I was wondering if anyone here has a Autometer A/F ratio guage on their cars? Just wonder how well they work, i wanna get one for my truck

nate

 

I have a nordscog (sp!) in my dual pillar. Taps right into the O2 sensor lead. It's digital, and looks cool as hell. However, it is slow to react (O2 sensor limitations) and I doubt it is that accurate, but it does give you a good reference.

Jerry

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1989 Lt. Blue RS 5-speed
355 crate motor, Compucam 2040,
PST Front suspension,
Hotchkis rear suspension,
EDL T.E.S., 3" Flowmaster
Harwood cowl hood

1994 Black Z28 6-speed
Nothing major, but FUN!

 

Does anyone have the Autometer version? I want to purchase that in the near future....

Jon

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89 GTA
Beautiful Gunmetal gray, LB9 305 and T5 tranny. Only 60,000 miles!
Dual cats, 3"flomaster
Accel 300+ Ignition, wires, cap, coil, etc
Airfoil
KN Airfilter
Removed Screens on MAF
SLP 1 3/4 headers
No Smog/AIR system

 

Thats what I wanna get too..I'll probally get the Autometer Phantom A/F ratio guage.

nate

 

I've got one on my car. They're not really too useful, mostly just neat to look at. It can give you an idea of whether you're lean or rich, but gives no indication of the level of rich/lean since there is a switching type O2 sensor on our cars. Search the DIY PROM board for a post about a wide band 02 sensor setup. If you want useful, that's what it's all about.

-Mark W.
'88 SC Camaro w/ 305 TBI

 

I built my own gauge. Took an hour to make and the parts were like <$20 for everything.
All the parts came from radioshack and I can even adjust the "accuracy" with a pot! Heck, I even have a switch to change the 10 LED bar fro "point" to "bar" style display.
http://www.scirocco.org/tech/misc/afgauge/af.html
That is the link if you're interested.
I also ordered 2 wide band o2 sensor pc boards for when I can afford one of those $250 o2 sensors. Either that or go under a honda and "find" one , j/k

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, Jon (350 TBI!)
91 Red My website

[This message has been edited by JPrevost (edited October 24, 2001).]

 

where can you order the Autometer Phantom ones from? I wanan get one.

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91 Firebird .. 305 .. 5 speed

http://members.aol.com/deadtrend1/index.html

 

Hey Prevost, how did you order those wide band boards. I was looking at all the DIY-EFI diagrams and such yesterday and assembling it myself would be a bit over my head I believe. I might be able to get it done, but it would take me a week and I wouldn't have any hair left when I got done with it .

-Mark W.
'88 SC Camaro w/ 305 TBI

 

The assembly isn't very hard since it is a prefab board. They have a list of all the stuff you need and it really isn't hard. There is a LOT less work needed since you don't have to run wires all over the place. With the board you just plug and play almost. Very little thinking involved. Now if it had only a schematic and no board you can count even ME out. That would be tuff and frustrating.

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, Jon (350 TBI!)
91 Red My website

 

ebay sells them the cheapest

 

I have the Autometer Phantom A/F gauge in my a-pillar pod. It's really cool, and a cinch to wire; just spice the red wire to ignition wire, ground the black one, and run the purple one to the PROM and wire it to the correct wire, and BAM. Oh..and for the light bulb in it I just wired it to the intrument panel fuse.

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1992 Camaro RS (Auto) 5.0L TBI
-
Performance mods
NOS (125 HP shot), Dynomax cat-back exhaust, Hedman headers, no cat, custom high beam delete ram air w/ K&N, MSD 6A ignition, MSD 8.5mm plug wires, LT1 camshaft
Soon to be installed:
Edelbrock Perfomer TBI intake, B & M 2200 RPM stall torque converter, Trans Go shift kit, World Products Torquer heads, Ed Wright Fast Chip

Audio
Sony Xplod CDX-M610 head unit, Pioneer 2-way 4x6 front speakers, Pioneer 3-way 6x9 rear speakers, 12 inch Pioneer VCCS PRO subwoofer, QLogic sealed box, Kicker ZR360 amplifier, Lightning Audio 1 farad capacitor

Other
Macewen White Faced Gauges/Shift overlay, A-pillar gauges (Phantom oil pressure, Air/Fuel), 180* thermostat, Window Tint, chrome valve covers, xenon headlights

 

Jon, you're a psycho. The time spend to MAKE that damned guage makes buying TEN of these Autometer ones worth it

 

What fun is buying when you can MAKE IT

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, Jon (350 TBI!)
91 Red My website

 

That guage is pretty cool.
Have you tried any other guages?

