4 holes, which guages would you put there.

[shaun]

Right now my boat has 5 holes in the dash, large one for tach, and 4 small holes. I think right now theres like oil pressure, water temp, volt, and amp. I plan on replacing them all. So with the 4 holes i have what would you guys recommend putting there. At the moment my thought is Oil Pressure, Oil Temp, Water Pressure and water Temp.
I plan on having a fuel pressure up by the carbs and i may mount a cheezy little volt/amp/ cluster down by the batter on a push button switch for quick readings.
What would you guys put on the dash?

[Squirtin Thunder]

Right now my boat has 5 holes in the dash, large one for tach, and 4 small holes. I think right now theres like oil pressure, water temp, volt, and amp. I plan on replacing them all. So with the 4 holes i have what would you guys recommend putting there. At the moment my thought is Oil Pressure, Oil Temp, Water Pressure and water Temp.
I plan on having a fuel pressure up by the carbs and i may mount a cheezy little volt/amp/ cluster down by the batter on a push button switch for quick readings.
What would you guys put on the dash?
Exactly like you have them listed.
But that is just me.
Jim

[Nucking futs]

Tach,then oil presure,then water temp,then volts and a fuel gauge if you like..I would mount in the order of importance but thats just me....... Tim

[superdave013]

Tach,then oil presure,then water temp,then volts and a fuel gauge if you like..I would mount in the order of importance but thats just me....... Tim
That's what I'd do. Keep the volt gauge and loose the amp for a fuel pressure.

[flat broke]

It really depends on how you use the boat, and what special needs the motor may have. Obviously you'll want a good mechanical oil pressure gauge plumbed with some Sweet braided and AN fittings. Then a good water temp gauge is pretty important too. If its just your run of the mill bbc/bbf that turns 4500 or so RPM, go with a volt gauge and fuel level if you have provisions for senders etc.
If the motor pulls more HP/RPM and you like to run it WOT for longer periods of time, an oil temperature gauge in place of the fuel level. If your setup is runing a blower perhaps a fuel pressure gauge in place of fuel level.
It just depends on the complexity and monitoring requirements of your motor and accessories. As an example, I run a HUGE oil cooler, and relatively high compression for pump gas. So I'm concerned with how much pressure I have in my cooling system, my water temp, and my oil temp. By watching the correllation between my cooling system temp, cooling system pressure and oil temps, I can tell if I have any crap lodged in my cooler, if my system has any obstructions in it, and to some extent if there are problems in the pump reducing the amount of available pressure.
Then of course if you're going to set the boat up to haul ass/race and can't afford a data acquisition unit, some smaller gauges to show you bowl/suction housing pressures would be good tuning tools too. But I don't think thats stuff you'd really need smack dab in the middle of the dash
Chris

[shaun]

Fuel level guage.. eh who needs one of them
My concern is the monitor the motor so hopfully i can tell when somthing is wrong and shut it down before things get even worse. Volt and Amp guages seam like a waste of dash space to me, unless you have the dash space of course. Oil Pressure, Oil Temp, Water Pressure, Water Temp seam like the 4 best at the moment.
Right now i'm wondering if i should swap one of those for a fuel pressure. I'll have one up on the carbs and i will be able to read it while idleing or even crusing if it's mellow.

[BGMAN203]

Shaun, volt and amps are like the same thing. Amps are a old school way of reading your charging system. Just stick with a volt gauge, its easy to wire and more modern, plus most gauge mfg's don't even make amp meters anymore. Well at least the cool Autometer pro comps and stuff dont.

[Kindsvater Flat]

I just have a tach in the dash otherwise I just listen for the knock.

[Snowboat]

Skip the amp guage and put in a sender in the pan for the engine oil temp. Put the fuel guage on the fuel rail. You'll only need to look at that one, for a few times, unless something is messing up. Added plus is the thrill of the WOT, quick over the shoulder, glance.

[rsoscia]

Tack, Oil Presure, Water Temp, Volts, Fuel Gauge And Clock on my boat