lowkee
Lieutenant Commander
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2008
- Messages
- 1,890
This is both a boat and non-boat topic, so I figured I'd play it safe and post it here.
Having recently gotten myself a boat, I wanted to learn some tricks of automotive mechanics, seeing as my IO is a GM 3.0L, which is pretty much a car engine.
A site I found very helpful is this. It is meant for classic car rebuilding, but has some nice general engine tutorials, one of them being 'How to read a vacuum gauge' and boy is it helpful!
I recently remove my distributor and had to reset the timing when it was reinstalled and using my shiny new vacuum gauge I was able to adjust the timing to 'close enough' until I rent a timing light.
Here is a quick excerpt from the site:
"A vacuum gauge can tell as much about the internal and external workings of an engine as the combination of a voltmeter, compression gauge, stethoscope and timing light. Really!
Note also that most vacuum gauges are equipped with an additional scale that measures fuel pump pressure. This allows the user to connect the hose directly to the fuel line entering the carburetor to measure the fuel pump's pressure. Since many fuel system problems can be traced to the pumps themselves, such a tool can save a lot of troubleshooting time."
Check it out, as it has a really nifty animation for each scenario, which teaches you how to read one *much* better than any description can do.
If you don't have a vacuum gauge, Harbor Freight has a really nice one for $15.
All in all, I'm really glad I found that site, as that's a lot of info coming from just one gauge, and the 3.0 manifold even has a port made specifically for it! Sweet!
Having recently gotten myself a boat, I wanted to learn some tricks of automotive mechanics, seeing as my IO is a GM 3.0L, which is pretty much a car engine.
A site I found very helpful is this. It is meant for classic car rebuilding, but has some nice general engine tutorials, one of them being 'How to read a vacuum gauge' and boy is it helpful!
I recently remove my distributor and had to reset the timing when it was reinstalled and using my shiny new vacuum gauge I was able to adjust the timing to 'close enough' until I rent a timing light.
Here is a quick excerpt from the site:
"A vacuum gauge can tell as much about the internal and external workings of an engine as the combination of a voltmeter, compression gauge, stethoscope and timing light. Really!
Note also that most vacuum gauges are equipped with an additional scale that measures fuel pump pressure. This allows the user to connect the hose directly to the fuel line entering the carburetor to measure the fuel pump's pressure. Since many fuel system problems can be traced to the pumps themselves, such a tool can save a lot of troubleshooting time."
Check it out, as it has a really nifty animation for each scenario, which teaches you how to read one *much* better than any description can do.
If you don't have a vacuum gauge, Harbor Freight has a really nice one for $15.
All in all, I'm really glad I found that site, as that's a lot of info coming from just one gauge, and the 3.0 manifold even has a port made specifically for it! Sweet!
