What the "gage" port is really for.
Back in the day before all the cool electronic stuff was available, things had to be done mechanically. Some of you may recall flying a Piper, Mooney or Beechcraft with a split Manifold pressure/Fuel Flow gauge on the panel. The fuel flow gauge was connected to the ?gage? port on the flow divider. The ?gage? port was cross-drilled into the adjacent nozzle line port, so the pressure it read was injector nozzle backpressure. Since the nozzle size and amount of nozzles on an engine is a known factor a relationship can be established between injector nozzle backpressure and total fuel flow. Granted this relationship is based on a square curve (since the nozzle has a fixed orifice) therefore the pressure vs. fuel flow is not a linear function on the pressure gauge. In most applications the nozzle backpressure at max fuel flow is around 7 to 10 PSI, so fuel flows at idle and in the lower power ranges are not very accurate or un-readable. But in any case manufactures could re-face a pressure gauge to read fuel flow.
Today with most homebuilders using electronic engine data capture a ?turbine? type flow meter is used. In these cases the ?gage? port on the flow divider should be plugged or the fitting capped. The ?gage? port is some times a useful in troubleshooting for picking up clogged injector nozzles.
Don