Is there a reliable, quality Fuel Pressure Gauge out there ?

[kitcarbp]

I thought I would be "Mister Smarty Pants" and read up on the engine mount 1.5" fuel pressure gauges and try to find an accurate quality unit for carb applications. Well, I found a 0-15 psi MOROSO type to place in-line a few inches from the carb. The first one worked for about 40 minutes and then failed to indicate correct pressure (stuck at 2 psi permanently).
I confimed I still have a stable 6 psi with other test gauges and confirmed my filter is OK with no trash in the line. The MOROSO unit seemed nice, it used an internal damping feature without liquid fill to keep the needle steady (yeah now its steady at 2 psi ! .
Called the manufacturer and you guessed it, 90 day warranty sorry bud !

Then, I put in an even cheaper unit but its needle jumps +/-2 psi during operation from pressure pulses, which is really useless. I dont want to use a liquid filled gauge since the fill fluid temp will vary the indicated pressure on the gauge, unless someone knows of a good one.

My question is who makes a quality 1.5" fuel pressure gauge that is engineered to "fit and forget", this is proving harder to find than I imagined. Do I have to source an expensive industrial gauge ?

Tell me what fuel pressure gauge you have used with years (not minutes) of good performance. I dont mind spending the money if its a lifetime quality gauge.

Thanks for your replies.

Bill

[patrickt]

Is there a reliable, quality Fuel Pressure Gauge out there ?

That you mount on the fuel rail on the engine? To be honest, I have not heard of one that doesn't have fluctuations because of the heat change. My fluid-filled gauge gives flaky readings, but they are "consistently flaky." What I mean by that is that the changes in readings are pretty much the same each time as the temperature/time variables are introduced in to the equation. Now I would think there's a fuel pressure gauge somewhere out there that is absolutely impervious to the temp/pressure changes that it gets subjected to under the hood (c'mon, we can put a rocket to the moon, right?) -- but I don't know of it and have never read a post in any of my favorite forums where it was mentioned and I've read a zillion posts where someone gets flustered because of the readings of their under-hood fuel pressure gauge.

[razerwire]

Replaced gauge on fuel injected car, was stuck on 80 lbs, normal is 60lbs. Looks like replacement gauge going out also, sticking. Would like to know of 0 to 80 or 0 to 90 black with white letter replacement.

[zrayr]

I have zero trouble with my Autometer gauge, but it is in the dash, not under the hood. It uses an isolator to keep the fuel out of the interior of the car.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/AT...5&autoview=sku

Z. Ray

[rattlesnakepete]

I had similar problems with heat and fuel pressure gages.

What I learned is do not use a liquid filled gage under your hood.

I now have a VDO pressure gage on my fuel header and it works flawlessly.

[scootter]

Originally Posted by rattlesnakepete

I had similar problems with heat and fuel pressure gages.

What I learned is do not use a liquid filled gage under your hood.

I now have a VDO pressure gage on my fuel header and it works flawlessly.

DITTO!! I pulled what little hair I had left because the liquid gauge was a POS!
Put the cheap one back in and has worked fine for years. Mine is right by the carb.

Scott

[patrickt]

You know, I thought about trying to find one that worked consistently and replacing the one I have now, and then I thought "what do I do with it anyway?" I can't think of a time that I would really use it -- and when I would really want to use it, I couldn't see it anyway because it's under the hood. But, it does look kind of cool, and only I know that it's really a POS.

[ERA Chas]

Pat and Zray have the right ideas.
The Autometer isolator is the only smart thing to use on a street car. But you really only need to know what the demand is when wacking the throttle to redline. You want to see your pressure on demand be 5 1/2-6 1/2 pounds. (Webers less of course) At idle, you only want to see a steady supply at similar psi.

When you get your feed system supplying that, you delete the in-car if you don't care for the look 'cause you just don't study that gauge like oil press and water temp. Then the underhood gauge is fine for occasional tuning checks.

Mine is at the end of the fuel log:

[kitcarbp]

Guys, Thanks

yes this is the underhood direct mount near the carb, since I just fired my engine, my intention is to just use it for tuning checks and make sure I have 6 psi feeding my edelbrock carb. Long-term I do like the isolator set-up since the most important pressure I want to see in the cockpit is at WOT under load to make sure the pump can keep-up. Ideally I would like an electric transducer to fit on the fuel rail but these seem too expensive still like $300+ for gauge and transducer. This set-up is more pro level I guess, but go'in LEAN on the AFR at WOT will cost a helluva lot more than 300 huh ?

I have found a supplier called egauges.com, and since my build will use all VDO gauges, I found that they carry a few 1.5" vdo fuel pressure gauges. Some VDO aftermarket stuff is still made in Mexico I believe, since they left Northern Virginia in the late 90's.

So far, I have a vote for a VDO pressure gauge. Any others ?


What about Marshall gauges still made in Southern CA.
Marshall make these under private label also I learned and distribute to all the perfomance warehouses. Any votes for Marshall ?

Man, who would have thunk that I have to be such a purchasing expert ?

[RodgerH]

Originally Posted by kitcarbp

Ideally I would like an electric transducer to fit on the fuel rail but these seem too expensive still like $300+ for gauge and transducer.

Kirkham has (what looks like) a nice fuel pressure gauge using a pressure transducer for $158.49.
http://www.thomaskirkham.com/gauges.html (On the bottom left.)

They advertise a lifetime warranty.
http://www.thomaskirkham.com/engineering.html

This would be a great dash-mounted gauge, if everything is as it appears.

Rodger

[Zoom This]

My liquid filled fuel log mounted pressure gauge was not worth the time to fuss with, so I replaced it with a firewall mounted Aeromotive fuel pressure regulator #13205 with Mr. Gasket pressure gauge #1560, attached to the regulator. Accurate and reliable 4 years now.

[Roscoe]

Ditto on the Aeromotive non-liquid gauge. Mine is at least 5 years old.

Roscoe

[kitcarbp]

Guys, As a temp fix, I have the Mr. Gasket 1560 part number installed and its a big POS
The needle vibrates between 4-8 psi all the time, I confirmed I have a steady 6psi with shop test gauges.
Aeromotive seems to make quality fuel system parts but I wonder whose gauge they sell.

Thanks for the Kirkham product ref, I will look into that one.

[Zoom This]

Kitcarbp....is it safe to assume you have a fuel pressure regulator working along with your fuel gauge? My fuel gauge is steady as a rock.

Bill

[kitcarbp]

Zoom

Good question, I am not running a stand alone pres reg, I am running a deadheaded no-return, Edelbrock external pump that is internally regulated to 6.5 psi (it actually has a fine adjustment screw if needed), I am measuring about 6.00-6.25psi at the carb. I realize there are some pressure pulses in the fuel line that the gauge needle must dampen, but a good gauge will dampen these pulses, my Moroso gauge did for about 40 minutes.
Your regulator is dampening these pulses so your needle is more stable perhaps. Thx
Bill