For those of you 02 guys that have the full pillar pod, I would like to know where you found them. I tried calling summit racing and jegs but they don't have them in stock. Jeg's states that autometer has discontinued the full pillar pods.

 

www.gaugepods.com

Frank

 

Yep. Looks like a factory piece. I also highly recommend the Autometer Ultralite series of gauges--their light silver face and bezel nearly matches the factroy silver speedo/tach perfectly...

 

Thanks! Beside the boost gauge, what other guages are you guys running?

 

Slingshot - how did you work around the grab handle on the pillar? Just take it off? On the Lo-Tek site, they show a Lightning pillar pod setup without the grab handle.

Are there any pillar pod setups for the 2 5/8 inch diameter gages? The 2 1/16 gages are too small for me. Thanks.

 

I just took it off... see sig for my choices in gauges. I was going to go with an a/f ratio gauge but my serious blower buddies (sounds kind of kinky ) said don't bother and highly recommended the EGT instead. Don't know of any 2 5/8" pods, sorry. Tip for you guys planning on doing this: tap into the power wire for the ash tray/drink holder light for your power source--that way you can dim the gauges with the dash dimmer switch, otherwise they are on full bright all the time--can be a little distracting on long drives at night. Thanks to the Lightning board for that one...

 

slingshot,

Did your blower buddies mention why they felt that egt (exhaust gas temperature) is so important?

 

Unless you are a serious racer and plan on playing around with mods to the chip and boost level, I'd probably go with something other than an EGT gage. For a stock motor truck, EGT is only a curiosity. If you start looking for more horsepower, then the EGT may be of interest. When you start cranking up the boost level, you need to make sure the air / fuel ratio is correct and that's where EGT may help. The road to more power is always a compromise. You typically want to lean out the A/F ratio to maximize the HP, but this sends combustion chamber temps up. Go too lean and you melt pistons. Not good. Sooo, the EGT helps to keep you aware of the level of risk you have in damaging the motor. Exhaust manifold EGT readings of ~1400 - 1500 degrees F are getting into the danger zone.

One other gage option is the new dual intercooler temp gages. You can set them up to read air temps before and after the intercooler to see how much effect it is having. Good luck.

 

Pretty much what croosr said--on a stock motor you really don't need either the EGT or a/f gauge... hell, you probably don't need any gauges! However--If you are like me and plan on bumping the boost to 10-12 lbs, adding a performance chip and filter and eventually exhaust... the EGT is probably your best bet. You must know if your engine is running lean or if combustion temps are too high on a boosted engine. a/f ratio gauges are notoriously inaccurate and innacurate info can easily lead to you having a very expensive, very heavy paperweight that used to be your engine! a/f gauges put on a nice colorful display for your buddies and the ricers love them--if timely and accurate info is what you want--go with the EGT. JMHO, I may be wrong...

 

Thanks for the info. Since I don't plan on making anymore performance mods I'll just stick with the boost gauge and maybe the matching clock. I'm not using the stock head unit. I'm using a Kenwood unit that hides the screen when not in use. Since I usually hide the screen I can't see the clock. So I figured having a matching clock in the pod woulld suit me just fine.