Welcome to another episode of Mighty Mods
Now today we're going to show you how to install a boost gauge in a turbo car
Why are we going to do that, Martin?
It's a good idea to keep an eye on what your turbo's doing, uhm, a gauge is the perfect way, you can diagnose problems really fast and you can see what's going on and it's just cool!
Yeah yeah, it's cool! it's cool!
and, and, and if you want, you can put them in a non turbo car too
No dude...
Yeah
They won't do anything
Except if you wanted to, you could physically put one in there
and then maybe you could put a tube under the seat attached to a pump
and as you accelerate you turn the pump on and it looks like the gauge is moving
Let's get to it dude...this is silly
Ok
Right, so these are all the tools you'll need. We've got a socket set to get to everything
We've got some wiring, it's actually recycled, left over from our first episode, with the little red Daihatsu and the central locking.
We've got the gauge itself
And we've got a cup, that will hold the gauge and mount it up on the dashboard, out of the way
Not every turbo setup's the same, so you'll need to find out exactly which vacuum line is right for the gauge on your car
Now there are two types of boost gauges that you can buy. One's a mechanical, and one's an electrical
We've bought a mechanical one, which means there's a vacuum line running from the engine bay, into the cabin and into the gauge
Our car had an existing power wire going through to the cabin for the amp
This makes getting the vacuum hose in, much easier
Make sure it doesn't kink, or rub anywhere on the car
Next up, cut or extend the vacuum line in the engine bay and connect the supplied T-Piece
The gauges usually run from the middle of the T, and have a restricter to smooth out the operation of the needle
Now every car's different as to where to run the vacuum line from
With this particular car, the GTi-R, we had to run a special vacuum lead from the quad throttle bodies
Check out our other video if you want to see how to do that
It's a good idea to use hose clamps on most connections. You want them to withstand the test of time
Some hoses will need to be heated up to get them over the barbed fittings
Using hot water will soften the plastic hose without damaging it
Run the vacuum line through the dash, up to a suitable spot
Make sure it's not going to rub on the foot pedals or wiring underneath the dash
Best way to figure out which wire is which, is with a multimeter
We need to find one that only comes on when the ignition is switched on
You don't want your gauge running all the time
Make sure you do good soldering on the connections to ensure they last
The gauge will come with instructions telling you which wires to solder
We made a new hole in the back of the gauge cup to run the vacuum line
The gauge is installed up on the dash, everything's screwed back together, and we're all done
OK, so the boost gauge is in, and how excited are we, Marty?
It goes whaant whaant wench wench
It's a gauge
Good
Maaaant Maaaant
See you next time