NOTE - I'm limited to 10 pics per post. I'll post a bunch of pics in subsequent replies.
Hi all... just wanted to share with you all a little project I've been working on over the past few weeks.
It all started when I wanted to fit 3 gauges to my 2006 D40 - Oil Pressure, Vacuum/Boost and EGT.
Pretty simple... buy the gauges and install them, right? ....but, install them where exactly?
The most common approach would be to mount them on the A-Pillar with a cheap Chinesium pod:
Other than the A-Pillar pod there really is no other spot where you could install 3 gauges neatly.
Personally (from previous vehicles I've built/owned), 3 gauges on the A-Pillar is extremely annoying at night and highly attractive to thieves.. and the boys in blue!
So... after many hours of sitting in the driver seat and contemplating ideas, I decided on creating something unique and different (something you wouldn't expect to see).
And so... it all starts with this pic:
I thought to myself.. hey this could be a neat spot.
So I thought about designing a new panel which incorporated the 3 gauges and 3D printing it.. something like this:
Pretty basic to CAD design/3D print.. Although fitting 3 gauges in that useless plastic recess was a little tight on space (52mm gauges actually measure 57-60mm around the fascia surround - 3x60=180mm).
But, again I thought the night driving would still be annoying, and it's not really concealing them from thieves and cops.
Then I thought to myself how cool would it be if I could get the 3 gauges mounted in that top dash panel, but have them concealed, and pop-up on the push of a button!
Upon removing the panel there seemed to be fark-all room to the top of the head unit though (pic below this post).. but the idea of a pop-up panel concealing 3 gauges was just hard to dismiss.
One idea that I thought I was pretty sure I could pull off was.. get an overhead sunglass storage compartment, chop it up and make it fit into that top dash area.
Hmm...
And so the fun begins...
I went for a visit to my local pick-a-part and spent a few hours scouring all the half-dissected bombs there.. what I found to be a very close match in dimensions (the opening compartment) was:
from a Toyota Camry.
The 3 gauges I decided on were: (with eBay links provided)
Exhaust Gas Temperature - $49 ____ Vacuum/Boost - $39.15 ________Oil Pressure - $44.69 _______________ or.... Water Temp - $37.49 (if you prefer)
I decided on EGT, Boost and Oil Pressure as I believe they are the most important to monitor in any turbocharged engine (my Android unit displays the Water Temp through the Torque app.).
The EGT gauge comes with the appropriate K-Type Thermocouple (and fitting - which I welded into the turbo exhaust housing - pic below this post)
The Boost gauge comes with a pressure sensor which I fitted in the top left area of the engine bay, behind the fuse box - pics below this post)
The Oil pressure gauge comes with the appropriate sender, although adapters were needed to mount the sender with the OEM oil pressure sender unit - pics and part numbers below this post)
It was still not going to be possible to mount three gauges (52-57mm) in that compartment (in their housings)... this is why I specifically chose these cheap Chinesium gauges - because they were digital.
Being digital meant they wouldn't have the mechanical crap inside their housing, and I was hoping to gain more space by separating the digital screen (and circuit board) from the housing.
When the gauges arrived, it didn't take me long to bust out the grinder and dismember all three of them (pics below this post).
As I thought, the digital screen and circuit board were only 49mm in diameter and 26mm in depth, saving me much needed space.
Hi all... just wanted to share with you all a little project I've been working on over the past few weeks.
It all started when I wanted to fit 3 gauges to my 2006 D40 - Oil Pressure, Vacuum/Boost and EGT.
Pretty simple... buy the gauges and install them, right? ....but, install them where exactly?
The most common approach would be to mount them on the A-Pillar with a cheap Chinesium pod:
Other than the A-Pillar pod there really is no other spot where you could install 3 gauges neatly.
Personally (from previous vehicles I've built/owned), 3 gauges on the A-Pillar is extremely annoying at night and highly attractive to thieves.. and the boys in blue!
So... after many hours of sitting in the driver seat and contemplating ideas, I decided on creating something unique and different (something you wouldn't expect to see).
And so... it all starts with this pic:
I thought to myself.. hey this could be a neat spot.
So I thought about designing a new panel which incorporated the 3 gauges and 3D printing it.. something like this:
Pretty basic to CAD design/3D print.. Although fitting 3 gauges in that useless plastic recess was a little tight on space (52mm gauges actually measure 57-60mm around the fascia surround - 3x60=180mm).
But, again I thought the night driving would still be annoying, and it's not really concealing them from thieves and cops.
Then I thought to myself how cool would it be if I could get the 3 gauges mounted in that top dash panel, but have them concealed, and pop-up on the push of a button!
Upon removing the panel there seemed to be fark-all room to the top of the head unit though (pic below this post).. but the idea of a pop-up panel concealing 3 gauges was just hard to dismiss.
One idea that I thought I was pretty sure I could pull off was.. get an overhead sunglass storage compartment, chop it up and make it fit into that top dash area.
Hmm...
And so the fun begins...
I went for a visit to my local pick-a-part and spent a few hours scouring all the half-dissected bombs there.. what I found to be a very close match in dimensions (the opening compartment) was:
from a Toyota Camry.
The 3 gauges I decided on were: (with eBay links provided)
Exhaust Gas Temperature - $49 ____ Vacuum/Boost - $39.15 ________Oil Pressure - $44.69 _______________ or.... Water Temp - $37.49 (if you prefer)
I decided on EGT, Boost and Oil Pressure as I believe they are the most important to monitor in any turbocharged engine (my Android unit displays the Water Temp through the Torque app.).
The EGT gauge comes with the appropriate K-Type Thermocouple (and fitting - which I welded into the turbo exhaust housing - pic below this post)
The Boost gauge comes with a pressure sensor which I fitted in the top left area of the engine bay, behind the fuse box - pics below this post)
The Oil pressure gauge comes with the appropriate sender, although adapters were needed to mount the sender with the OEM oil pressure sender unit - pics and part numbers below this post)
It was still not going to be possible to mount three gauges (52-57mm) in that compartment (in their housings)... this is why I specifically chose these cheap Chinesium gauges - because they were digital.
Being digital meant they wouldn't have the mechanical crap inside their housing, and I was hoping to gain more space by separating the digital screen (and circuit board) from the housing.
When the gauges arrived, it didn't take me long to bust out the grinder and dismember all three of them (pics below this post).
As I thought, the digital screen and circuit board were only 49mm in diameter and 26mm in depth, saving me much needed space.
