in need of some suggestions about boost gauge and controller

ich00

New member
Hey there all,
I've had my all-trac for a few months now and am at the point where I am ready to start doing some performance mods to her. I've been doing a lot of reading here and a few other places and i think so far I've decided to go with a 2.5" or 3" full catback exhaust, 2.5" or 3" downpipe, an intake, a manual or electronic boost controller amd a boost gauge.
I've more or less figured out the exhaust, downpipe and intake, but can't seem to find much info on what way to go with the boost controller and gauge. I think that I am leaning towards the manual controller just because i dont plan on going crazy with mods, I'm just trying to do some basic things to help out with performance. So any help or other suggestions on what make to go with would be great. Thanks!
-Rob
 

Maloy

New member
I prefer the autometer guage, a little pricey but you get what you pay for. I would use a ball and spring type MBC if i were you.
 

d1alltrac

Active member
i suggest a defi boost gauge, defi gauges are some of the nicest ive seen but they are also some of the most expensive. a nice defi gauge will be like $200 but an autometer would only be like $75.

IMO autometer gauges are crap.

for the MBC any ball and spring will work fine, the twos'r'us ones seem to be popular though.
 

theUNYTEDone

Moderator
i've got phantoms right now....uninstalled. hehe...i DID hook up the boost gauge just for test driving purposes. looked really funny from the exterior.
 

toayoztan

Moderator
d1alltrac":1yppc3ah said:
IMO autometer gauges are crap.

I agree, i think they are crap too. Well, not crap...but just overpriced and overrated.

I like Megan Racing. Popular among Nissans. I've tested the megan racing gauges against other gauges and the readings are pretty accurate (in my experience). They look nice too...don't match the stock gauge at all, but i personally don't care, as long as the apillar gauges match heh.

Defi is good too, just a bit on the expensive side. Because of that, if i was going to pay much for defi gauges, i'd go the extra penny and get the electrical ones, very nice.

Bryan
 

SuperWhite92

New member
I had an autometer phantom gauge, and I was perfectly happy until one day when we decided to compare it to a few other gauges, and found it was reading 6 psi high. This upset me. That's not even CLOSE to what it should have been reading.

The VDO read correctly, as did the universal made-in-china $20 wonder purchased from twosrus (actually a pretty cool gauge, IMO). The autometer was off after two years.

I bought a Defi D-Gauge and I'm still happy with it ATM.
 

toayoztan

Moderator
To add to the autometer stories, for the longest time i thought i had a vac leak. It kept showing i was sitting at 15. I slapped on SEVERAL other gauges, all showing me i had 19. Go figure.

Bryan
 

db

Active member
I have Autometer Sport Comps: electric w/ memory and warning LED boost gauge, electric oil pressure, and EGT. They have worked great for me for the last few years. I have no complaints. They just had a new set of Sport Comp II's come out and I'm going to look into them. The new stuff is even more accurate (and expensive I guess). I like the sport comps because they match the stock gauges perfectly.

I don't think they are over priced, unless you are comparing them to VDO or something. They are heavily used and marketed among the American racing industry, so I can't imagine that they are crap.

But I do recommend against installing mechanical gauges which is where most of the problems come from.
 

d1alltrac

Active member
i guess i should reiterate my statement, i think mechanical autometer gauges are crap, i have no experience with their electrical gauges.

from all of my experience with the autometer gauges they have always broken, a friend had an autometer boost gauge on his mustang and the needle literally fell off inside the gauge, one time we put a 20psi autometer boost gauge on my brother's truck (meant for the trac but we did it for fun) and on the first drive it pegged at 20psi and stayed there, even when the truck was turned off, these type of things make me not want autometer gauges.

we might have just gotten a few defective gauges but i think the odds of that are pretty slim.
 

Gary

Moderator
For $45, I don't think it's that bad. I might be the only one in the alltrac community that never have problem with autometer mechanical boost gauge. I have been using it for 5 years and have zero complain. :D
 

SuperWhite92

New member
Gary":3c52s5bv said:
For $45, I don't think it's that bad. I might be the only one in the alltrac community that never have problem with autometer mechanical boost gauge. I have been using it for 5 years and have zero complain. :D

Have you checked to see if it's reading right? I really loved mine until i stumbled across the fact is was wrong.
 

Gary

Moderator
I did test it with an air compressor.
It seems to be OK unless the gauge on the compressor was off. :)
My car idle at 17-19 in.HG and boost 7-10 psi depend on the condition and what gear I'm in.
 

SuperWhite92

New member
Gary":lq8j37tb said:
I did test it with an air compressor.
It seems to be OK unless the gauge on the compressor was off. :)
My car idle at 17-19 in.HG and boost 7-10 psi depend on the condition and what gear I'm in.

Sounds good to me! Stay Happy! :D
 

Gary

Moderator
I got 5 years out of it, so I'm pretty happy with it.
It was affordable for me at that time.
Would I buy Autometer again? Probably not.
I probably invest in nicer Japanese made gauges. :)
 

SuperWhite92

New member
Gary":esubrncb said:
I got 5 years out of it, so I'm pretty happy with it.
It was affordable for me at that time.
Would I buy Autometer again? Probably not.
I probably invest in nicer Japanese made gauges. :)

Why fix what's not broken eh?
 

d1alltrac

Active member
no shame in having an autometer, hell i would rather have an autometer then the autometer rip off i have in there now..."autogauge"...lol
 

d1alltrac

Active member
toayoztan":dsplq4dl said:
Isn't autogage a type/series of the Autometer line? It lists so on their site.

Bryan

yeah "Autogage" is, but "Autogauge" is not :p IIRC i bought it from the ricer section at a local honda dealership or something like that. :lol:
 
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