Gauge & Warning Light Help

[Lumpydogs]

Does anyone have any suggestions, lessons learned or other helpful advice for putting full aftermarket gauges and warning lights on my '01 Cobra?

Any input will be greatly appreciated.

p.s. My interior is 90% gutted so function is more important that form. This is not a show car.

 

[racebronco2]

I have the moroso low oil pressure warning sensor. I bought some small red lightassemblies from radio shack but they burned out the first day. I used some old gauge lights that i stuck the red light covers on and they are really bright. When you get the low oil pressure switch get the one that activates at 15psi. At 30 psi the lights come on too much.

 

[gcassidy]

I put in an Auto Meter oil temp gauge that reads from 100-250. I didn't find out what temps my oil would be reading first, and at it's hottest on track it doesn't go over 150. That means I'm always only using the lower 1/4 of the gauge, when it registers at all, which is only during hard driving.
If you get one, I'd find one that reads 0 to 200 or something more useful.

 

[Maynor]

Biggest advice I'd give you is to get gauges that you can program a built-in warning light if a gauge measures an out of range setting for you.

I've started converting all my gauges to Speedhut's version with a settable upper and lower range warning light.

Makes focusing on driving easy and any red lights that go off mean an automatic slow down or kill the motor action.

The only thing I don't like about Speedhut is their back-lighting is hit or miss. Some gauges work, some never do. As long as the warning light goes off, I'm happy but it is an irksome issue for me.

 

[racebronco2]

I put in an Auto Meter oil temp gauge that reads from 100-250. I didn't find out what temps my oil would be reading first, and at it's hottest on track it doesn't go over 150. That means I'm always only using the lower 1/4 of the gauge, when it registers at all, which is only during hard driving.
If you get one, I'd find one that reads 0 to 200 or something more useful.

I had the same problem at first. The problem that i had is that i ran the "t" with a short extension with the oil temp sensor connected to the end of it. The oil temp sensor does not get actual oil temps because it has to heat up the oil in the extension first. I switched the sensors with the temp sensor closest to the "t" fitting and the oil pressure on the extension.

I have found that as the engine temps go up so do the oil temps. Under normal driving the oil temps are about 150 degrees but while on track they are close to 250 degrees.

 

[ac427cobra]

Does anyone have any suggestions, lessons learned or other helpful advice for putting full aftermarket gauges and warning lights on my '01 Cobra?

Any input will be greatly appreciated.

p.s. My interior is 90% gutted so function is more important that form. This is not a show car.

Jeff:

These are nice:

Longacre Racing Online -- Online Catalog

They come in two three and four gauge pods. With and without warning lights. I suggest the warning light style.

:thumbsup::coolman::beer:

 

[Lumpydogs]

Bruce,

Thanks for the link. Nice looking stuff. Should make the job easier than putting it together piece by piece. :beer:

 

[gcassidy]

I had the same problem at first. The problem that i had is that i ran the "t" with a short extension with the oil temp sensor connected to the end of it. The oil temp sensor does not get actual oil temps because it has to heat up the oil in the extension first. I switched the sensors with the temp sensor closest to the "t" fitting and the oil pressure on the extension.

I have found that as the engine temps go up so do the oil temps. Under normal driving the oil temps are about 150 degrees but while on track they are close to 250 degrees.

Hmmm, I'll have to look into that. Thanks.

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

I put in an Auto Meter oil temp gauge that reads from 100-250. I didn't find out what temps my oil would be reading first, and at it's hottest on track it doesn't go over 150. That means I'm always only using the lower 1/4 of the gauge, when it registers at all, which is only during hard driving.
If you get one, I'd find one that reads 0 to 200 or something more useful.

As Carlos said, the sender needs to be in the flow of oil to be accurate.

When I added an auxilary oil pressure gauge, I had to move my temp probe into a T and it did the same thing as yours. I replumbed everything and shows actual temps again, around 210 F on track generally.

 

[ac427cobra]

I put in an Auto Meter oil temp gauge that reads from 100-250. I didn't find out what temps my oil would be reading first, and at it's hottest on track it doesn't go over 150. That means I'm always only using the lower 1/4 of the gauge, when it registers at all, which is only during hard driving.
If you get one, I'd find one that reads 0 to 200 or something more useful.

My oil temps in my R consistently used to read in the high 200's with the OEM oil cooler. With my new oil cooler I had to run it half taped off usually.

Optimal oil temps are in the 220-240 range. Oil should run hotter than coolant. Oil running cooler than 200 or even 210 is NOT optimal. I'd check into it.

FWIW

:thumbsup::coolman::beer:

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

Does anyone have any suggestions, lessons learned or other helpful advice for putting full aftermarket gauges and warning lights on my '01 Cobra?

