SmashTastik

When i picked up my 2005 XB, the ride came with some customization - rims, a body kit, lowering springs fog lamps, aftermarket grille etc. The interior has a drop down screen for a dvd player, some interior lighting and suede on the roof, seats and doors. Its very cool - now, the issues I have are minimal - at some point I need to decide whether or not to get a DVD player and wire that in as well as whether to keep or upgrade the stereo.

One feature that was removed however was on the dashboard - to the left of the gauge are 3 holes for smaller gagues - IM relatively new to DIY so I was wondering a few things - what gauges would you put in these holes and is such wiring extremely difficult?

YellowBoxGirl

I wish my car had a temp, volt, and oil pressure guage....

snowromance

definitely a compass for one of the holes. you can have all the gauges in the world for oil temp, coolant temp, oil pressure,etc...

but you got nothing if you don't know which direction your heading :-)

Metro273

^^^You don't need a darn compass, just look at the position of the stars, the sun and the moon...

brownfaux

i put air/fuel, volt, and vaccum in my car. I got them from glow shift. I think they look neat and I am very happy.

SmashTastik

now being somewhat of a ****, how hard are these things to install?

snowromance

im tellin ya... a compass is where it's at!

vettereddie

The Glowshift A/F gauge is narrowband, so it's pretty much useless for tuning. You won't need an A/F at all unless you hafe aftermarket fuel management. I had the glowshift boost and voltmeter gauge when I had a supercharger, the voltmeter stopped measureing after three months. Autometer costs more but has better quality. Go mechanical gauges if you're looking to save coin.

My personal recommendation would be water temp so you aren't reliant on the factory idiot light, oil pressure so you can cut the engine before anything breaks, and either a volt gauge or a pure vacuum gauge, not a combo boost / vacuum. If you're trying to up your fuel economy, the vacuum gives a visual indicator of fuel consumption (less vacuum = more throttle, more gas). I've read vacuum can be tapped off of the brake booster line so you won't need to tap the intake manifold.

bB2NER

Def just go water temp/oil pressure and vacuum. Those are all that matter on these things.
Or just get a replacement dash and do no gauges. Junkyards are full of xBs unfortunately.

brownfaux

Yes, i agree on the uselessness of the A/f, mine is fun to look at, and honestly thats about as much thinking as I put into it. That and ease of installation. I would like to have gone the water temp route, but oh well. The vac gauge is nice o havem and very easy to install. I just clipped my vac line and threw the t-fitting in there. No problems at all. And I have jus ta pure vac gauge, no boost.

bB2NER

I feel the vac. gauge would work just as good as those fancy/expensive scan tools for showing one how to drive for fuel efficiency.

Reactor

If you want gauges, check here: http://egauges.com/vdo_main.asp

DarkSide_xB

ive been wanting to put the gauges in my dash since i got my car put im just a little scared to be cutting holes in my dash. i'll probly be doing it this summer sometime. but i agree with oil/temp/vac for the 3 gauges in the dash.