 

The oem O2 sensor is a switching type. Trying to read anything more then richer or leaner then 14.7:1 is basically a joke. They are effected by backpressure, and EGT. If you make a tuning change, you don't know if it was mixture that made the change or the change in EGT.
For the price of that *guage* you could actually do other things to improve the car's performance.

 

I spent $6.58 in parts for my gauge, even though it's just a switching type it's near real time so it will tell me if I'm running lean under WOT. The darn 160 baud is so slow I get maybe 2 values from diacom. It's another tool that makes tuning faster and less painful. I do understand it isn't accurate, but it does tell you if you have enough fuel under PE mode that you're not hurting anything and that is most important.
It's true, a switching o2 sensor is crap and you should look at your BLMs and INTs with a scanner if you plan on playing with fuel pressure.
Ignore what the gauge tells you, run the 1/4 mile and tune your fuel pressure to your mph! It's been said time and time again but I'll repeat myself, spark plug cuts are very useful if you know how to read them BUT you should tune to them, tune to your best mph!

 

im getting a air/fuel and other guages monday, but i dont understand why some of you guys go throw the troble of making your own, i think the auto meter phantom guages are awsome looking, and i dont understand puting an ugly homemade gauge im your car would do your you besides beeing ugly. and besides how do you know if they truly work. call me lazy but i think dialing summit on my phone and paying 50$ for a gauge isnt out of question. this is just my .02 cents, and im not trying to start an arguement

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90 RS 305 tbi, 4 3/4" cowl Hood, Edelbrock TES headers, Flowmaster exhaust, Crane roller cam, comp roller rockers, vortec heads/intake, ported tbi, w/new injectors, MSD probillet Distributer/ coil, 1 inch tbi spacer, air foil, 14x4 k&n flat base air cleaner, Rebuilt 700r4 w/ B&M shift kit, B&M Megashifter, 3.23 posi, 2 12 RF's with mtx amp, top of line alpine cd player, soon to have 90-91 gfx, z-28 wing, new paintjob, rims, and all new lowered suspension.

 

"Ugly"....lol
The homemade gauge is the EXACT SAME THING!
They use the same 10 bar led. The newer gauges that are out have more LEDs but they aren't any more accurate!
Oh yeah, and if you think my gauge is not accurate:
Here are a few pictures to show you they're exactly the same:


Oh yeah, and I have 2 potentimeters wired so I can adjust the brightness of the LEDs AND the range. When I say range I'm talking about how "accurate" each LED is. For example, stock resistor and unmodified o2 gauges you guys buy have a range of about .1 to 1.1v That means each LED is about .1, not very "accurate" if you ask me. I can adjust the pot to show from .7 to 1.1v, each LED would be about .05v. If you know anything about these gauges you would understand that they aren't very accurate to begin with. Just like a cheap radar detector is about as good at finding grocery stores as it is a speed trap!
Follow the link below if you are interested in saving $40 and learning something.
http://www.scirocco.org/tech/misc/afgauge/af.html

[This message has been edited by JPrevost (edited November 04, 2001).]

 

you really think that that guage looks better, or even the sam as an autometer phantom gauge, for nuts, first off i could do that, and second their is no sense in saving 40 dollars and having a computer board sticking out o your dash if i wanted that i could just leave my computer haning out of the kick plate, now that would be classy, im not talking about fucntionality im talking about appearence

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90 RS 305 tbi, 4 3/4" cowl Hood, Edelbrock TES headers, Flowmaster exhaust, Crane roller cam, comp roller rockers, vortec heads/intake, ported tbi, w/new injectors, MSD probillet Distributer/ coil, 1 inch tbi spacer, air foil, 14x4 k&n flat base air cleaner, Rebuilt 700r4 w/ B&M shift kit, B&M Megashifter, 3.23 posi, 2 12 RF's with mtx amp, top of line alpine cd player, soon to have 90-91 gfx, z-28 wing, new paintjob, rims, and all new lowered suspension.

 

You're damn right...you COULD do that. And who the hell says you need to have the board visable? The "all mighty" phantom guage would look just a crappy with the face off now wouldn't it?
Your unit now needs to waste space while mine can be hidden in a creative location. I could even make my own gauge "look" with a small dark piece of lexan or plexi!
What really doesn't make any sense to me is your comment about the computer board sticking out of the dash remark.
Saving $43 is what it's ALL about. $43 is a lot of money wasted for just looks, considering most people buying the o2 gauges have no idea how to actually use them.
Now who's "nuts"?