You have to know whats going on, especially if you intend to run it hard or alot. Gauges can often times be the most important purchases you make. If you oil pressure drops to around 3-5 psi and you make a few passes and it doesn't go up with the engine RPM's you won't know it because the oil idiot light doesn't come on until it drops below 3 psi. And if your racing it with oil pressure that low somethings going to go bye-bye. If you have an oil pressure gauge you will see that something is wrong and stop before it costs you hundreds if not thousands of $$$$.

The A/F ratio gauges require a specific O2 sensor that costs big money on top of the price of the gauge, that's why so many go without them. I would love to have both an A/F ratio gauge and a dual channel intake air temp gauge, but both of these gauges w/required parts are big money, so I will live without them.

 

for the most part an a/f gauge is nothing more than a pretty light show, that's why no one has mentioned it. it does require a new o2 sensor for our cars, but it's not that much money, and you just need to drill a new hole which costs nothing.

a/f gauges are mostly useless. by the time they register that the car is running lean the damage is done. so why spend the money on a gauge that can only tell you that something just went wrong and now you need to worry about your engine? an egt gauge is a much more effective way to monitor issues such as that, and can tell you much quicker when there is a problem.

an egt gauge doesn't measure a/f, but what it does tell you is that when the a/f gets lean you will see the egt's increase. as soon as you start to see that needle go above normal range, shut down and save the engine. and a/f gauge can't give you that info as quickly. that's why people usually go with egt's over a/f. they don't measure the same thing, but the egt serves the same purpose.

 

Really, all the sensors I had seen were up there in price. I went with the EGT myself.

 

well it depends on what you call expensive i guess. all you need really is a universal bosh o2 sensor, which you can get for about $50. you can get the oem specific one for like $80, but it's the same thing, all you get is different colored wires.

 

Those prices aren't bad, the ones I had seen were twice that or more. I prefer having the EGT, now I just need to get the rest of the exhaust so I can hook it up.

 

what do you need an exhaust system for? the probe should be mounted in your manifold.....

 

I'm simply waiting until I get the Maxxfab exhaust that goes from the turbo to the Mopar/Borla exhaust, before I bother with it. This way it will be far easier to do, just measure it, drill it and weld in the fitting and install it all at once.