"been meaning to also ask what kind of gauging and idiot lights you're running?   Do you have separate oil pressure guaging and low pressure light?  Same for the temperature?  How'd you hook 'em up on the motor?" - Jeff

I run the bare minimum - the stock Subaru oil pressure sensor goes straight to the VW speedometer oil pressure light.  The alternator runs to the VW speedometer alternator light.  That is all I have...  Oh the gas gauge works too.

When tuning, I have the laptop hooked up so I can see RPM, coolant temp, etc.

My gauges have been on hold while trying to get the motor set up right.  I'm torn between added a lot of gauges to the dash versus putting a small PC in the buggy and using an LCD screen on the dash...  I do have a boost gauge waiting for installation.

If I remember correctly, I had 2 sensors on the coolant manifold.  One I use for the coolant temperature.  The other may be for an idiot light, but I have not experimented with it.  Any guesses if it is for an idiot light?  I suppose I'd have to remove it to test it with some boiling water to see how it functions?

Paul...

Thanks Paul,
I know VDO has a combo oil pressure and idiot light sender, but don't think Autometer has a combo sender?  I may have to tap into the oiling system somewhere to add a light for this.
As for the cooling sensor, I tested the original sensor on my JDM engine and it had similar response to a Bosch temp sensor - I've got the notes in my Megasquirt file and can look them up if you need the details.  I don't think this would work as a light on-off sensor though, it has a linear resistance curve based on temperature.  I can't recall if my manifold had 2 temperature senders or not - I think it did?  I do recall multiple openings in the manifold, one of which I re-tapped for an Autometer temperature sender (standard NPT).  IIRC, I think I read somewhere Subaru used 2 temp. senders, one for the computer the other for a gauge?  I'm using that (separate senders) layout on my engine, FWIW.
What I'd like to run is gauges for (water) temperature and oil pressure, plus a large light for oil pressure.
I think my overall gauge layout will be tach, speedo, oil pressure, water temp., boost gauge and fuel level gauge.  I prefer analog gauges for all this and planning to install Autometer gauges.

Jeff

Hi Jeff - I'm looking to monitor a similar set of engine vitals.  I discovered today that Link makes a DisplayLink - basically an LCD display that acts similar to a laptop, but its dedicated as a dashboard device. 

I do like the look of the analog gauges.  Trying to get to the back side of them with an Imp dash is a real pain...  I need to be better about building harnesses for each gauge so I can unplug the harness and pull it through the dash.

Paul...