...were stuck figuring out how to install round or square gauges from companies like UMA and Mitchell into rectangular holes.

Those gauges are excellent products, but feature few bells or whistles. And few aftermarket engine monitors are equipped or approved for the primary--read "only"--display of information like oil pressure or how much fuel remains in the left tank.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Thanks to offerings from Electronics International (EI), J.P. Instruments (JPI) and Xerion, we can--now or in the very near future--buy new, FAA-approved engine instrumentation systems that offer the latest in software and processing displayed on what's the latest trend: large format color screens.

Experimental aircraft builders have even more choices. The only real issue should be a familiar one to owners: how much to spend and how often will this new gadget divert attention from looking outside the airplane. That's after you decide where to put it, of course.

BASICS UNCHANGED

We last looked closely at engine monitors in our September 2004 issue. Parameters like EGT and CHT, fuel flow, oil temperature and turbine inlet temperature--along with RPM and manifold pressure--can be displayed on these gadgets in digital or graphic form. Generally, the data is stored in onboard memory and can be downloaded to your PC--perhaps not as seamlessly as you might like--and massaged, graphed and examined as much as you want.

Since that last look at engine monitors, not much has changed in the low- and mid-level offerings. They're still necessary, in our view, if you want to run your engine lean of peak EGT or if, like us, you care about knowing the CHT of each cylinder banging away up front. Factory new piston airplanes equipped for cross-country work generally have monitors as...

NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.




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