I am going to be adding some custom guages to my car, anyone have any recomendations? I know I am going to get a boost guage for my turbo. Can anyone recommend a brand or a style?

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George Carstens

If it were me, I would see if VDO has some.

Alon

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'92 300CE - Sold
2004 C240 - 744 - C7 Wheels - Android Radio
2002 C320 - 816 - Sport Wagon

I heard that autometer sucks....can anyone confirm this?

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George Carstens

Autometer sucks? Since when? Many top racing teams use them. Thiers may be special or something.... I don't know.

I purchased the Phantom style Autometer guages for my turbo project. They match my custom white guage faces on my dash. I would also recommend the Lunar style Autometer guages. They just came out! They are white by day and indiglo by night and only a few bucks more than the Phantom's! Are you going to mount them to your A pillar? If so We need to figure out what type of mount will work on our Mercedes. Autometer does not make mounts for Mercs.

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Current Stable:
01 ML55 AMG
92 500E (a few mods)
87 300E (lots of mods)
00 Chevy 3500HD Diesel Box Truck
68 18' Donzi Marine
06 GT i-Drive7 1.0 Mountain Bike (with GPS!)

PREVIOUSLY OWNED:83 300SD, 87 420SEL, 88 420SEL, 90 420SEL, 86 560SEL, 86 190E 2.3-16V AMG, 94 E320

A friend of mine told me that 25% of what autometer ships out is crap and has to be returned. This is just what I have heard. I want to have pods on the pillar. I was going to try out some of my fiberglass fabrication skills.... I used to do it but I havn't done it in a while. I have friends that can do it though. I won't get to that stage for a while though so I am not worried about it.

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George Carstens

Yea, you have a long way to go. Your doing it the right way by building up your M103 for the turbo. Ill have to be careful i don't blow my engine! Let me know when you get around to the pillars i may already have one that works or can buy a custom one from you if your interested in making an extra. Either way i'm not sure if the 201 has the same pillars as the 124. Does it?
Adam

I dunno, but if I get around to making one for my car, if I could find a 300E around here locally, and take the measurements. I will let you know when I get there.

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George Carstens

Thats cool! Oh, about the Autometer thing , regaurdless of what type of guage you use you should have the calibration checked. My dad has been using Autometer for years in his racecars and has the calibration checked on them periodicly.
Good Luck!
Adam

I personally like VDO plus it matches your german made car. I sell a lot of Autometer to the rice racers. I am not fond of Autometer sometimes it is off out of the box. The worst EGT gauges are those HKS and greddy ones, big bucks for inaccuracy.
Autometer Air-Fuel Gauges are OK.

The VDO EGT gauge is good (I would rate it a 7/10). Isspro is one of the best for EGT.

I have a tester to check the accuracy of pressure gauges @ 15 psi before Installation. I check all my customer gauges to avoid headaches.

Check www.egauges.com they got decent prices.

Gauges I recommend for Turbo:

1. Boost (Mount in middle of Plenum)
2. Pyrometer (mount sensor/probe before turbo)
3. Air/Fuel Ratio (use a separate O2 sensor)
4. Oil Tempature (2 sensors: Middle of oil pan and after oil cooler)

Mount the oil pan temp sender closes to the oil pick up. use extended sensors that protrude into the oil pan about an inch.
This is the temp you rely on when racing! sensors are cheap so you can mount one after the oil cooler to check its efficiency.
you could also mount sensors on the intercooler and use a rotary switch. This saves gauge space and it can give you important info about the way your setup is running. Just make sure the temp gauge can read a min of 100~120F degrees.

Thanks for the info and the website Speedtek!

I have a isspro pyrometer and boost gauge in my 300SD (yeah..its a diesel )
Anyway...
The ISSPRO pyro is REALLY nice, responds quickly, and comes with really nice wires and probes and everything.
The ISSPRO boost gauge is not GREAT but it works pretty well. I have the high visibility series as my car isnt a 'pimp sled', its just a tweaker
The boost gauge makes buzzing sounds while the turbo is spooling up (such as in lag times). The buzzing is the cylinders (would be my guess).

I will be posting some info over on the diesel forum if anyone is intersted in seeing pictures, hearing how it works, etc.

My pyro is pre-turbo and I wouldnt recommend post...

i have autometer Nitrous Pressure and A/F gauges in my car. Autometer is definately a good gauge company but there are better ones out there. Defi gauges are very accurate but also a tad on the expensive site. If you want an air/fuel gauge the AEM UEGO Wideband is a great gauge. Great way to street tune a car.

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1993 400e
Charlotte

I've always had great luck and no problems with VDO gauges in a number of aftermarket installations. I personally wouldn't use anything else.

J.G.