Boost Guage Install

[turb06]

I was given a boost guage as a present and am going to install it with a mate. Just wondering where the best place to plumb it into the intake is? Or where everyone else has plumbed theres into.

Thanks.

[Guest surreal_jippo]

Theres a few places you can 'T' into to get a reading. Usually best place is to take it straight off a vaccum line on the plenum. But can also be 'T'd into the stock BOV line also. However don't use the wastegate line though as some people suggest as it will not read vaccum.

[Zeke]

Gaugeworks supply a brass t-piece with good quality clamps to plumb into the brake booster vacuum hose. When you take the line through the grommet that the clutch goes through on manual cars, the line is right at the brake booster vacuum hose.

It works fine - vacuum when there's vacuum (from 6 to 12 oclock) and boost when there's boost (from 12 to 3 o'clock or from 0 to about 8-9 psi) - it tends to overshoot a bit when you flatten it. Not sure if the boost goes instantaneously higher than the 5-6psi or that's just what the gauge reads.

The foreman at my dealer said it wasn't good practice to tap into the brake booster vaccuum hose, but he couldn't think of any problems it was likely to cause. That's what Gaugeworks recommended so I guess most of the people on this forum who've fitted those gauges have gone that way.

[Blown BA]

  Zeke said:

Gaugeworks supply a brass t-piece with good quality clamps to plumb into the brake booster vacuum hose. When you take the line through the grommet that the clutch goes through on manual cars, the line is right at the brake booster vacuum hose.

The foreman at my dealer said it wasn't good practice to tap into the brake booster vaccuum hose, but he couldn't think of any problems it was likely to cause. That's what Gaugeworks recommended so I guess most of the people on this forum who've fitted those gauges have gone that way.

Nooooo don't tap on your brake booster

[BADBOSS]

If you don,t go of the booster then where is the best place Blown ?

[Blown BA]

  shorttyxr6 said:

If you don,t go of the booster then where is the best place Blown ?

Where the BOF line is , tap into that....that's the way mine is tapped in and its reading is spot on

[Guest surreal_jippo]

I wouldn't be muckin roudn with the brake boost

[Mals BA XR6T]

Now I'm worried!! What can happen? And why would Gaugeworks recommend to install the gauge this way if it's NOT a good idea?

[Blown BA]

  Mals BA XR6T said:

Now I'm worried!! What can happen? And why would Gaugeworks recommend to install the gauge this way if it's NOT a good idea?

Because l don't think they know what they're talking about, maybe someone should tell that.

[Guest 56Mainline]

Best place IMO is as close to the intake manifold as is possible.

The T's ECU measures it's turbo boost signal just near the throttle body.

There is a hose plumbed from between the intake manifold & throttle body that traces back to the BOV. Breaking into that hose will provide a gauge reading that is as close to what the ECU reads & then limits your boost to (on stock vehicles). Also will read as close as is possible to the true intake manifold vacuum pressure.

The further the measureing point for the pressure signal from the intake manifold back towards the turbo compressor, the higher the measured boost pressure will be. For example: at the intake manifold you would read say a peak boost of 6psi. If you progressivily took measurements of peak boost along the intake duct, across the intercooler, the reading would also increase progressively to a max of about 9psi when you got to the delivery side of the turbo.