I have been thinking about getting a set of gauges for my truck. I'm looking at either the Ultra Lite series or the Phantom series by Autometer. I think either would look good with my gray interior, so I'm leaning toward the Ultra Lite. I plan to mount the gauges in the A-Pillar. I'm only look at the dual pods but I'm unsure of either the 15104 http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku or the 17104 http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku. Not sure if anyone is using the 15104, I'm only looking at it because it is cheaper. The one gauge that I'm going to purchase is a Trans temp gauge (no I don't want to switch clusters) but I'm not sure what the second gauge is going to be. A wideband gauge would be nice but price puts it out of the picture. I'm thinking of purchasing a cheap vacuum gauge.

 

vacuum is useless, don't waste your money. If you can't afford a wideband gauge get a trans temp and fuel pressure gauge.

 

IMO I would go with a full pillar pod, it will look better.. Here is what the phantoms look like.. But since you don't want to swap clusters i would go with the vintage black am gauges, so it all looks uniform... But thats me.. Also you can get a Wideband from autometer for under 240 bucks..

 

@ Mangled03gmc - What Radio head unit is that?

Full pillar. To me, better than looking up at the roof console or down at the center console.

 

save the money and get a wideband. it reflects FP in itself. Dont buy dumb **** just to have gauges.

 

Actually, when used properly, a vacuum gauge can tell you a lot about what's going on in your engine, and about your A/F mixture. If your cats start to clog, a vacuum gauge will let you know before they're totally plugged. I've run a vacuum gauge in just about every vehicle that I've ever owned. Plus, they're inexpensive and fun to watch lol...the needle buries to 0 every time you punch it

 

+2 on the Vacuum gauge. Very usefull.

When I got my first Vacuum/Boost gauge I had no idea of the use the Vacuum part would be.
You can taylor MPG by using the gauge and optimizing you speed on long trips to get a better vacuum reading.

If I have my cruise control set to 80 mph getting a Vac reading of 10 and bump it dowm to 78 and get 12 I'll leave it there. This is for flat terrain. On hills up or down it just indicates the load difference.

Generally the more vacuum the less load.

@ budhayes3 = What will the Vacuum do in the event of a cat going bad?

 

If there's any sort of exhaust restriction vacuum will not jump up after slamming an open throttle blade shut as it should. With the vehicle in park or neutral, rev the engine. Quickly shut the throttle and vacuum should quickly jump up to a reading higher than at idle, over 20ish mm/hg. If vacuum rises/creeps back up slowly, you have an exhaust restriction

 

--Thanks for the advice. Yeah the full pillar is on the list now. Man is it hard to try and cut corners and save money when buying truck parts. Next think you know you have a list as long as Budhayes . With all jokes aside, I'm current going to college so $250 Wideband = 1 Book(if I'm lucky). I'll be out by the end of the year so just planning for the future. Keep the opinions coming.

 

Trick has a good effective cheap wideband. And a wideband is great for tuning purposes.