Boost Gauge DIY Install

[dancet]

I know there are already a bunch of DIY's on boost gauge installs, but most of them are for:

a) Left hand drive model or;
b) A-pillar installs or;
c) A combination of a) and b)

So I thought I'd take some photos (albeit grainy) for anyone considering a steering column boost gauge setup on a right hand drive model Mk4 GTi. I did this install a few weekends ago.

Ok so first, you need to get your hands on a boost gauge, some kind of pod or mounting device and the associated wiring/tubeing. Thanks to fellow VWW members who pointed me in the direction of this site: http://www.amtuning.com.au/newsouth.htm . I talked to Walter @ AMTuning and he was very helpful. My new columnpod arrived a few days after making the bank deposit, so multiple thumbs up there.

Pop your bonet and remove the black engine covers. There is the main one, but also remove the smaller one towards the front of the engine. 7 large phillips head screws all up to remove these. You will be presented with the following:



Now you need a flathead screw driver or equivalent to pry the covers off the nuts holding the windscreen wipers on. Use a 13mm socket and remove the nuts. The wipers need to come off, and they can be a real pain to remove! I managed to wiggle the left wiper off, but the right wiper wouldn't budge. I suggest a small spray of WD40 and 5 mins for the WD to work its magic.

After you muscle the wipers off, unscrew the four phillips head screws covering the pollen filter on the right side. Pull the cover up and out to remove. Now is a good time to inspect your pollen filter. Clip it out and give it a clean if needed.

Next you can remove the weather stripping that runs along the top between the winscreen wiper cowling and the engine bay. It should just lift off no worries. Now you need to lift the wiper cowling off. This is all one piece and is held in place by a tongue and groove type setup. You should be able to get your fingers in between the top lip and the bottom of the windscreen just enough to pop it up. Once you get one section up, work your way along until it's free. Move it up out of the way.

Now you should be able to see the ECU in the centre of the car and some other goodies. Now locate the fuel pressure regulator hose on the bottomish right side of the engine. I found there wasn't much slack in this hose and snipped it about half way along in a straight section. Insert the T connector provided (or purchased) and position so it's facing to the left. You can connect the boost gauge line to the 3rd end of the T connector and find good place to run the hose.



I covered it with some plastic insulation for protection and ran it along the fuel line and onto some other cables, securing it with cable ties.



The large, square plastic gromit above the hose in this next photo can be lifted up so the hose can simply run below it. I had read multiple DIY's for a boost gauge install and most of them talked about running the cable through a gromet that comes out just above the accelerator pedal or through the wiring loom just next to the windscreen wiper motor. I did some poking around and couldn't find the gromet in the footwell (on either side) and the wiring loom looked a lot different to pictures. It didn't look very inviting, or removable. So I pulled out the gromit that houses the boot release cable and drilled a small hole in the side of it. A little bit of vaseline and the hose was now running through the gromit and back into the inside of the car.

[dancet]

On the inside remove the fuse cover and the side panel which pulls off. (Photo stolen from somewhere...credit to the person who took it.)



The two bottom kicker panels on the driver side, a horizontal clip-on cover under the kicker panels and the mounting bracket under all this need to come off also. There are 11 torx screws all up and you should have excellent access to the wiring inside with all this off.

You may need a friend to thread the boost hose down so you can see it moving around amongst the wiring. Grab it and pull enough length through to reach the steering column. For power you can tap the grey-blue wire on the dimmer switch. This is variable 12v I believe and will dim your boost gauge with the rest of your instrument cluster. The reddish brown wire is ground from memory, but a multi-metre is your friend!

Now trim wires and hose as required, plug it all into your boost gauge, double check everything and turn your car on. I idle at about 20 In Hg. If you want, take you car for a quick drive to make sure it's all working correctly. To secure the column pod to my steering column I bought some thick, double sided 3M tape and cut long strips, stuck two strips together, then used them to secure the pod.



All the wiring should run easily back and down to the right of the steering wheel and out of sight. Here are some more snaps. Again, sorry about the poor quality.

[brackie]

Well done. Good to see this kind of thing. One of these days I'll get 'round to creating a separate forum for descriptions like this and moving the threads in to it.

[blue_reality]

just did this today, found it is easier to pull that grommet out and slide it up the bonnet release cable, work on it where you had proper access to it and then feed the line down that way, then plug the grommet back down last

only needed to take off the drivers side wiper and didn't need to take off the plastic bit next to the windscreen.. but MAN there was alot of leaves and crap down there

used an autometer cobalt boost gauge to suit the blue theme of the speedo etc and the vac line was VERY thin, 1/8th or something tiny

use the grey wire with the trace for the + of the wiring to the gauge light, and as mentioned, the brown wire for ground.

you can access all this with that panel next to the fuse box pulled off, just pop the dimmer controller out and unplug the green connector on the back of it...

ran the vac line along the bonnet release cable all the way until i got near the vac lines for the FPR and then tee'd it in there, seems to be working fine!

[Madz]

Great post - I've just followed it to install my autometer gauge I kept out of my previous car.

Just a couple of tips I wanted to add:

1) For getting the wipers off - I used the WD40 as recommended, then I fed a rag under the wiper arm, moved it down to where the wiper bolts on and used it to pull upwards on the wiper arm at the same time as I pushed downwards near where the wiper hinges (depress the hinge down towards the car) - I found the wipers came straight off like this.

2) I decided to replace the pollen filter - not sure what the genuine ones are worth but i was able to get a Ryco one for about $25 bucks....

Good luck!
Mick