Do I need a Turbo Boost Gauge?

[Shadow]

All turbo cars should have a boost gauge....
But to answer you question---no, you don't need a boost gauge....
Is it a useful gauge to have? Absolutely....

Head.
Spinning.
Must ask Magic 8-ball....

Right...first line is my opinion. Second line is factual. Third line is again my opinion, backed up by facts.

The real question isn't whether or not you need a boost gauge or not....it's more like do you really want a boost gauge.

BTW, I'm not a fan of digital read-out boost gauges. Nothing beats a sweeping needle.

And ignore the "do not exceed 1 bar" people. That's crazy talk. I've had quite a few cars that ran 20 lbs of boost or even a bit higher. Hell, your Audi can do that too with nothing but a tune and your tiny K03 turbo.

[watkins]

[*]Boost should never exceed 101.3 kPa/1 Bar/15 PSI/760 Torr/any.other.nonstandard.pressure.unit.equalling.atmospheric.pressure[/list]

Umm.... No? 15psi was BASE boost in my old car. Boost should never exceed the limits of the system, be that a 4psi low-pressure application or 40psi or more on a tuned engine.

[potownrob]

[AHTOXA]

[*]Boost should never exceed 101.3 kPa/1 Bar/15 PSI/760 Torr/any.other.nonstandard.pressure.unit.equalling.atmospheric.pressure[/list]

Umm.... No? 15psi was BASE boost in my old car. Boost should never exceed the limits of the system, be that a 4psi low-pressure application or 40psi or more on a tuned engine.

Stock Sonic's 14 or 16 lbs of boost. Tuned conservatively, there are lots of Sonics running around with 23 lbs and nothing but a tune.

[watkins]

Thats pretty much the case with my generation of Saabs as well. Just a tune can bump up boost psi from mid-teens to low-twenties.