Instrumentation.
Although the Escort Cosworth is quite well equipped as far as instrumentation goes it can still be improved upon. The standard instrumentation includes the following: Speedometer, rev-counter, water temperature, fuel, boost, voltage and oil pressure. Most very useful except for the voltage which could well have been skipped in place of a oil temperature gauge.

If the car has been tuned, some modifications should be done, sooner rather than later. Especially the boost gauge will come short as it is only calibrated up to 1.3bar (about 18psi). And any tuned Escort Cosworth will run more boost than that.

The other shortcomings of the original instrumentation is that the water temperature gauge shows just Hot/Normal/Cold and no actual temperature in degrees Celsius or Fahrenheit.

When having more than a stage 1 tune most owners would probably want even more control of the engine. There are obviously a lot of things that could be measured but I'll try to list the most common ones with the ones I feel is most important first. I won't list the gauges that are already present in the escort Cosworth and working ok.

  • Boost - Running too much boost can have very bad effect on th engine, and running too little won't give the power it as supposed to give so having a accurate boost gauge is very important.
  • Oil temperature - If the oil gets too hot it will loose it viscosity and it's lubricating qualities -> Destroyed engine.
  • Exhaust temperature - If the exhaust temperature gets too high it generally means that the engine is running too lean. Too much and too long with that and a piston will melt.
  • Fuel pressure - Low fuel pressure can result in lean running (see above).
  • Water temperature - Just to make sure the water temperature is spot-on.
  • Charge air temperature - To check if the intercooler is good enough. Too hot charge air and the engine won't produce the power it should have produced.
The normal approach to instrumentation is to add single gauges as they are needed and place them either where the center wents sit, below the radio or on the A-pillar. If one has the money a full Stack rev-counter with all other variables too will look a lot cleaner and it might be easier to keep track of things too as you'll have all the info right in front of you.

There are a number of companies that produces different sorts of gauges with a wide variety in prices and quality. Generally I would avoid the cheap stuff and stay with well-respected brands. Here are the most common ones used with a few comments and the company's official website.

SPA - Digital gauges. Each gauges shows two variables. F.ex. oil temperature and oil pressure.
Defi link - Nice high quality analogue gauges - uses defi link system. All gauges connected to a central with one wire between each gauge. All sensors are connected to the central.
Stack - Complete replacement dashboards. Looks very nice and collects all info within easy sight.
Autometer - Analogue gauges. Widely used.

Defi link boost gauge       Defi link exhaust temperature gauge       SPA Oil pressure/Oil temperature       SPA gauge

Stack 8130 multi-function display  Autometer gauges

Here are a few images of various installations in Escort Cosworths. Click for larger images.

Stack display and Defi Exhaust temp. Stack display and Defi Exhaust temp. SECS gauge and Alpha weber air fuel ratio meter Three Defi gauges Carbon dash with aftermarket gauges

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