4" Magna-flow exh, DP chip, AFE II intake, Boost buster thingy, CCV kit, Fuel Tank Pre-Pump kit & HPX line, on the way from ITP.

Already have my EGT & Trans temp gauges (autometer Phantom II).

But havent ordered my boost gauge yet, how much boost will a stock turbo put out w/the above mods ?

Is a 35psi gauge enough or should I get the 60?

 

With a stock turbo, the 35 psi gauge will be plenty. It takes quite a bit of mods, and an upgraded turbo to get where you'll need a 60 psi boost gauge.

 

I went with a 30 pound, but I am not to sure if I shouldn't have gotten more.

 

i got the phantom 60 boost..same price as the 30.. figured why not...

 

The 35psi is more accurate. As long as you have stock injectors, i dont see you getting enough fuel to peg the gauge. With my chip i have *currently*, i can reach 24psi max with my turbo setup.

 

Bad news Ron, and for those looking to get a 60PSI gauge. It will be that much less accurate. 35psi is what I got because after that, I am not in a modified truck anymore, rather a highly modified race/pulling truck.

A stock turbo will defuel at about 25psi. Modded ones, even with an aftermarket turbo will still operate under 35psi. Beyond that involves serious engine modifications or you will break stuff. Even the stock forged units.

So, 35psi will give you the best reading. A 60 will still work but will generally operate in the lower 1/2 of the range. In other words, I predict an error margin of about 2x. Let me expand before I get flamed, if the 35psi unit is off by 2psi for whatever reason, I would suspect that a 60psi unit would be off by 4psi due to the laws of physics.

Could also look at it as using a Ft-lbs torque wrench in a inch-lbs scenario.

 

so your telling me the guy at pure diesel lied too me???he told me there is no differnts other then it reads up to 60.. if this is true ill be calling him and i wont be happy.....

 

I went with the 60psi because im allways trying to get more power out of my vehicles. Im not really planning on having a sled pulling truck, or trying to run 12s in the 1/4 mile. But when the mods start to stack up and boost gets to be more, I like having things done right the first time, no need to do something twice.

 

By that logic, you shouldn't get a pyro marked higher than 1300*, or a transmission guage marked higher that 200*, because you shouldn't go that high and your guages will be less accurate. From what I've read, mechanical guages are most accurate in the middle 1/3 of their range. I want my boost, pyro, and trans temp guage to be most accurate at high boost and high temperature. I don't care how accurate the boost guage is at 5 psi, but I want it to be very accurate when it is at 30psi. My experience with mechanical guages also makes me think a 60psi guage will last longer than a 35psi. I have a 60psi and I can easily take it to 30 lbs towing. Running at 65mph, it reports 3-5psi, at 80mph 7-10 psi, which is the same boost that guys with 35psi guages report, so I don't think there is much difference in accuracy.

Buy what you want. The boost guage is mostly just for cool factor anyway, the pyro and transmission temp are way more important. The 35psi guage has a lot of cool factor because you can really make the needle jump when you get on it. The 60 psi guage has cool factor, just thinking of the money you'd get to spend to get the needle into the top half of the guage.

 

Clux, you know I couldn't let this go. My tranny temp never really moves because it is not supposed to. When it does, I want to know how bad it is getting. The pyro needs to tell me what is going on. We are talking temps in the thousand degree mark. There's a big swing there.

My point about the boost gauge, cool and all, was that a lesser sweep gauge will be more accurate, cool or not. Perhaps you should post what you have read about the middle 1/3 of the boost gauge as well as your longevity perceptions. I was just saying a 35psi gauge is more than adequate for for 99% of the folks with our trucks and any margin of error in the two is magnified, however small.

Like you said, buy what you want. A 60 psi will work. I just don't think it will be as accurate, and yes, the swing on the 35 is much more exciting for most. When it stops swinging like that, I need to look for a boost leak.

 

I have to contribute to this also. It's not that the 60psi gauge is half as accurate as the 35psi gauge. In fact, it is JUST as accurate. However it would APPEAR to read less accurate, because you have to fit almost twice the numbers in the same gauge space. SO instead of reading every pound of boost from 2-35psi, you would read boost in increments of two on the 60psi gauge. It's kinda hard to explain because the gauges are equally accurate however the display is limited on the size of the gauge being the same on the 60psi gauge. If you could take the gauge and expand it to 5" or so, you could easily fit all of the numbers on the gauge and it will be just as easy to read every pound of boost.

 

I think what you are trying to say is that the 60 pound guage would be just as accurate (I think autometer gauges are typically +/- 3 to 5%) but the readability is less precise (2lb increments instead of 1lb increments). I agree with that, but the difference in precision is probably within either guage's accuracy range anyway, so the point is moot as far as I am concerned.

My guage experience is in pneumatics and hydraulics in industrial settings, Tenn, and the rule of thumb there is use a guage who's scale is twice the normal operating pressure of the fluid/air. So if we were working with air at 90 psi operating pressure, we would use a 180psi guage. And using your analogy of torque wrenches,it takes a lot less abuse to throw a 100 in/lb torque wrench out of spec than it does a 200 ft/lb torque wrench. I agree with strokinit that either guage out of the box is probably equally accurate, so buy what you want.

 

Thanks alot all, alot of good info, I'll go with the 35 so that I can see more movement of the needle.

Since most of my driveing is interstate at 75mph, the boost will spend most of its time in the 5-15 range & prolly never go over 30, I think the 35 will be best for me.