How To Fit A Vacuum Gauge To the GA series engined Almera
Have a proper right up.
First off, let's explain why you'd want a vacuum gauge. A vacuum gauge is one of the oldest and most useful diagnostic tools you can use. It also acts as a 'poor mans' fuel economy meter - the higher the vacuum the less air is being sucked into the engine, meaning less fuel being used as well.
For the details check here:
http://moodle.student.cnwl.ac.uk/mo...wmedia/toolsEquip/hpt/measuring/vacgauge.html
First off, you need the gauge. I bought mine off eBay, it's a 'Type R' item and cost me just under £11. I also got my pod off eBay too. Generally the gauge will come with a good length of vacuum hose and a t-piece to hook everything up but not to worry if it doesn't - both can easily be bought from a local hardware store.
You want to hook it up to a vacuum line coming from the intake manifold. Mine is plumbed into the line that goes between said manifold and the fuel pressure regulator (FPR). To locate this, here's a picture:
If you look at the engine from the front, you should be able to see the fuel rail behind the rocker cover. Follow this to the right, and you'll find the FPR and the offending vacuum hose. Have some good quality cutters with you and give it a snip (note: don't do this with your engine running!). You can trim it down slightly to accomodate for the extra length given by the t-piece but you don't have to.
For the next step, go and boil the kettle and make yourself a cup of tea, but keep some of the hot water spare. Hot water is a godsend for expanding rubber hoses. Leave the ends of the vacuum hose you've just chopped in the water for a few minutes and then you can jam your t-piece in between them.
NEXT! How locate a spare grommet on the engine bay firewall. Find one, and put a hole in it. You might want a friend to help you with this next bit. Go inside the cabin on the passenger side and open the glovebox, look beyond it and if you're mate opens the grommet you should be able to see some light. Get them to poke some hose through and see if you can grab hold of some. If not, try and get them to angle it straight ahead. Notice there's a channel running from the firewall to the glovebox, see if you can get it on there.
Once that's all done and you've got you're hose into your cabin, hook the other end up to the t-piece in the engine bay to stop you pulling too much through. Now you need to decide where you want your gauge. This is entirely up to you. I put mine to the right of the dash like this:
To do this, take off both the centre console cover and the instrument shroud.
Once you've done this you can thread the hose over the headunit wiring etc and over the dials. You'll notice there's like a metal frame above the dials built into the dash, i threaded mine up through one side and down the other to keep the hose off the dials.
Decide where exactly you want your gauge, then it's time to get your drill it. This bit is a bit tricky if you have a huge drill like mine as you end up having to drill at an angle, but no bother. Once you've drilled the hole, get an appropriate nut/bolt (one or more, depending on your gauge) and you and loosely fix your gauge in place. Now that's settled, it's time to sort your hose some more. If like me you don't want to drill a big hole in your dash and you want to use the vent like me then read it. Otherwise just whack a great big hole in the dash.
If you look at the vent from inside the dash you'll see it goes all the way back. You can drill a hole in the side if you want but the easier way is to just bend the side and squeeze the hose over the side and up through the grate (sounds a big vague but all will become apparant when you get this far!). I put a small metal collar around my hose to stop the side of the vent squashing the hose but i don't think it matters.
Some gauges come with warning/back lights, in which case it's a good idea to hook these up now. I'd recommend wiring them into the radio earth/radio live power/side/headlight power. You can cable ties/tape the electrical wires to the vacuum hose for neatness.
Now fix your gauge in your pod and hook up the hose up the gauge. Have a sit down and adjust the gauge to where you want it, then tighten everything down, re-assemble your dash, close your bonnet and you're done!
Check out the link i posted earlier for what your readings actually mean.
Thank you for reading. Much love.
