Having played with a number of issues with my 940, and in most cases wanted more 'scientific' data I have been thinking about adding guages etc inside..the problem being i would end up with many guages which would look ugly and not be very usefull. My present problem being OD related and imm thinking of a tell-tale light in the car to let me know when the solanoid isnt getting power...which got me thinking about something i was thinking about before...

Why not have a single lcd display that could monitor many things and show warnings if things went out of tolarance..it could also have the ability to data log information onto...say..a floppy disk for analysis off the car..

now i have an advantage here..cos computers are my thing...and this stuff iusnt that hard (or expensive - compaired to multiple guages)to do..what i have in mind is a simple computer module that scans a number of sensors and monitors the outputs to a lcd display/audible alarm system...

The thought is a dos pc based system that is powered from the car, boots on ignition from a floppy disk and saves dat to a second floppy either becasue its told to, or on a sensor going out of totlarance..

now my question to you guys is two fold..1 - what should one monitor and 2 - does anyone else think it would be a good idea?

so far my monitoring ideas are:-

inlet presure/temp
intercooler entry presure/temp
intercooler exit presure/temp
Manafold Presure/temp
Oil cooler temp
oil presure
water temp (cylindrr head)
water temp/presure (top hose)
water temp bottom hose
cylinder head temp
turbo temp (sensor may be fun!)
exhaust temp (into cat)
exhaust temp (out of cat)
rpm
speed (if i can work out a good way of going it!)
gear?
OD selected
OD solanopid power status
voltage at battery
voltage at alternator
Brake status (lamps on or off)
ambiant temp
ambient humidity
water temp in expansion tank
water level in expansion tank
date and time!

assuming these can genrally be sensibly stored i recon i can store something like 4000 readings on a floppy for off car analysis...

not saying im going to do it...but i know how to, question is is it worth it? - i figure it will cost me maybee $500 to do...