How many of you all have a boost gauge for your comptech supercharger? And do you really think you need one?

 

a boot gauge should definitely be top of the list when you go either turbo or sc. this way you will know for sure that your not overboosting

 

Well I was always under the impression that a boost guage was not as important in a supercharger as it was in a turbo. A supercharger's boost is already at a set point due to the gears or belts depending on what type of supercharger it is. A turbo on the other hand is not set. Without a wastegate, technically, there is no limit to boost except for the size of the turbo itself. So the possiblities of overboosting or underboosting are greater because boost is dependent on the flow of exhaust gases.

That being said, it cant hurt to have a boost guage.

 

The gauge is good for a few reasons. First of all, it's good to show that everything is operating normally. If the boost isn't getting to 6PSI on your gauge, this might tell you that you're belt is loose or slipping. Without a boost gauge you really have no idea if the SC is performing the way it should be. Secondly, if you plan on modding the SC kit, such as doing a boost upgrade, you're going to want to be able to measure the boost. 1RandyC has intercooled his SC and noted that it dropped the peak PSI by 2 PSI. This is great information in choosing a pulley for his next step of his boost upgrade, because he can now get his desired peak PSI, knowing that the IC actually drops the peak PSI by two PSI. Without the gauge he would blindly guess at what PSI he was actually running on the car.

The same goes for other gauges such as Air/Fuel and EGT. I don't really use them on a daily basis, they don't help me with my performance, but if anything went wrong with my setup I'd notice it on the gauges. I can see that at WOT I'm running rich (not lean) and that my exhaust temps aren't through the roof...it's just good information to be able to check from time to time.

 

I put one with the SCer , like Wes said just in case your SCer feels different you'll know if it's still boosting 6psi.