Any input will be greatly appreciated.

p.s. My interior is 90% gutted so function is more important that form. This is not a show car.

If you have an 01 You are probably concerned with Oil Pressure, Oil temp and Water temp.. anything else?

If you get fancy gauges with warning lights they will be over $200 each new.

You can get an entry level Racepack for around $600 depending on what you want., and have more flexability going forward. For $725 you can get one with turn signal indicators, Hi beam indicators and a check engine light that is fully street legal. I believe they all come with oil pressure, oil temperature and water temperature standard. You can add a host of other senders for different things.

I am doing one of these in my RX7 and it is actually going to be significantly cheaper than buying all the gauges I need.

 

[99COBRA2881]

Ok, I'm listening. What does the racepak use for its sensor inputs?

I know Id much rather have everything displayed on one screen right in front of me, rather than guages in the center dash console. Much less looking around to do that way and more focusing outside of the car.

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

Ok, I'm listening. What does the racepak use for its sensor inputs?

I know Id much rather have everything displayed on one screen right in front of me, rather than guages in the center dash console. Much less looking around to do that way and more focusing outside of the car.

They give you the senders for oil pressure, water temp and oil temp with the UDX kit. Fuel level, RPM, Speedo, voltage signals are sourced off the ECU or stock cluster outputs. There is a configurable shift light and warning lights as well. You can monitor other things by purchasing the extra sensors.

The street version will also indicate your high beams, blinkers, parking brake and I believe check engine light. The one pictured above is the street version, and it looks to have warning lights for both oil pressure and water temp.

Racepak is a division of MSD. Here is the page on the UDX
Racepak Data Systems - Professional Motorsports Data Acquisition Systems

I am local to them (10 mins away from my house), and want to go check them out to get all the info, and see if they sell direct. I plan on running one of these in my RX7. I have seen the street version for $725, but not many retailers sell them it seems. $725 seems expensive, but when you add up the price of 3-4 gauges with warning lights, and a mounting solution, you are right there in the $600-$700 price range.

 

[ac427cobra]

Give me large gauges with warning lights. I don't have the time to 'look' for readouts on a screen on track. But then I'm old school! ;-)

 

[BlackBolt9]

Give me large gauges with warning lights. I don't have the time to 'look' for readouts on a screen on track. But then I'm old school! ;-)

Bruce,

We use our AIM displays in the race car in a way that is similar to what is show above. It has LED's that show RPM range (act as a shift light) and will give warnings for oil temp & pressure, coolant temp, diff temp, etc., etc. The AIM display we are running is around $1000 I believe. Which when you add up all those gauges really isn't that far off base. Plus the AIM allows you to download data at the end of the session and has all the acceleration and timing data if used with a transponder. It really is a heck of a deal when you really get into it. Most of the time you can just plug into the stock wiring harness and get your data from there which makes installation pretty simple as well.

I plan on running one in my car someday if I ever get it finished
Tom

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

Give me large gauges with warning lights. I don't have the time to 'look' for readouts on a screen on track. But then I'm old school! ;-)

The RacePack unit above has dedicated warning lights for oil pressure and coolant temp for sure. I'm not sure if other channels are programable with a warning function in that particular model.

Some have buzzers you can set, depending on the model.

The AIM displays are really nice as well.

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

Bruce,

We use our AIM displays in the race car in a way that is similar to what is show above. It has LED's that show RPM range (act as a shift light) and will give warnings for oil temp & pressure, coolant temp, diff temp, etc., etc. The AIM display we are running is around $1000 I believe. Which when you add up all those gauges really isn't that far off base. Plus the AIM allows you to download data at the end of the session and has all the acceleration and timing data if used with a transponder. It really is a heck of a deal when you really get into it. Most of the time you can just plug into the stock wiring harness and get your data from there which makes installation pretty simple as well.

I plan on running one in my car someday if I ever get it finished
Tom

Is the team planning on selling any of the displays?? :banana:

 

[BlackBolt9]

Is the team planning on selling any of the displays?? :banana:

I believe we are a dealer ;-)

I don't think we have any used stuff as it usually just gets transferred to the next car we build when one gets wadded up but I will ask Dean this weekend if he has anything laying around he is looking to sell off.

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

I believe we are a dealer ;-)

I don't think we have any used stuff as it usually just gets transferred to the next car we build when one gets wadded up but I will ask Dean this weekend if he has anything laying around he is looking to sell off.

A dealer huh? I'd be interested in pricing for new units as well. Maybe we can get a few interested parties together.

 

[BlackBolt9]

A dealer huh? I'd be interested in pricing for new units as well. Maybe we can get a few interested parties together.

I'll see what I can come up with:beer: