Tuning instrumentation
Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2014 6:29 am
Hi guys,
For about a year or so, while trying/evaluating different setups for my 1.8T, I was driving around with an Innovate afr meter plugged into the lighter socket and the cables hanging out the door going under the car. This was getting a bit awkward, what with passengers having to hold the thing and not sit on it and ...the wife complaining about the wiring mess in the old heap ... Well, I decided it was time to do something about it when I came across the AEM Failsafe gauge. Its a combination afr and boost gauge but this is only on the outside. This contraption can be programmed to turn things on and off with different combinations of boost/afr -hence the name- and has a data logger too! All I have to do now is hook up a solenoid on my manual boost control which will direct all pressure to the wastegate when afr leans out beyond my preset value. I got three of them, one for my car and the others for two more 1.8T cars. No more wires in the cabin, no mess, no plugs to forget and ruin the O2 sensor. In the pic below, you can see it where the boost gauge used to be. AFR is center stage and boost is the LED moving around on the outside, although you can assign different layouts by plugging the gauge usb to your pc and AEM free software. Way more practical -and safer- than holding the Innovate while barreling uphill at 170kph in 4th and 25psi...
For me, this was one clever purchase.
Jim K.
For about a year or so, while trying/evaluating different setups for my 1.8T, I was driving around with an Innovate afr meter plugged into the lighter socket and the cables hanging out the door going under the car. This was getting a bit awkward, what with passengers having to hold the thing and not sit on it and ...the wife complaining about the wiring mess in the old heap ... Well, I decided it was time to do something about it when I came across the AEM Failsafe gauge. Its a combination afr and boost gauge but this is only on the outside. This contraption can be programmed to turn things on and off with different combinations of boost/afr -hence the name- and has a data logger too! All I have to do now is hook up a solenoid on my manual boost control which will direct all pressure to the wastegate when afr leans out beyond my preset value. I got three of them, one for my car and the others for two more 1.8T cars. No more wires in the cabin, no mess, no plugs to forget and ruin the O2 sensor. In the pic below, you can see it where the boost gauge used to be. AFR is center stage and boost is the LED moving around on the outside, although you can assign different layouts by plugging the gauge usb to your pc and AEM free software. Way more practical -and safer- than holding the Innovate while barreling uphill at 170kph in 4th and 25psi...
For me, this was one clever purchase.
Jim K.