Wegster,
Everything you have just suggested is exactly what I've already done. The fact is, when Westpak installed the prototype on his 350Z, he said it read about 1.5~2 PSI higher although he didn't specify at what range. I can always "fudge" the gauge face a little to make it seem more accurate. Let me be very clear here: I don't expect anyone to beat a path to my door to buy one of these conversions. I'm trying to appeal to a small segment of the F/I crowd that might not want A-piller gauges or gauges in the center cubby hole.

 

I am going to Bump this due to yerning interest in this thread from a bunch of newer users!

 

I decided to go back to the drawing boards on this project. I'm currently in the process of retrofitting the OEM electrical BOOST gauge used in the 280ZX & 1st gen 300ZX Turbos in place of the mechanical movement used in my original prototype. I don't know if the new movement will support the weight of the plastic pointer needle used in the current 350Z OEM center gauges, though. In addition, as a further nod/tribute to the older Z's, I'm in the process of incorporating an oil temp/oil pressure gauge into where the current OIL gauge is now. This was also done on the 280ZX/300ZX Turbos. So far, it's been a b**ch since it involves heavy cutting/modifying of the plastic housing and relocating some surface mount components (transistors, resistors) on the OEM 350Z center gauge cluster but if I can pull this off, I think it'll look kick a**. Stay tuned!

 

We await your progress Greg. Thanks!

 

Any update? I don't even have boost and I want to see the end of this project.

-Acree

 

He may be busy. He mentioned in another thread that he was going to be moving to TX I think.

 

Yeah, I want to see the end of it too The original BOOST gauge used a mechanical movement but I was not happy with it. I decided to go all out (and back to the drawing board). I have successfully put the electromechanical movement from a 280ZX turbo in place and have made a crude gauge face. The nice thing about this set-up over the mechanical one is that it'll register down to 25 In.Hg on the vacuum side and up to 15 PSI on the boost using it's OEM MAP sensor. In addition, in a nod toward the old-school Z heritage, I'm doing what was done on the 280ZX & 1st gen 300ZX turbos; The NA versions had an oil pressure gauge and a volts gauge. The turbo versions deleted the volts gauge and sustituted a boost gauge in it's place and in addition made the oil pressure guage a combination oil pressure/oil temp gauge. This part of the project is still under way as I finally figured out a way to make the oil temp gauge needle come down out of the top of the cluster. You won't believe the solution and if I can get it to work I think it'll be totally kick a**. Now I know many will simply say "[I]Why bother, the stock gauges aren't accurate, blah blah blah......"; I say true but it'll be accurate [I]enough for my purposes and I'm doing all of this with an eye toward OEM authenticity. I'll post pics at a later time. I'm moving to McKinney, Texas on February 19th and can't wait to get settled in and meet some of the Dallas area 350Z owners. Thanks for bumping up this thread, I appreciate your enthusiasm.

 

I've turned my attention, for the time being, to the oil pressure gauge portion of my ongoing project. Here's a link for some info and pics.

Greg

https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....88#post3563788

 

Im going to update this 9 year old thread...

I would love for Greg to chime back in but who knows if he is still around.

Does anybody know how many of these OEM style boost gauges are around? Because I feel as if I may have just picked up the only one ever produced

 

Where did you these? I want one

Do you have picture of the PCB?

 

PCB meaning the back of the gauge? Like how it is wired?

And easiest way to explain how I got it: A close friend of mine used to be stationed in Cali, he bought a turbo z years ago with this gauge in it. The z was wrecked and he pulled the gauge out. I never heard anything of it and now he lives in PA near me and posted it for sale and I told him I would come grab it. Im putting it in today to see if it still reads anything. I don't have boost in yet but I can at least see if the vacuum will read

 

Yep, I wonder if the boost gauge is driven by a stepper motor or not.

350z uses CAN-bus to transmit all kind of data including oil pressure, speed, etc while on an older car these signals are likely analog

I see

 

Well unfortunately I went to install the gauge today and it is not functional. A few of the wires in the back were no longer connected (you can see in the picture). The mechanical gauge portion seems to be broken. It looks like it used to be glued to the green circuit board but it no longer is and you can move it around and the needle on the gauge moves with it.

So I pulled the gauge back off and reattached all of the wires and went to plug it in with hope it would decide to work and it won't do much of anything. The boost gauge doesn't light up, it doesn't move at all when I rev the engine. It was a depressing day. I wish I could get it functioning again but I do not have the electrical abilities to tear it apart and diagnose/correct it

 

Did you connect the boost gauge to intake plenum?

 

Yea I used the sealed nipple that comes factory on the plenum

 

For anybody concerned about this gauge in the future. I have passed it on to my350z member "Cux350z". Hopefully he can make some progress with it and put it back to work.

 

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/i...205_110545.mp4

back working