Hi all.

I was thinking of putting some cool but functional guages in my ride. I was going to take off the plastic thing on the passenger side that has the air vent, bore some holes, and mount them there. Question is, has any one ever installed extra guages? If you have, which function did you choose??? Was it easy to connect them? I was thinking about oil pressure, volts, and maybe engine temp.

Thanks!

 

it depends on what gauges you get, some gauges are connected differently, and there is various ways to connect specific gauges anyway... generally its not very hard, just figuring out which wires you need to splice into, or which connector you need to use, and then just running the wires...

 

What about mouting them in a prefabbed guage pod for the driver's side pillar? It's a clean, factory look and you wouldn't have to bore holes into any visible pieces. I've seen them at www.protegegarage.com and you can get them made for two or three additional guages. I'm thinking about installing something like that as soon as I come into a little bit more money. And after I instal my short throw shifter!

 

Or...

Make a a stamped metal plate for the space around a DIN radio and put the gauges there.
It would be cleaner/less rice (IMHO) and easier to see/use than looking so far over to the right...

 

also, make sure to angle them in towards you so they're easier to read..


I'm curious though, what guages could you need in a protege that isn't a turbo car or a race car? The stock dash is pretty inclusive.

 

one of my friends is running 3 gauges in a pod and 4 on the passenger's side dash....get this, his last name really is "rice"

 

i dated a girl named Jennifer Rice.....she drove a cavlier with a huge spoiler on it. Ah, the sweet taste of irony.

 

Makes you ask - 'What does Condoleeza Rice drive?'

 

At one time I thought it would be nice to know what my battery voltage was, since I installed an underdrive pulley in my car. But, there have never been any alternator problems resulting (even during cold crank), so I decided against it. Also, I could see how it would be nice to know what coolant temperature out was (if a colder thermostat was installed). But, Matty is right - you don't really NEED to know anything else unless you've got some form of boost.

 

eh, even tho your mostly right, i still have to disagree, a lot of stock gauges dont read as accuratly as they should/could, personally any car i own, be it stock or modded will definitly have a few aftermarket gauges, just to make sure i know EXACTLY what is going on with my car at all times, its just something that makes me feel safer while driving my car, just a tad bit more reasurance that its not going to break ... but you are right, for a mostly stock car it is definitly not as big of an issue...

 

For those who will install guages, I believe that the small cubby below the radio (just forward of the cupholders) would make a nice location for them. But, the shifter might block the view a little...
If just one or two guages are desired, they could be tucked in there and angled towards the driver pretty nicely, I would think.
Agreed that guages would allow us to know exactly what is going on. Speaking of which, does anyone know what a typical max coolant out temperature would be, using the stock thermostat in a 2.0L? Halfway between "hot" and "cold" is a little vague for me!