Anyone have SPA gauges?

[speedjunkie]

I emailed SPA yesterday about the EGT issue and got a response today. They said I could adjust the resolution (0000 instead of 000.0) by going to HR in the menu and turning it off so it would read without a decimal. I already figured this since Trout2 mentioned it but I didn't get around to it last night. I did this after work today and fixed the issue.

They also said I could change the temp readings by going to TYP in the menu and changing the setting to tHi (the setting for 1000 degree thermocouple). I did this and it read higher, but only to around 750 degrees or so once warmed up. I noticed in the manual there is another setting called tEh (for extra high, the 1200 degree thermocouple) so I went back through and changed it to tEh and it is reading around 1080 degrees on the front rotor and 1010 degrees on the rear rotor, which is closer to what it was on my old gauge but I'm still not sure how exact it is. I figure I'll datalog my EGTs at some point and compare them to what the gauge is reading. This should work since the sensor wires will plug directly into the datalogging hardware and bypass my gauges.

Now I'm trying to decide if I still want to mess with the water temp and fuel pressure sensors haha.

I just remembered, the water temp and fuel pressure sensor wires are run together and I used some magnets and hose clamps to keep them hidden up under the lip that runs along the firewall at the back of the engine bay. I wonder if the magnets are messing with the readings on those two. I thought about it before I ever started the car and wondered if it would matter, but I forgot all about it.

[Pete_89T2]

Originally Posted by speedjunkie

I just remembered, the water temp and fuel pressure sensor wires are run together and I used some magnets and hose clamps to keep them hidden up under the lip that runs along the firewall at the back of the engine bay. I wonder if the magnets are messing with the readings on those two. I thought about it before I ever started the car and wondered if it would matter, but I forgot all about it.

The magnets should not effect the readings fron those sensors. It's just a simple DC circuit, the sensors are basically just variable resistors. If you want to do away with the magnets anyway, why not just use plastic wire ties to secure the cable to one of the hard brake lines or any of the other hard lines that run along the firewall in that area?

[speedjunkie]

Originally Posted by Trout2

When the sensors go bad, the temperature will jump around or in the case of the oil pressure one last year it read 0. I've been using the water temp/fuel press and oil temp/oil press since 2003 and have replaced fuel and oil pressure sensors once and oil temp sensor once.

I would have gone PLX if it was available back then. Last year I got a PLX gauge and two Team Rip EGT sensors, logging thru datalogit. One of the EGT sensors started reading 0 most of the time a couple of months ago. When I went to remove it from the exhaust manifold it feels like its cross threaded so I left it alone for fear of breaking something off in therre right before DGRR. 900 to 1000-F at idle is normal for me (aspec 500R with long runner manifold on small street port).

Jack

Cool, thanks for the info. I really hope I don't have to change the sensors that much haha. Of course I only had my last gauges for a few years but I never had a problem with the sensors and I didn't change anything with the way they were set up when I put these gauges in.

I looked into PLX but their fuel pressure sensor isn't up to par to actually be used with fuel, it degrades apparently. But they said they're working on that issue. I would have gone with them though, need one, MAYBE two gauges at most.

Did you put anti-seize on the threads before you put them in? I did on mine and I haven't had a problem yet. But you've probably had yours in for quite a while longer than I've had mine in.

I'm using the 500R but with short runner manifold.

Originally Posted by Pete_89T2

The magnets should not effect the readings fron those sensors. It's just a simple DC circuit, the sensors are basically just variable resistors. If you want to do away with the magnets anyway, why not just use plastic wire ties to secure the cable to one of the hard brake lines or any of the other hard lines that run along the firewall in that area?

I didn't think they would affect it but I wasn't for sure. Once I started the car I forgot all about seeing if it had any effect. I used to have things zip tied to the brake lines but I wanted to go with a cleaner install this time.