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United States24801 Posts
It's been almost 5 years since I bought my car. I did not make any modifications to the car (aside from swapping wheels for winter vs summer), and decided I wouldn't so long as the car was under warranty and the loan was still being paid off. It's time for me to start thinking about if I want to make any modifications or not.
To me, the biggest performance weakness of the car is the fact that it does not have a boost gauge. It's common among the Mazdaspeed 3 community to install your own boost gauge. In fact, many people like to put it into the driver side air conditioning vent:
Personally, I don't want to block the cool air to my face on hot days so I would rather not do that. Another option is to attach it in the spot where the A pillar meets the top of the dashboard:
I think this looks a bit silly, sticking out like that. It feels like I am running diagnostics on my car. A company sells replacement panels with openings for gauges. For some models they allow you to replace the A pillar; for my model they replace the panel over the center console:
I think something like that is cooler (there is the cheap option and the color-matching option for the panel). However, there are three slots! This means I may as well add additional gauges if I am going to do this. Here are the gauges I already have by default:
- Speedometer
- Tachometer
- Engine Coolant Temperature Gauge
- Fuel Gauge
- Odometer/Trip
A boost gauge is an obvious choice for an addition, but what else?
The other consideration is how to install the gauge(s). Here is a guide on how to install a boost gauge into the driver side AC vent. He routes the cable through an opening in the firewall that is also used for the trunk release. He inserts a sensor into the vacuum tube running from the manifold to the bypass valve. I've read there is also a way to pass through the firewall behind the glove-box.
This is quite a pain in the ass. Can I instead use the OBD2 port (thing you plug code readers into when there is a 'service engine' message on your dash)? According to my googling, the manifold pressure is one of the pieces of data announced by the OBD. If I am using the OBD2 I can also use the velocity readouts to approximate instantaneous acceleration, or have it readout calculated engine output (good candidates for the other two gauge slots).
If I'm going with the OBD2 slot instead of installing a sensor directly into the engine, then that gives me a lot of flexibility for the actual gauge to use. In fact, I'm considering developing my own microprocessor controlled digital displays. This would give me an excuse to learn how to program these things, and also add functionality to my car at the same time!
Hopefully the idea is interesting, and please share if you have any insight into this... it's definitely still in the brainstorming stage.
 
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Just curious, do you plan on doing further modding/tuning? If so, you probably want an A/F gauge and temperature gauge so that center 3 pod would be a pretty good option...
(edited: "exhaust temperature gauge")
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United States24801 Posts
On December 10 2012 11:11 y0su wrote:
Just curious, do you plan on doing further modding/tuning? If so, you probably want an A/F gauge and temperature gauge so that center 3 pod would be a pretty good option...
I haven't decided yet. Unfortunately I don't know enough about modding/tuning to make an educated decision about what I want to do :p
What temperature would this temperature gauge measure? Or do you just mean a more accurate one than the one I already have?
Is the A/F mixture information that's available through the OBD2 port, or do you need to install some sensor for that? I hadn't given that thought but that doesn't sound like a bad idea at all.
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Transmission oil temp
Outside temp
If putting in a sensor is a pain in the ass at all don't install a boost gauge, it's too advanced and really unless your running a large turbo it's pretty pointless.
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I imagine the A/F would be available through OBD2 port.
Yeah, if you're not going to do any major modding you probably don't need any additional gauges.
Also, start with expanding your intake, computer and then exhaust (none of those would merit additional gauges imo).
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United States24801 Posts
I want a boost gauge so I can better understand what my turbo is doing. I recognize that it is not a necessity (as evidenced by the fact that it is not included stock).
I was looking at intakes and that seems appealing, but is there a downside to putting in an aftermarket intake? Also, how do you upgrade the computer? Sometimes I wish modding my car was as easy as it is in Gran Turismo lol
On December 10 2012 11:18 iTzSnypah wrote:
Outside temp
I already have that available through my climate control, but I'll look into the oil temp
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Downpipe, cold air kit, exhaust, and a tune. Those should be your first mod's on a turbo car like a mazda speed.
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On December 10 2012 12:17 micronesia wrote:
I want a boost gauge so I can better understand what my turbo is doing. I recognize that it is not a necessity (as evidenced by the fact that it is not included stock).
I was looking at intakes and that seems appealing, but is there a downside to putting in an aftermarket intake? Also, how do you upgrade the computer? Sometimes I wish modding my car was as easy as it is in Gran Turismo lol
If it was easy then you wouldn't need to take the time to research into it and won't have a solid understanding of how things work and how it all come together.
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United States24801 Posts
A good alternative to the ideas posted in the OP was brought to my attention:
Vent Pod
It allows cold air to pass by, and doesn't require any cutting/drilling in the air conditioning vent area. The wiring will still be tricky.
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EPT![[image loading]](http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c204/WRXD/gauge%20install/24.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g390/arodr260/2011-09-29_09-27-31_865.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.gaugepods.com/mazda3.jpg)
