What gauges do you guys think are most important, and why?

The most common gauges I see are turbo, oil temperature, and voltage...in that order.

 

Well probably not 'Turbo' as the S is NA.

Is there a 'Rice' guage?

 

Thanks for asking this question. There have been some excellent posts on adding guages to the S2000, something that I plan for in the future. From Rick's post, 4 guages will fit in the radio door. http://www.s2000online.com/forums/showthre...?threadid=35659

In previous cars, I have added oil temperature and pressure guages. This monitors the "lifeblood" of the car. It allows you to know when the car is warmed up properly to drive in a spirited manner and gives you warning if the engine is getting too hot. In light of the stories concerning engine failures without the oil light coming on, I'd think that these guages are at the top of the list. That's 1 & 2.

What to do with 3 & 4? Rick opted for coolant and air inlet temperature. Air temp would be interesting since it lets you anticipate potential power robbing heat soak. Coolant temperature is redundant with an existing guage, but the OEM guage is not as informative as an aftermarket one.

If you have a turbo- or supercharged car, boost and Fuel Pressure would be useful, but what to do for a NA car?

1 & 2 - Oil temperature and pressure
3 & 4 - Select one from the list below:

Boost, Fuel PRessure (if FI), Coolant Temp., Air Intake Temp., Battery Voltage, Battery Amperes, Outside Air Temp.

 

I agree with CoralDoc that oil pressure and temperature are the most important. We added water temp in our install for exactly the reason he suggested -- to have more accuracy. The air temp is there to monitor underhood temps near the throttle body and to largely satisfy our curiosity. What I've found so far, with the sensor place 6 inches in front of the throttle body, is the highest underhood temps occur when you shut the engine off (reaching as high as 120 F. When it's running, the temps have ranged between 80 and 95 degrees, and run cooler at speed, not surprisingly.

 

I don't think it's rice like some people mentioned, obviously they probably have no understanding of such operatives ... But it is probably rice for people who don't drive their cars hard anyway then I would call them rice as well. Hell, you don't even need VTEC for that case if you don't push your car hard. Just some single cam 1.6 block is good enough for cruising around, acting cool. But other than which, oil temperature, oil pressure, fuel pressure and exhaust temperature are some important gauges to have regardless of NA or TA in any aspect if you push the car hard to it's limits on a regular type of basis.

 

I agree that pressures and temperatures are probably the most important, although boost and voltage are popular too.

 

I'd just go for exterior temps - just to be able to determine how hard I can push the tires. Aside from that, oil temps are also good to know when to be able to push the engine (the water temp gauge is not adequate).