle of your local discount auto parts store.

For quality gauges, look to brands such as Auto Meter, VDO, SPA Technique, and ISSPRO. Egauges.com is a reliable vendor that offers many good brands. There are several styles and sizes of gauges to suit your measurement and aesthetic needs. In addition to the VDO Ocean Line gauges I described earlier, Auto Meter Ultra-Lites with their silver rings and amber illumination are a decent match if you have a silver-ringed tachometer. They are relatively inexpensive. I would probably have gone with the Ultra-Lites if the Ocean Line gauges were not available.

I consider water temperature to be important. I don't want to rely on the dumbed-down factory gauge to tell me when the thermostat isn't working properly.

Do a search to learn more about how to install gauges in your MINI. There are many, many ways to install the gauges and senders.

 

That is exactly why I asked about cheap ones and the best ones, I'm not stupid.

Thank you.

 

The original


And the new.










I don't know if I'm going to keep it this way. Opinions please. I'll get more photos when the sun comes up.

 

Looks nice. But I wonder how well it looks in the daytime.

 

Well I'm 99% sure I won't be able to see the #s on the tach but I'm tall enough I've had to guess half the time anyway.