Thermometer fitting advice

[golf-sib]

Basically I am planning on fitting a boost gauge with a thermometer between the throttle and the FMIC to monitor air tempertures?

But I would like some advice if this is a worthwhile job and best way of mounting the probe as well as will any thermometer do or do I need something more specific?

[DOA]

Without knowing what the gauge is your not going to get much help here lol.
What is the gauge, can you post a link to the gauges manual or manufacturers web page? Without this info, no one can help you any further as there are a lot of options with regard to temperature sensors (different types, different calibrations, different mounting styles etc etc).

Out of interest, what are you hoping to learn from monitoring your inlet temps?

[golf-sib]

Want to monitor air temperatures before the TB especially on hotter days when sitting in traffic (possibly thinking of overriding the fan with a button to override it on to cool it off). As I will be making custom pipework for my FMIC very soon and was thinking off monitoring the effects it has had and seeing how the car is doing when in traffic and rolling etc as said to begin with, it seems to be a popular thing on jap cars for some reason, so I am assuming it is off good use (correct me if I am wrong as its all a learning curve on here)?

As for what thermometer... I have not chose one as I've not yet dug deep into it, but apparently any old one with a a cabled probe will do. I was thinking of just a digital one and fitting it in the dash. Any advice or input on what thermometer and fitting it is appreciated a swell.

[DOA]

One pikey method is to use the sensor that monitors ambient temperature in the car but the response speed wont be very good and I dont know how accurate one would be at elevated temperatures.
The expensive option is something like http://www.spa-uk.co.uk/design/productdetails/?objid=104 which uses a fast response K-type thermocouple. I think they do an option that does boost and temp as well judging from their website. If its going to be any use to you you really want a good fast response sensor like they supply just to keep an eye on how hot the intake is getting under short burst heavy load conditions as that will tell you the most. Other temperature sensors rarely need to have fast response times so arent very good for such applications but Thermocouples tend to be a touch expensive if bought from tuning companies and are not very simple to interface with if the gauge isnt designed specifically for a thermocouple. You might be able to find an RTD device at a lower cost from other gauge suppliers or even RS components (RSWWW.com) and these should be fine to interface with most types of gauge that will take a standard temp sensor. As for fitting one, you will have to find a boss to weld into the piping but Ive noticed a lot of people stick these sort of things on ebay for bugger all money, just make sure you get the correct thread size.
Might get a bit depressing if you look at how much power you stand to lose due to increased inlet temps but sound thinking if your planning on future mods as it will defo give you an idea of how effective inlet mods are and how effective mods like bigger turbo's really are if not done properly.

[golf-sib]

Thanks for that, I have an account with rs and will have a look later when I get home. My second query is the cheaper sensors I have seen will take about 7s with +/-1° to register the temp change which is fine for me with plenty of cheap modules floating around with LED screens. But ideally what temp range in sensors should I be looking at? -10to60° etc... I imagine air temp not exceeding 50°c but my knowledge on intake tempertures in turbo systems is next to nothing so any additional advice is appreciated.

[DOA]

7 seconds is a long time to register a temperature change but I suppose your more worried about heat soak here so your choice really (Personally if I was going to this amount of trouble I would go for something faster but thats just me). As for intake temps, could get pretty high depending on how efficient your intercooler is and just how much boost you are throwing at the engine/how far out of the efficient area of the compressor map you are but Id be very surprised if it ever got over 80deg post intercooler and you would certainly notice that if it happened lol.

[golf-sib]

I was thinking of fitting after the intercoolet so I know if it will a good idea to spray IC/switch on fan.

As for the bosses what would I search more specifically on ebay.