When you are tuning your vehicle and have installed a turbocharger or supercharger to your application in the quest for more power, you need gauges. Some people take it to the extreme with gauges and pods hanging everywhere.
But if your weekend warrior also doubles as a daily driver, these gauges can attract unwarranted attention from the authorities and criminals alike. Which is why we’ll be looking at AEM’s Tru Boost controller today, which incorporates two units in one.
AEM’s Tru Boost Controller combines the operation of a standalone boost controller and a full face AEM boost gauge all in one package. Today we’ll be installing this unit in a 2006 Mitsubishi Evolution VIII, and showing you how to wire it all in.
Putting the power of AEM’s electronics in your gauge makes so much sense, it’s not even funny. With a full sweep style of gauge providing 24 multi color LED’s to show boost in real time, AEM’s TruBoost incorporates a remote pressure solenoid.
As with all of our writeups, if you are not comfortable working on your own car or around your car’s electronics take your vehicle to a ASE certified mechanic.
First we will open our driver side door in our Mitsubishi Evolution, as we’ll be running our vacuum line through the front driver fender.
Pull up on the door panel and remove the plastic push pin that holds the driver side kickpanel in place. Remove this plastic tab and pull the kick panel out and up.
AEM’s Tru Boost comes with all the necessary hardware needed for install, and we’ll want to run the vacuum line first into the engine bay.
Now get down on the floor of your Evolution and look up towards the driver side fender to see your bulkhead grommet that leads through the chassis wall.
Push your vacuum line through gently and make sure not to kink the line or damage it during install. Now that you have the line run, take your 2 pin connector and push the end that connects to the remote solenoid through the firewall.
You can now run a wire hanger down the driver side fender to fish this vacuum line back out and into the engine bay, where you will be connecting it to the boost solenoid.
Removal of your driver side fender is not necessary, but some customers take this extra step to ensure that their vacuum hose is run and secured properly.
Now once you have your vacuum line run into the engine bay, take a moment and mount your AEM TruBoost gauge. You will be running three wires so that the gauge will light up and receive power, the two red wires and the black ground wire will be heading down to your ignition column.
Here’s the inside of our Mitsubishi Evolution, ready for to run your switched red power wires down to the ignition harness.
Undo the screws shown here and pop open your steering column cover to reveal your ignition harness. You may or may not want to remove the lower dash cover as well to gain extra space and room to operate.
Shown in the red box here is your ignition harness, you will want to unplug this unit and run the switched red power wire to your red ignition wire. Connect the 2 red wires to a fused, switched, +12Vdc power source or in this case the red wire from your ignition harness.
Next ground the black wire using the groundstrap AEM provided to you, and you are now ready to power on your AEM Tru Boost gauge.
You will notice two other wires that are left over from the gauge, the gray wire is an optional low side driver output. The orange wire is an optional scramble boost input wire, and neither one of these are required for boost controller operation.
Now it’s time to hook up our boost solenoid, and the diagram above shows you how to hook up your vacuum and pressure connections depending on your wastegate type. External vs internal wastegates are discussed in our FAQ section, please make sure to check there if you have any questions.
Now you are ready to connect the vacuum line that will help the boost gauge determine in real time what boost levels your turbo is producing. Cut and tee into the vacuum line coming off the intake manifold, shown here and you are ready to rock and roll!
Need more Mitsubishi Evolution tech? Click below for more!
- How To Install a Boost Gauge in a Mitsubishi Evolution
- How To Install a Intercooler Kit in a Mitsubishi Evolution
- How To Install Cusco Power Braces on a Mitsubishi Evolution
- How To Install Weapon R Engine Damper on a Evolution
You have now completed the install of your AEM Tru Boost controller!
Happy Tuning!