I got my lotek tripple gauge pod the other day. Got all my gauges wired up to it and I'm having a problem getting my boost gauge to not kink the line.
First problem - With the fitting that goes on the back of the boost gauge It's almost to long to fit into the little pod without bending the line. What the heck am i supposed to do? Why does Autometer use that crappy hard plastic line? Also I crushed that little brass fitting that goes inbetween the two pieces before you attach it to the gauge. Guess I did it up a little to tight. Can I get another one of those? Can I pick one up at the local auto parts store or home depot?
Also I modified my stock pillar so that the lotek goes over top of it nice and neat. But with the wiring it wont pop back into place with the OEM clips. What is up with that? I guess I just need to clean up the wiring a bit or remove the OEM pillar peice and just screw it to the medal pillar. What do you guys think?
One thing I dont understand is how that tiny little line can read a proper vacuum or boost reading. God you can barely blow air through the line with my mouth that autometer gives you.
You can put whatever vacuum line on there you want, I have a rubber line on mine...
The point of the line is to give pressure differences, it doesn't need to flow any volume of air, just pressure, which reads easily through even the smallest diameter hoses.
4cyltuner.com - Information Source For 4 Cylinder Tuners
Buy stuff from CarCustoms Ebay! Won't be disappointed!
So I can put a rubber line in. That hard plastic line is pure crap and impossible to work with. What about that little brass fitting that goes onto the line then in between the two brass fittings and then attaches to the gauge?
As long as you can get the rubber hose to attach tightly on the gauge, you can use whatever fittings or methods you want, mine is attached using zip ties
Make sure you don't get too soft of a rubber hose, it will either balloon or collapse under pressure or vacuum.
4cyltuner.com - Information Source For 4 Cylinder Tuners
Buy stuff from CarCustoms Ebay! Won't be disappointed!
If you have a local NAPA or other parts store around. Get "air-brake line hose" its black plastic, $ cheap $, and DOT approved.
Ill try and get something which is pretty close to the origional hose that came with the gauge. I talked with a guy at the performance shop where I bought the gauge. He said I can get a new little 1/8" fitting that will go on the line. I might try to use the origional plastic line again but I need one of those fittings first.
Ill check for a new rubber/plastic hose when I go to the local parts store.
Hopeully I can get this installed today. Been fighting with this for two days. Also with this lotek tripple pod as well.
That hard plastic line isn't crap man....it just doesn't work how you want it to. There's a big difference. The plastic hose has been amazing in my case because I couldn't route a rubber hose through the area the plastic hose is in.
I used to race cars, now I race myself.
5K PB: 24:50
10K PB: 54:26
I'm on my 2nd boost gauge, and had no issues whatsoever with the line becoming kinked. Both gauges (autometer) came with the same fittings to attach it.
Not sure what you mean by "crushed" the brass fitting, but that's supposed to squish somewhat, to ensure you get a proper seal.
And the whole idea of the Lotek pod is to REPLACE your stock piece, not placed overtop of it. I don't think I've ever heard of anyone doing that before, and frankly it makes me chuckle to think of it.
14.330 @ 96.37mph
BlownBlackZ wrote:And the whole idea of the Lotek pod is to REPLACE your stock piece, not placed overtop of it. I don't think I've ever heard of anyone doing that before, and frankly it makes me chuckle to think of it.
Lotek's pod
goes over your stock piece. It screws fast with two phillips screws.
Here is a little update. I finally got my gauges installed yesterday. I figured out a way that the boost gauge would fit in the pod properly.
First off I finished running the autometer hard plastic line through my firewall and put it in some nice wire loom and got it zip tied into place to "t" off the FPR line.
I cut the FPR line then I grab the "t" fitting that came with the boost gauge. It's the wrong type of "t" fitting. It is the kind that you push your rubber line over top of and the our OEM line is hard plastic. So I was like GREAT! now what am i supposed to do. I have a cut FPR line and no "t" fitting to go in there.
So I remove the FPR line off the car and S/C. Grab the "t" fitting and trying and figure out what to do. So what I did was I pushed the hard plastic line inside the "t" fitting. It just barely slid into the "t" fitting. Then I got some crazy glue and sealed the two ends up and let it dry. That baby is not leaking or coming apart.
I put the FPR line back in place and hooked up the gauge line to it on the other side b/c it comes with this rubber adapter which seals it up to complete the "t" setup. So that part was done.
So I went to work on the pod. I think the reason I couldnt get the pod pushed up into the OEM clip holes b/c my wiring was a complete mess behind the pod. I cleaned that up and got it up into the OEM clips holes.
So the way I found how to get my boost gauge in properly without bending the hard plastic line was to turn it completely sideways. That way that stupid long copper fitting wouldnt bend the line against the back of the pod cup. I figured this out b/c I was test fitting with my old double pod setup on how the line would come out of the pod cup. Thats b/c the brass fitting is on the bottom of the gauge. So with it turned on its side, the gauge easily runs the line out the back of the pod hole nicely with kinking it.
So I have my gauge on it's side. It actually looks pretty good like that. My vacuum is about 17-20 which points straight up. Then when off ( at "0") the arrow points to the right. Then goes past zero towards the dash when in boost. You get the idea.
Last night I was just hitting slightly over 5PSI, almost 6. I'm pretty happy now I know how much boost I'm getting.
Ill post pictures up later on today.
Regards,
