Nuts & Volts  http://www.nutsvolts.com had a bonanza of articles
this month (Jan 2002) on stuff useful for our needs.
Here is a schematic for a PIC with a 10 bit A to D interfacing a pressure sensor
and converting the results to RS232 for loading into an Ipaq or PC serial port 
for an example. One pressure sensor is shown but I would not be surprised 
if more could be accommodated.

There was also an article on using a laser diode as an optical tach
which would be useful to measure the RPM of a turbo.

Another was an aircraft band receiver on a two inch square PC board
with just two chips and one or two transistors. Looks like it
would cost under $100.

BTW the add is for a super cheap surplus 12 volt DC to DC converter 
that has all the output voltages and currents a PC mother board needs.
Comes with a sealed lead acid battery that you can throw away.

Paul Lamar
 
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