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Old 01-28-2007, 12:20 PM
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Jeremy5848 Jeremy5848 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Shorebilly View Post
The way mechanical pressure gages are constructed, overpressure will damage them......and a continuous operation at the upper end of the range will also be detrimental to its internals, over time....
SB
At freeway speeds, my '85 boost (and I would presume most Benzes are similar) runs at 5 or 6 psi. The most I see is about 11, before the wastegate opens. So a 15 psi gauge works well for me and it also meets your correctly assessed safety/reliability concerns, since I'll never be operating at the upper end on a continuous basis. A 30 psi gauge is overkill (like a 150 MPH speedo) and leaves you with too little resolution. Additionally, mechanical gauges tend to be more responsive and more accurate in the middle of the range. At 5 psi, you're barely off the peg of a 30 psi gauge.

This is not to criticize the Westach gauge, which is otherwise nice. I just prefer something else (which also happens to be VDO, matching the factory gauges).
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