Boost gauges - mech. vs electric?
 

The greddy turbo kit I just purchased had an Autometer Phantom mechanical boost gauge thrown in with it - I noticed that it's mecanical - you have to run a vac hose into the cabin to it.
Are mechanical boost gauges good enough to use? Accuracy/response/reliability?

I noticed the electronic boost gauges are $150+ - wow. I suppose because they include a MAP sensor and have peak boost memory etc. which would be cool to have, but I'd rather keep the money and use the one I've got if it will work accurately enough.
Here's the one I have:
http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku

What do you guys think?

they are usually within 1-2psi.

they read correctly but the scale may be off. no real reason to dump $150+ into a boost gauge....

Just make sure to keep an eye on how you run your vac. line.

Make sure you don't have any kinks or pinches, and it will work just fine.

Used them for years.

-meaty

I'm pretty sure that mechanical gauges get more innacurate as they reach the limit of the gauge. Mine is pretty good up until about 11-12psi, but when I get any higher, the accuracy drops off.

I hit boost cut at 16psi when the gauge is only reading 14psi.
On my initial build, I dyno'd with a MAP sensor showing spikes to over 18psi and the gauge never got above 15psi.

I knew if I ever wanted to boost above 15psi, the gauge was going to be the least of my worries, so I bought a ~30-15psi unit from StewartWarner for the fidelty. I can accurately see 1/4psi increments on the gauge. Perhaps a gauge that reads higher won't have the innacuracies lower on the gauge.

I have a prosport electric boost gauge and its pretty accurate everywhere from -20inhg to 0 psi. LOL

I have one of those too, not installed yet but will be soon. Are you saying it is inaccurate above 0 psi?

Got my digital boost gauge from ProSport for $80. Think you can find them from a 3rd party for less. Mine matches what my Profec A says.

http://prosportgauges.com/Digital-boost-1.aspx

Lol, well for now my greddy is going to be running as intended by greddy - so 4.5-5 psi and with nothing but the vortech fmu. If it were even creeping up to 6 psi I'd need to know so I could adjust the wastegate b/c that's not very safe without anything else done - no IC, no fuel upgrades, etc.

Since this gauge is a 30 vac - 20 psi, the 0 - 5 psi gap is pretty small on the gauge... I don't think I'm going to be able to tell the difference between 5 psi and 6 psi on the gauge if it has a bit of innacuracy.....

-Ryan

Are you saying it's crap? How did you test it? This gauge looks good on paper as it's electric and has a nice price and is digital so you don't have to read a needle gauge, it just gives you the number straight... I'd buy it unless you're saying it's no good...

-Ryan

i dont believe he's turboed yet....

;)

DOH! :head slap:

sorry :) well then this seems like a nice affordable electronic boost gauge!

I have a very similar autometer that is also mech - it's a nice gauge, works well moves quickly/smoothly and like the guys say watch the line going into it for pinches etc.. Other than that I happen to like analog gauges for some things and this is one of them. Also a ~50$ autometer (works perfectly well) vs 150+ dig = 100 to put towards somthing else :-) Autometer doesn't suck - they're not the high end but they're not the bottom either. If you don't like the -30 - 20 sell it and get the -30 - 15 (unless you're going to go big later in which case a 50$ gauge will be the one of the cheapest components in the mix anyway).

http://prosportgauges.com/green-whit...ost-gauge.aspx

$55 for an electric that looks like an analog

I've had 2 brand new Autometer boost gauges, each were over 50$ each. Right out of the fuggin box both were showing boost! One of them after installing in the car shows 4psi with the car OFF.

I'd buy the ProSport, seriously. its like $70 for an electric and they're really accurate.

Yeah that is the one I have, but with a clear lens instead of smoked. The smoked looks cool but I read some complaints the smoked is hard to read in daylight.

For reference my digital ProSport read -10 to -11 @ idle and 0 @ off.

Didn't really understand this post...

sorry wasn't thinking when I typed, meant "Idle"

is that good or bad...?