This Volvo Owner Used A Squeezy Shark Toy As A Boost Gauge
By Paulo Acoba
A Volvo owner used a vinyl sqeezy shark toy as a mechanical boost gauge of sorts.
Boost gauges in modern and older cars run the gamut from simple analog to full digital. One Volvo owner posted a video yesterday (Aug. 17, 2015) showing just how fun a boost gauge can be. By splicing into his factory boost gauge pressure line in parallel, the Volvo owner was able to use a vinyl shark squeezy toy with pop up eyes as a supplemental boost gauge of sorts. Everytime the car’s engine built up boost, not only would his boost gauge rise, the sharks eyes would pop out as well! Check out the video below.
Ever since turbocharging has been implemented on engines, boost gauges became an important piece of equipment to monitor how much boost a car is or isn’t making. While not totally essential, in the event of a boost hose popping off or an errant boost controller gone hay wire, a boost gauge is a cheap peace of mind to quickly check if boost is the root of the problem.
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Boost gauges work by measuring the pressure of air flowing into a car’s combustion chamber. Oftentimes this is achieved by running a small tube from the gauge to the intake manifold. A small amount of air flows from the manifold into the gauge where driver observes a physical movement of the gauge. Of course, there are fancier ones with digital readouts, but the principal remains the same.
Typically boost gauges use needles or a number readout, but a shark eyes popping out? We’re not entirely sure how accurate that will be. We suggest keeping the original boost gauge alongside just in case.