Fitting A Boost Gauge.....

[scoobysailor]

As above how long should it take me (bearing in mind I have hands like feet and little technical knowledge )

Has anyone posted a step by step guide and has anyone got suggestions as to which one is best / easiest to fit etc.

Where about in the system does it monitor the boost pressure from?

Edited July 5, 2008 by scoobysailor

[emoe]

As above how long should it take me (bearing in mind I have hands like feet and little technical knowledge )

Has anyone posted a step by step guide and has anyone got suggestions as to which one is best / easiest to fit etc.

Where about in the system does it monitor the boost pressure from?

Firstly, choose the position where your boost guage is going to fit. mount it all up but dont fit completely yet.

Best advice is to buy a custom pod for the car youre fitting it to. I.E a pillar mount, these look tidy.

Next you need to locate a positive battery source, and wire in a simple relay. These can be purchased from Halfords or others. Wire in the hot side of the relay, a negative earth, and then use the side light positive as a switching signal, wire the other end to the guage. Earth the guage somewhere close and with a decent connector. You can wire the lamp direct to the side-light wiring but this is entirely your choice. I fitted a relay system to mine so that i can add other units later if needed without overloading the system.

Ok now witht he guage fitted roughly where it needs to be, you can run your Vac hose.

You should have a TEE piece with the guage, this has one of the offshoots with a restrictor in it. Locate the pipe coming from the Manifold to the Map sensor, or any of the other vac pipes that FEED from the manifold. There is a few to choose from.

In a decent position, cut the pipe in half and insert the Tee. THe other piece goes to the Vac pipe for the Guage.

I have a grommet in the bulkhead below the clutch master cylinder, i used that to feed my vac pipe through. Make sure you wrap the pipe with some heatshielding, to stop anu heat from the exhaust melting it.

Once the vac pipe is pushed trough, remove the lower part of the dash, and thread the pipe up over the column and tie wrap it in place. Make sure that the clutch, brake and accel. pedal dont foul the pipe in any way. also check the steering does not hit anywhere. Push the pipe up through the side of the dash, and through the pod face. Connect the guage, and mount the guage in. Now finally mount the pod. replace all the lower dash parts, and fire her up. You should get a good Vaccuum reading on idle, and should go to 0 when yo urev the car. When you drive it will show the boost or vac, depending on how hard youre pushing on the gogo pedal. when you let off, it will show a good 30Hg of vac (or should!)

If you need more help, let me know.

[scoobysailor]

Cheers for the advice above.....seems straight forward enough . You might get a PM or two once I start if you don't mind.

[st3ph3n]

Is it an electronic one or a mechnical one?

My defi one is electronic, so it's t-d into a vacuum hose which then runs to the sensor. The electronic output of that is then fed back into the car for use by the defi system.

[emoe]

yep, no probs on the PM's mate. Just ask if you need help.

Like steven says, it could also be electronic.

PM me so we can establish what type you have first.

[scoobysailor]

I don't have any yet. I was after some advice to see which is better /easier to fit before I get one.

By the sound of the above an electronic (DEFI) one is easier to fit. I assume there are other componants of the DEFI system which have to be fitted as well (bare with me on the silly questions ) where as the mechanical gauge can be fitted by itself.

[emoe]

I don't have any yet. I was after some advice to see which is better /easier to fit before I get one.

By the sound of the above an electronic (DEFI) one is easier to fit. I assume there are other componants of the DEFI system which have to be fitted as well (bare with me on the silly questions ) where as the mechanical gauge can be fitted by itself.

Defi are good, but not the easiest to fit by any means.

They have a much more precise guaging and calibration, so you need to decide wether you want to know whats happening and what boost youre running (to within a 1/2 psi or so) or wether you want to know EXACTLY what boost you are running.

personally in my opinion, if you were needing to know what boost youre running to that degree you would also be running other components as well. Those components would probably give you a more accurate reading of boost.

From what i can gather here, you just want a boost guage to see what kind of boost you are running for the most part.

If thats the case, then i would purchase a Pillar mount pod, and a simple Vac operated Guage, (in PSI or BAR, doesnt matter) and fit them.

A lot cheaper and easier for you to do in the long run.

[scoobysailor]

Yes thats right, it's just to monitor the boost I'm running so it looks as if a Pillar mount pod, and a Vac operated Guage is the way ahead for me.

Cheers for all the info above.

[emoe]

Just PM me if you need help, always happy to talk you through it.