Write-up: Installing Boost & Air/Fuel Ratio Gauge

[duffman1278]

Fork???? lol

As for your 1st statement, I dunno what it means by "source" I'm not really too good with electrical.

[funigui]

since you got power from the radio harness, the fuse should be the first thing connected to the harness. then the wire run to the gauge

[D1S13]

for the purple wire that connects to the 02 sensor

what part of the sensor does it connect to?

[EazyBreazy]

Im gonna have to make a soldering how to, i've seen some abysmal work lol, not poking fun, but none of the work you did would pass any sort of quality assurance check in my previous job as a solder monkey in the Marine Corps. I'll try to get around to that sometime this year

Other than that little issue I have, the install looks nice and clean.

and to simplify what the other guy was saying about the fuse, a fuse should always be placed between the place your getting the power from and the item being powered so that if anything happens your the item you want protected is in fact protected.

[D1S13]

want to hook up my autometer air/fuel

but instructions dont exactly point out where to connect the purpule wire

any help?

[duffman1278]

Yea, I don't solder, rarely ever.

[EazyBreazy]

Yea, I don't solder, rarely ever.

exactly why i want to do a write up, so that people whom arent experienced with soldering have more explanation than that on the back of the package your iron came in. In addition to that, I can give advice as to how to make the connections in a manner in which the wires can be tied off easily and the connections are extremely sound with good conductivity and strength.

[duffman1278]

There was a thread about this awhile ago on zilvia. I think the pics MIGHT be taken down now though, still it would help alot, but when I tried to solder, I tried heating the wires and then have the solder on the opposite side of the iron so that the solder would melt onto the wire but I dunno if the wires were too thick to heat up or what, but the solder would NEVER spread so I would just get the solder and touch the iron and spread it like that, I know thats not how you're suppose to do it, but it was getting fustrating.

[EazyBreazy]

flux, a clean solder tip and 650-700 degrees are your friend. I will seriously be doing an how to here very soon, tinning the wires(which should be done before attempting to solder any two wires together) is one of the steps virtually no one knows about. Mind you I worked on aircraft instrumentation, circuit cards, and harnesses, utilizing about a 5000 dollar setup to do most of my previous work, but it can all be done on cheaper equipment with the right knowledge

[White Comet]

since the soldering has already been discussed, i figured i'd let u know theres an easier way to wire the a/f ratio gauge. instead of going to the O2 sensor you go go to the same wire, just catch it where it goes to the ecu. it does the same thing its just easier then going to the engine bay. i can take pics and show the exact wire to go to if anyone wants

[Redevil]

You should probably redo some of your wiring. When you splice a thick gauge power wire to a thin gauge wire, over time the thin gauge wire can heat up enough to catch fire. You should always try and use the same gauge wire. Not trying to be an ahole, just trying to give advice. You can probably get away with it since the fuse hodler is right there and it's low amperage.

I was working on an old pickup truck at circuit city one time and the owner had wired up an ignition kill switch in which he spliced some very thin gauge wire to a thicker gauge wire. I had the ignition on for a while and forgot it was on when I was working on it b/c the lights in the cluster were not working. So all of the sudden something started smoking under the hood and I had to quickly disconnect the battery and try and figured out what caused the fire. It was entirely his fault but the kids father tried to blame me since I was working on the car when it happened.

[duffman1278]

Well I couldn't find a fuse holder with that type of gauge wire.

[duffman1278]

since the soldering has already been discussed, i figured i'd let u know theres an easier way to wire the a/f ratio gauge. instead of going to the O2 sensor you go go to the same wire, just catch it where it goes to the ecu. it does the same thing its just easier then going to the engine bay. i can take pics and show the exact wire to go to if anyone wants

Yea pics would help, thanks

[Redevil]

You can make one if you don't have one. Just use 2 female crimp connectors and tape them together after you crimp your wires. Then just pop a fuse in. That's basically what a fuse holder is, except the connectors are molded into a plastic or rubber casing so it looks nicer.

[duffman1278]

Wow! Thats simple yet smart, good idea. I'll probably just get a wideband for the O2 sensor though. These lights don't even dance for me lol it just stays on rich

[positron1]

Quick question about the install you people did on the boost gauge. I'm looking at the instructions for the Autometer boost gauge and it says to take the nylon pressure line and attach it to the back of the gauge using the adapter, ferrule and compresion nut. When I do this I am then able to slide the nylon pressure line right out of the assembled adapter...what did you guys do to hold this line in. The only thing I can see is that you would have to get a pair of pliers and squeeze that ferrule so that it clamps around the pressure line without squeezing it off and that would keep the pressure line from sliding out of the compression nut/adapter????? What did you do?????

[duffman1278]

There's a little metal piece you have to get that slides into hte nylon, its a brass piece that will basically put pressure on the hose when you tighten it to the boost gauge keeping the hose intact. I'll post up the name of the thing when i remember.

[duffman1278]

Its like this. I think its called a compression sleevehttp://www.dialmfg.com/photogallery/9310.jpg

[positron1]

That looks like the "ferrule" that they refer to. That's the part that I can't get to tighten up on the pressure hose.

[White Comet]

Yea pics would help, thanks

yeah i'll try to get pics later but its snowing so we'll see

[duffman1278]

That looks like the "ferrule" that they refer to. That's the part that I can't get to tighten up on the pressure hose.

I have one, I could probably send it to you, cause when I ordered mine, they gave me a packet of like 10 and I have about 5 in my drawer not used. I could probably put it in an envelope and send it to you?

[positron1]

I have one, I could probably send it to you, cause when I ordered mine, they gave me a packet of like 10 and I have about 5 in my drawer not used. I could probably put it in an envelope and send it to you?

I've got one but it just slides around when I put it on the nylon pressure line, could I not be tightening the compression nut and adapter enough when I put them together? I don't want to overtighten it and mess up something.

[duffman1278]

Well when you put it in, it should slide but when you tighten the bolt, it'll compress it to where you can't take it out, trust me, i've tried to take mine out from the nylon hose. Try tightening it up a bit more.

[positron1]

Well when you put it in, it should slide but when you tighten the bolt, it'll compress it to where you can't take it out, trust me, i've tried to take mine out from the nylon hose. Try tightening it up a bit more.

Yes! This is what I needed to know! Thanks again!

[tercel drifter]

where did you find that face plate to hold your gauge

[duffman1278]

I bought mine on ebay