GUIDE: Fitting a Mechanical Turbo Boost Gauge to a Fabia VRS TDi

BEFORE READING PLEASE NOTE I WILL NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE CAUSED TO YOUR VEHICLE IN ATTEMPTING THIS MODIFICATION.

IT HAS WORKED PERFECTLY FOR ME BUT I CANNOT GUARANTEE IT IS RIGHT FOR EVERYONE.

Ok with that crap out of the way I'll carry on.

Tools needed:

- Turbo Boost Gauge ( Pref. 0-30 PSI / 0- 2.5 BAR - VAC not needed but it can be hard to find one without one)

- 3-4 metres (possibly more) of 3mm or 4mm tubing (I used black vaccuum)

- Power Drill

- 13mm Drill Bit

- 15mm Spanner

- PFTE Tape

- Male Tapered Hosetail-Brass 1/4" bspt Thread x 1/8" id Hose (Got mine from BearingBoys :: Bearings Online, Ball Bearings, SKF Ball Bearings, FAG Ball Bearings, Roller Bearings - cost 75p + P&P)

Looks like this:

- Cable Ties

- Flatheaded screwdriver

- NoBuzz Inline restrictors (optional)

1. First open up your bonnet and take a look.

We need to tap into an intercooler pipe to take a reading. I chose the hard plastic black pipe running along the left hand side of the engine bay.

2. Remove the pipe. This can be tricky as those rubbish clips are holding it in. I found wedging a flatheaded screwdriver and prising them up worked. Retain the clips.

3. Now choose where you would like to mount the brass nipple. I chose the left of the pipe near the top. Take your drill and 13mm drill bit and CAREFULLY drill a hole in the piping, being careful not to go through to the other side. Be sure to clean up and remove any swarf.

4. Take your brass nipple and carefully wrap the thread in PFTE tape. This helps to give a good seal.

5. Carefully screw the nipple into the hole, make sure it goes in straight, and do it until its fingertight, now take your spanner and tighten - BUT NOT TOO MUCH, you'll need to judge when enough is enough yourself, too much could shear the thread, however this is unlikely as the thread is tapered - also giving a good seal.

6. Push your vaccum tubing down over the nipple and refit the plastic pipe.

7. Now the nerve racking bit is done, now for the tricky bit. You need to route the tubing into the cabin. I couldnt find anywhere easy to access on the drivers side, so I chose the passenger side. At the back of the engine bay near the bonnet prop you should see a large grommit (you can see my power cable going through it) with a very small grommit below it, and behind it another large grommit at the back under the scuttle panel. Hold the scuttle panel back, remove both grommits and drill a small hole in the centre of the larger one, then feed your tubing through.

8. Now take a wire coat hanger and straighten it, tape your tubing to it and feed it into the cabin through the rear grommit, this can be tricky but it should work (You will need to remove the glovebox to get at it). When the tubing is inside the cabin refit the grommits. Make sure you secure the tubing in the engine bay, I chose to secure it to the vaccum tubing at the rear of the engine bay.

9. Congrats. The hard work is done. Now you need to install your boost gauge. Finding a suitable place to mount it is difficult. There are a variety of pods on eBay, with pillar and vent mounts being the most "OEM" looking.

You will need to wire in your gauge, I simply hard wired into ISO loom from my headunit.

10. With regards to the boost tubing, fittings differ on the make of gauge. Mine was a push fit, and I tightened a cable tie around it to prevent leaks.

If your gauge is buzzing - you need to fit restrictors or clamp the line slightly.

I used the above method to fit my gauge and now have no problems since ironing out some teething problems which were my own stupid fault. I get readings of a peak of 20psi and holding at 19psi when booting the car in 3rd and 4th, dropping to around 15-16psi at the redline (standard map, decat)

Edited 15 September, 200817 yr by ultra_joel88