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How-To Vent Pod/Mechanical Boost Gauge Install

17K views 12 replies 9 participants last post by  liljae8 
#1 · (Edited)
This is for a Prosport Mechanical Boost Gauge.



What you'll need/what could come in handy:
-Extra wire
-Electrical tape
-Wire Strippers
-Phillips Screwdriver
-Mechanical hand
-Zip ties
-Heat gun/hair dryer
-Circuit test light
-Knife (to splice wires)

1. Take the stock defrost vent cover out: Just grab it and pull it out, you're not going to ruin a thing.

2. Take the whole center console out: Here's a link to a write up by JBarone for installing his shifter bushings, it goes over everything you need to do to take the center console apart. *With pics http://www.jamiesplanet.com/support/Shifter_Bushing_Install_3.pdf

3. Take the dash under the steering wheel off: Before you start pulling on the dash, you need to pop the hood release pull tab out of place in order to take the screw out behind it. You also need to take the fuse box cover off (the one inside the car), and there's another piece in the corner of the door jamb (just above the fuse box) that will also need to come out. *I didn't take it all the way off, i just got it out of place, and it was still kind of hanging under the steering wheel.

4. Take Battery and battery box: This is pretty self explanatory, there's really nothing too it; the hardest part was un-clipping all the wiring harnesses. *You may need to take your air box out too, to make taking the battery box out easier.

5. Drill hole in defrost vent: I used a dremmel, and I made the hole just big enough that the tube and the 4 wires to the gauge could fit through. *There's no specific spot to drill, just somewhere in the vent, and if you don't want the wires to show too much, try to drill further into the vent.

6. Find a way through the firewall: If you follow the hood release cable from the inside of the car, you will come upon a rubber grommet that's in the firewall, allowing the hood release cable to pass through. Pull that grommet out of the firewall towards you, and it leaves enough space to get into the engine compartment.

7. Tubing and wiring: For the Prosport mechanical gauge there are 4 wires that need to be wired. Pass those through the hole in the vent and reach up from under the to grab them and pull them down. *A mechanical arm could really be of great use here. The headlight wire I ran into the engine compartment, through the hole in the firewall I made, and attached it straight to the headlight fuse in fuse block (so the gauge turns amber when I turn the lights on). The ground wire I wired straight to the body of the car; I used a bolt that's close to the door jamb (kinda underneath and to the left of the interior fuse block). The wire called "12V accessory power" (as per Prosport's instructions), I wired to the 12V outlet underneath the A/C button (I just spliced into that hot wire and taped it up). the last wire, "Accessory power on" (as per Prosport's instructions) needs to be wired to something that's constantly drawing a current; so I spliced it into the hot wire that goes to the 12V cell phone charger thingy that's in the armrest. Lastly, the tubing, you need to run that through the hole in the vent, and through the hole in the firewall. *Once again, that mechanical arm could really come in handy here. Once you have the tubing through the firewall, you need to cut the skinny tube going to your BPV/BOV, and insert the "T-fitting" into it, and have the tube going to your gauge going to the bottom part of the "T-fitting" (to tube coming from the gauge man need to be heated up in order for the end of it to fit onto the "T-fitting"), zip tie or clamp the ends of the tubes to prevent them from coming off the "T-fitting", as seen in the picture here:



Once that's complete, you are now done, put everything back together, make all your wire taps are taped up well, hook your battery back up, and make sure your gauge lighting is working properly when you turn the ACC on, and when you turn your headlights on.

Hope this helps, and feel free to ask any questions you may have. Enjoy!





(To get a defrost vent pod, you need to get a hold of "blockh3ead" on M3F... He's also on MSF under the name: "GhostSpeed". He uses a stock vent, and molds a plastic cup into the vent... It looks very nice, and he makes it in different sizes for different sized gauges...)
 
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#2 ·
Added some pics, let me know if there's any questions I can help out with if you're planning on doing this.
 
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#6 ·
You got it!
 
#7 ·
I wired to the 12V outlet underneath the A/C button (I just spliced into that hot wire and taped it up). the last wire, "Accessory power on" (as per Prosport's instructions) needs to be wired to something that's constantly drawing a current; so I spliced it into the hot wire that goes to the 12V cell phone charger thingy that's in the armrest. Lastly, the tubing, you need to run that through the hole in the vent, and through the hole in the firewall. *Once again, that mechanical arm could really come in handy here
 
#11 ·
new to the gauge install....Is that the only/best "vacuum/ boost source" to install the "T" fitting to? where did you run the tubing in the engine compartment to get it to the firewall? it seems like you would have to run it all the way around the one side of the engine bay to make a clean install!. I want the install clean and tidy so its not to noticeable and out of the way when doing service and cleaning.
 
#13 ·
I'm about to install my vent Prosport boost gauge and I also need pictures of how the wiring goes. I'm pretty noob when it comes to wiring. Thanks in advance.
 
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