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Is the stock boost gauge any use in a R33?

I have been playing round with a bleed valve and nothing I do seems to make the gauge go above the halfway mark.

I know that the unit of measure is very roughly 7 on the gauge is 14psi but does it actually read true at the top of the scale?

All I have done is replace the solinoid with a bleed valve, is there a restriction in the std plumbing that will limit it to the same as the +5000rpm boost level? Because that seems to be all I am getting.

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I wouldn't rust the factory gauge at all !!

It's way too slow....

Get yourself an after market gauge, even if you just borrow one off a mate so you can tune the bleed.

When putting in a bleed valve, take out all the factory piping for the stock stuff. Put in new pipes and the bleed then tune it. Yes the factory pipework has a restrictor in it to limit things.

The brass restrictor is marked by a white/yellow stripe on one of the pipes.

J

The stock boost gauge is pretty useless. The units are difficult to decipher and it lacks markings. It's slow to respond to changes in boost pressure and will not really read spikes or anything well.

You can get a VDO or Autometer boost gauge pretty cheap.

Thanx for the input guys.

Bought a cheapie boost gauge and it is running about 8 pounds. Getting rid of the solenoid out of the circuit and losing the 2 stage boost has made the car HEAPS more fun to drive and won't have raised the peak power by 1 kw.

Really makes you think that something with a big fat midrange is going to cream a dyno queen on the street don't it?

I found that the only real problem with the standard gauge is its size. Its just physically too small for the human eye to read accurately without markings. Comparing it with my Blitz gauge, the needle has about 5cm to move to reach 1 bar, whereas the stockie has maybe 2.5cm. I've noticed that it is a little slower but moves to a position where the maths suggest it should be (ie the mmHg of stock ~= Bar of Blitz).

Also, I set the boost level on a dyno (more accurate than any gauge) to 13 PSI and the needle sits a few mm below +7 where it should be.

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