What do you guys run for a display/gauges for the Spec Miatas? Are most racers sticking with gauges or do a lot of people run the digital displays?

 

I have used oem display for a while, but plan to upgrade with my new motor. The tach is the main focus as the oem one will be almost useless.

I run oil pressure, afr, and water temp as my aftermarket gauges.

 

The digital displays are great if you can afford them as they can set all the warnings you would want and need, but sensors and initial setup are $$$.

If you are going to stick with OEM/stock gauges, at least upgrade to what tom above had mentioned. I run an aftermarket oil and water temp, been wanting a wideband. I have the OEM oil press gauge.

 

Have used AiM digital dashes, nice quality and customizable display. $$$ though, pretty sure you'd be looking at a $2000 dash\data aq system.

If you go discrete gauges, then I would suggest some digital gauges with fast response times. Water temp and oil pressure.

 

keep your oem cluster and use this as an auxiliary gauge and warning system. It can use any android or windows device as the display. I bought a cheap $30 phone off craigslist. Pressure and temp sensor can be found for $30 a piece with pigtail on ebay. You can wire out custom warning light on the dash with any input parameter. Plus it has predictive lap timing and datalogging.

https://www.autosportlabs.com/racecapturepro-2/

 

that is on my list to get when I can, they have great stuff and the realtime stuff is awesome for the crew/track support guys to watch.

 

Racepak IQ3 is what i plan to run, however mine is not a Spec Miata car, however i believe this is the most superior digital display/ DA unit on the market

 

Better than a MXL/MXL2?

 

I have been down this road a few times. My suggestion is to try to think of what your goals are, and then to think of the dash/gauge/data logging/ECU/PDM as a system. It is better to think long-term then short-term.

If you are most concerned with lap times, then I would recommend a small dash-mounted gauge like the Solo II for basic data. For lap times plus more extensive data options, the Dash3/Dash4 from Race Technology is a good choice. I really like having gauges high up and forward on the dash - it makes lap and segment times, speed, etc., very easy to see with a quick glance.

Likewise for warning gauges and lights. An oil pressure and/or water temp gauge or warning light high-up on the dash is easy to see. I like the Autometer Elite gauges with full-face warning colors and analog outputs for datalogging. Yes, they are expensive.

I recently replaced my OEM dash with a digital dash, a Race Technology Dash2Pro. It is cool, and has a bunch of options, and can do more, but honestly, it is more difficult if not distracting, to glance down between the steering wheel than it is to quickly glance at a smaller, higher-mounted display that is usually right in my line of sight anyway.

The great thing about the advanced data systems, displays, ECU's, and even power distribution modules, is that they can all talk to one-another, to an extent. That is the part I suggest you research. For example, several ECU's (Vipec/Link, AEM, MegaSquirt) now talk directly to certain displays (all of those support the Race Technology Dash2Pro). I think at least some support AiM and RacePak, too. Setup, display, and datalogging of data directly from the ECU is a huge plus.

I completely removed the stock wiring harness and fuse boxes from my car, and replaced it with a custom harness and PDM from RacePak. Unfortunately, this PDM only talks to other RacePak loggers and displays. That kind of sucks (but really isn't that much of a deal breaker).

Another part of picking a data system is how good the software is, though these days, pretty much all of the loggers out there have solid software backing them up. Finally, it is usually a good idea to use what your friends are using, so you can share data and information. It can be a powerful tool to overlay your laps with laps of your friends, and figure out where you can find time from one-another.