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Old 05-06-2010, 10:45 PM   #71 (permalink)
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Serenity - '93 Sentra SE-R
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Thought I'd contribute to a post that helped me out a lot. Here's my setup:





Found my connection at a black hose between the intake manifold and the valve cover. No rough idling or anything so far, and she idles between 18-16hg and goes to about 10 during normal acceleration. Haven't had her go past 20 yet though, even on downhill or braking.

Got the 3/8" hose from Lowes for $.52/foot (only needed 1 foot), a plastic tee (3/8", $2.04) and a few clamps from Oreilly for $3. The rest of the fittings and the hose came with the gauge (a Sunpro black for $26 from Autozone, just like the one the first poster has).


As far as the ability to detect shift points, I kind of wondered what the OP meant by that, but the more I got used to the gauge, the more I could tell what he meant. If you shift too early, your RPM's will be too low when you go into the next gear, and you'll have to push the pedal down farther, sending you under the 10hg mark. You have to start shifting a little bit higher up in the RPM's to get into the correct power band where you don't open the throttle as much. Of course, it depends on your gearing, but for me it seems to be around 2500rpm (some people said 2000, it just depends on your car of course).


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Old 07-17-2010, 04:33 PM   #72 (permalink)
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Got mine installed

Well, got it installed with a few bumps along the way. I installed one and was puzzled when it didn't work. Finally I realized I bout one with a positive scale only for a turbo. Duh! Stated it up and it sat at about -18 psi at idle. About to give it a road test!

I like this mod because I do not have a tack and even if I did, sometimes it is hard to pick a gear. Should I drive in 5th at 55 MPH or is it lugging too much?? Hopefully with this gauge I will be able to figure these things out and I am certain it will lead to better mileage. Spent about $50 on the gauge + housing so it will take a while to pay off but I am sure it will eventually!
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Old 07-17-2010, 07:36 PM   #73 (permalink)
...beats walking...
 
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...yes, the vacuum gauge will certainly "pay for itself" when you use.
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Old 07-17-2010, 09:46 PM   #74 (permalink)
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Wow! Drove to work with the new gauge and I know I can use it to squeek out a lot better mpg. Turns out, my idea that keeping the rpms low once I got up to speed has been killing my MPG's I also learned to play the throttle a bit under acceleration. By using light throttle at first and then increasing throttle as the reves increase I can accelerate almost as fast but much more efficiently. Can't wait to see my improvement on the next tank!
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Old 07-22-2010, 10:50 AM   #75 (permalink)
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i cant wait to put one in my metro and my jeep
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Old 07-29-2010, 05:17 PM   #76 (permalink)
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Hello everybody, now, this may be a silly question, but will a vacuum gauge work on diesels engines ? If so, would the readings be any different ? Thanks.
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Old 07-29-2010, 09:52 PM   #77 (permalink)
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Hi pistonbroke, a vacuum gauge will not measure any vacuum on a diesel engine. The reason is simple, diesel engines do not have a throttle valve. Since there is no restriction between the engine and the atmosphere, there is no negative pressure to register.

Know, if the diesel engine has a turbo charger, you may use a pressure gauge to measure the boost, indicative of the load of that engine. But if the engine is naturally aspirated, there is no way using vacuum or pressure gauges, that you can measure the engine load.


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