Maybe I'm missing something here, but why would you say it's not a necessity to run a FP guage when you have one installed? I take you just hook it up when you change oil and give it a glance? Or was it just to fill the hole in the A-pillar pod?

I'm curious because now I'm thinking I should ignore my FP guage when it starts to flatline and just deal with whatever it reads when I change the oil.

Jeff

 

Because I bought into the hype 5 years ago.

I'm not advocating ignoring the guage. If guage says you've got a problem, then get the problem fixed and you won't have to watch it so much.

I'm trying to put all this fuel pressure business into a better perspective. How many newbies have been unnecessarily spooked by the hype. Their energies are better spent fixing the problems which cause VP44 and lift pump failures, over installing continuous FP monitoring. A FP guage is not necessarily the first bomb which should be bought and installed. The paranoia surrounding all this is truely amazing. Continuous FP monitoring isn't that big of a deal to the life of a VP, like everyone thinks it is.

 

I used the "bart method" for years. Maybe once a month I would screw on my gauge and take a quick spin at work or at least see what the idle psi was. I did however end up installing an in cab gauge a few months back as I guess, like most here, i'm an information junkie. Fyi, original lift pump, 95k miles. Do I see it as a necessity?.....probably not.

 

I installed the FP gauge along with EGT and Tranny temp gauges about a year ago. My FP was 20#idle and not less than 15# WOT for several month and then I watched it degrade for a couple months to 14-15# idle and 8#WOT. That's when I replaced the original with a frame mounted lift pump.
I, like J Body, like having the information....that's why I have a temp guage for the drive axle and another to hook up to the tranny output line.

 

well now that the guage issue is beat to death, I have had the ez and the van aaken and the va is superior in towing, it is not a huge difference but noticeable, but both would get you the power you need. I would surely get a boost elbow/j-hook to get the boost where you need it. exhaust did not do much for me....a little but not a lot, bhaf is money well spent, a shift kit/valve body is a good cheap upgrade for an auto.

 

I am be hind a rock and a hard place I would like to get a fp gauge to add to my gauges and maybe a boost for the heck of it but my dealer here said if i add a fuel pressue gauge that I would probilly void my warrenty so I am stuck I just hope it fails before the 100k mark so I can say told ya so LOL I am friends with the service manager so I can bash them because they know I dont do my oil changes there just warrenty stuff heh.

 

FP gauge needs constant monitoring!

I have an issue right now that causes the FP to drop to 6psi and requires that I punch the throttle to get it back to normal. Once it is at normal (13psi), it will stay there for some time, but needs periodically repeated to maintain normal FP. I think I may have the issue figured out, but I wouldn't have known about the problem if I only checked the FP every so often. When the truck is sitting idling, 9 times out of 10 it is normal.

 

I put my fp gauge in and immediately found that the lp was failing and replaced it. Glad I did, the gauge would go to 0 when accellerating under a full load. Its up to you man, but I don't mind looking at my gauges while I'm driving, it becomes a habit and its fun too. If you're already putting other gauges in, would be kind of foolish not to include that one, skip the boost if you can only do 3 gauges, or tranny temp if you aren't towing, but the more feedback you can get from your beast the better off it and your wallet are.

 

I ended up buying the Hypertech programmer (for $279 online), and am EXTREMELY happy with it! It's like a whole new truck! Even when towing 12.5k the egt's never get over 1100 degrees. A lot of bang for the buck.

 

A used timing box like a VA or EZ will meet your needs at lowest cost. You can pick up NEW VAs on the Bay for about $275.

You don't want to go bigger on HP as things will get expensive for the trans and all else.

If you need still more, try a set of mild injectors like the RV injectors. You can also get these cheap ($250), and they add about 35hp.

 

Like I said, I bought the Hypertech Power Programmer III. I'm sure there are others out there, but this one works great for my purposes (mostly towing 12.5k lbs of boat.)

 

I have a fuel pressure gauge. When my fuel pressure dropped to 8 psi
I changed out the lift pump. 6 weeks later the new pump died and I
replaced it with a new one (warranty ). If I didn't have a gauge , I would
have thought the new lift pump was working great , and I probably would
have taken out my VP44.

 

Exactly. We here in the land of "enthusiasts" are prone to buy into certain "conventional wisdom", usually that starts out as a theory spoken by some big dog or guru, then the next thing you know, it become sacred gospel and we all treat is as such. Worse yet, we ridicule and ostracize anyone who has the cojones to question the conventional wisdom.

I have had a FP gauge since my truck was a year old or so. Aside from showing me that my Scotty Fuel system made a huge difference in relieving restriction, and leaking into the cab once (my fault with improper plumbing)-- the guage has been a useless novelty for the most part.

I've since changed over to a cheap mechanical 1" liquid-filled FP gauge from Jeg's that is mounted under the hood on some GG hose. Because my Scotty fuel system relieves so much restriction, I know that I will have decent FP if I have 13 or so at idle.

Simple, cheap, and it works. It's more like permanently installed temporary gauge, but I've freed up a spot on the pillar for something more useful, like oil temp/pressure or oil/water temp (I'll use a dual gauge).


Finally, consider the many thousands of trucks running around with the restrictive stock fuel plumbing and the same stock LP and have well over 100K on the original VP.

It's a good idea to have solid FP, of course-- but not having it is far from a death sentence, and having lots of it is far from a guarantee of good VP health!!

JMO

 

Thanks guys for all your help. Maybe one day I'll put a FP gauge in. Not right now. (I was also the guy who never killed the KDP on my 12-valve, LOL!) A couple of friends of mine have 24v 3500's and pull HUGE loads (dozers), both have over 150k miles, both have never even heard of lift pumps. They just get in and drive 'em. Go figure! And neither have ever had a problem. Heck, one of the guys changed his fuel filter FOR THE FIRST TIME at 150k! (Drove me nuts!)

Jim

 

It is a known fact that if your LP dies, your VP will not last very long. fact. It will cost you thousands, or at elast $1100 if you did it yourself, fact.
Seems the Vulcan kit & FP gauge should have been stock from the factory. I just put mine on, & my LP was DEAD, almost. Made noise, no pressure.
My advice, spend the $200 for the Vulcan(or something similar) and FP gauge.
The wallet you save may be your own. Theer are hundreds of sad VP44 stories. You do not want to be the next.
VP44's can fail for other reasons, but a bad LP is proably #1. Also, run a fuel additive for insurance. Most on this site run Power Service, can be bought at Wally World, somewhat inexpensively.
On your automatic, the cooler you keep it, the better. I am not sure, but an additional exterior radiator cooler may help. Others here may have better opinions here, as autos fail earlier with heavy loads.