I have noticed that there is no real DIY for installing a boost gauge in our club, so since I was installing my own, I decided to do a little how-to on the way

This how-to will explain step-by-step installation of boost gauge and a-pillar pod, if you are not installing a pillar pod, than you can skip few steps and learn how to install a boost gauge itself.

Warning: I’m not responsible for any damage done to your car or yourself, including; cuts, bruises, lost limbs, or any psychiatric problems you might encounter on the way. You’re on your own!!

Ok so lets get to the point

Here are some things that you will need:

A Boost Gauge (I went with AutoMeter, thanks nbviper)
Pillar Pod (also AutoMeter)
~8ft of rubber hose, I went with 1/8” ($0.11 per ft at OSH [Orchard Supply Hardware, similar to Lowe's and Home Depot])
1/8” Rubber hose adapter (to connect tube to boost gauge, $0.79 at OSH)
Vacuum T fitting 3/16”- 3/16”- 1/8”
Extra electrical wire
Small zip locks
And some matched color spray (optional)

Tools:

Knife
10mm Ratchet wrench
Flash-light
Drill
Cloth-hanger
Some Masking tape and electric tape (for wires)



1.Now is a good time to start painting your pillar pod and screws/clips, while they are drying, we can start on some other things.



2.Remove the pillar cover, there are two ways of doing it, the easy way which is just pulling it towards you (and it will simply snap off) or the hard way, pull it down and it will come off. See illustration on how the pins are held in





3. Pull out the fuse box cover



4. Pop the hood, and unscrew the ECU cover. Use a 10mm ratchet wrench, it will be easier to take out the screw in the back, which is a pain in the ass. .



5. Now we will need to make a special VW tool #552 out of a cloth-hanger it will help us get the rubber tube from inside through the firewall into the engine compartment.



6. if you have a manual trans with a clutch then this job will be a lot easier. If you look straight down through the ECU compartment, than you will see your carpet through a small hole , so just slide the special tool that we have just made through the hole and it should look like this



If you have an automatic, than thing will get a little more tricky, you will need to make a hook out of the hanger and somehow bring it into the fuse box compartment under your dash.

7. You will need some kind of device to bring the rubber hose from the fuse box down to clutch hose; it might be a pain in the ass but its probably the easiest way. My hands ware skinny enough to fit in there and just put it in the hole

Automatic people, you will have to find the hanger that you have just dropped and attach the rubber tube to it, good luck

a little update, I have not done this, but it might be another option for Tip people

Thanks to The Limey

I couldn't figure out how to get the ECU cover off, lol. That rear bolt hounds still. So I was looking around the firewall for something else and I notice a hole that may or not have already been there a hole with the my amp power wire going through (It was to the right of what looked like the brake booster?). I found where it came though into the inside of the car and it came out behind the brake pedal. I just pushed the tube through that hole (took a couple times), pulled it through and I routed it the same as the amp wire but I thread it up and through past the fuse box/frame of car

Click to expand...

8. tape the tube to the hanger with a peace of masking tape and pull it out though the firewall.




9. Now we will need to bring the hose down to the engine, luckily German engineers thought about people like us , there are little nipples that can be cut off in the rubber seal. So cut them off



10. Now feed the rubber hose though the holes that you just made. It should looks something like this



11. Locate a vacuum hose that we will be attaching the gauge to, (it is a 6-8in long hose, connecting the manifold to the fuel pressure regulator, its covered with some kind of protecting fabric), and cut it in half



12. Attach the T-fitting to both sides and into the rubber tube, and secure it with zip locks.



Now is a good time to wash your hands, because we will be going inside and you don’t want to get your seats dirty

13. Slide the other end of rubber hose up to the pillar and Attach the hose adapter, and temporarily connect it to your boost gauge,



14. Make sure you have not left any tools on or near the engine, and start your car. See if the boost gauge is running correctly, it should read at around –20 vacuum at idle. If you get constant vacuum than we are doing great

15. Now we get down to electrical, I have attached two extension cables (about 10 more inches) to the light and ground wires, since they ware so short. I have used butt splices, but if you don’t have any, then just attach extension cable and secure it with some electrical isolation tape.




16. Now we drill , take your pillar cover and your pillar pod and fit it together as it should. Make sure the pod is not to high or two low, so it fits back. Drill two ¼ inch holes in the center of where the pod will be installed (one for the tube and other for the wires)



17. Now it’s a good time to drill the screw holes, because when the pillar cover is attached to the car, it will be almost impossible to drill, so drill 4 holes with 3/16” drill bit (see manual for details) though the pod into the pillar (accordingly to the manual!!) but do not attach the screws yet, we will do that later.

18. Put the pillar and the pad together, feed the two wires through the pillar and slide them down to the fuse box, and the rubber tube though the pillar to the boost gauge and attach it.



19. Lets locate the donor cable for the boost gauge light. The best place to attach the cable is to the dimmer switch, its less confusing (less wires) and you can dim your boost gauge with the rest of your gauges. It will be easier to get it out if you remove the light switch. To remove the light switch, just turn the nub counter-clock-wise to the 0 position, then simply push in, and twist the switch clock-wise and the whole thing will come out. Once you have that out, then you should be able to reach in and remove the dimmer switch by squeezing the two plastic locks, (very simple)



20. Remove the black plug from the switch and you will have 3 wires; brown, gray, blue-gray. We will be tapping into the blue-gray (or gray with blue stripe)

If you want to play it safe, then you should disconnect the batter at this point (like I did) I have seen to many things go wrong when the battery is attached , (it will reset all your settings such as radio stations etc…)

Note: there are two wires coming out of your boost gauge, one is for light and the other one is ground, it usually does not matter which wire you connect where, but check the gauge manual for more info in this matter.

There are two ways of tapping in, you can pull out the blue-gray wire and twist it together with the light wire from the boost gauge and put it back in, or you can cut the blue-gray wire in half, and attach the wire that way

I have decided to cut the wire and connect the light wire with a butt splice, it seems more secure that way.



21. Securely connect the ground wire to any available screw connected to metal body.
Like this



22. Put the switches back on, and connect the battery back (if you decided to disconnect it) and turn on the light. Is it working?

23.Put the pillar cover back in, I have found that it’s easier if you put the screws on the pillar cover and just push the whole thing in, now attach the pod with screws.

And voila, you got yourself a complete boost gauge



24. Now just put back the fuse box cover, screw back ECU cover, organize your tools, take the car for a test run, come home, crack open a cold beer and call your buddies to tell them about the cool thing you just installed.

Enjoy


The whole thing took me about 3 hours to do, that’s including taking 30 pictures and eating dinner. So it should not take you more than 1.5 hours


If I have missed some crucial information, or something is just not right then let me know, I’ll hit the update button