Possible Gauge Pod Idea

[DailyDSM]

I'm not sure if this idea has ever come up but I ran a search on the different gauge bezel ideas and nothing like this came up. Driving 100 miles a day gives me lots of time to think and I get ideas. So I was looking at my stock gauge bezel and got this idea from the 2g gauge bezels. Here is a crude example of where I think the gauges would be good.



There is plenty of area on the stock gauge bezel to integrate gauges and in the top left and right locations they wouldn't be blocking anything. As for the bottom center, the low gas light would probably be blocked. I dint even think there is much of a need for the lower one since there is already a gauge bezel for the top of the steering column which serves the same purpose. I think with the right gauges, this would be a much cleaner look than the A-pillar mounts and would add to the sleeper aspect. Any ideas or suggestions?

-Tim

 

[spartan]

I tried to do something like this. I ran into problems mounting the gauges into the pods. I ended up having to cut out a lot of the cluster and was having problems making it look good (I am a perfectionist). So I just ended up stopping it for a while. Here are some pics that I have of the progress that I made. BTW it took about 5 hours of work just to get this far... right now it is in primer, but I think that if I finish it I will have to go back with more filler.

 

[atc250r]

RayH has an HKS boost gauge that he integrated into the instrument cluster itself. It sits flush with the tach and speedo. I believe it is on the top of the cluster directly above where the center one is in your pic. I know you were thinking more along the lines of a gauge "pod" but this is something else to consider.

John

 

Looks great, nice cougar!

 

[RayH]

The car was only a few years old when I started hacking into the instrument panel. The drawback is mine's not backlit and it only goes up to 20psi. I've been thinking about getting a hooded LED mounted at 90 degrees on a standoff to light it from the front but it's sort of low on the list of priorities right now.

 

Quote:




A little of topic but is that an RX-7 in the background? Ray, that cluster looks nice BTW /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[DailyDSM]

Yes, that is my CYM FD in the garage. It's my "project" car. LS1 is in its future.

 

[speedyvr4]

Quote:
Quote:




A little of topic but is that an RX-7 in the background? Ray, that cluster looks nice BTW /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif



Not to be a dick, but isn't it XR7, instead of rx7 ? great pod ideas BTW. I specially like the one with the boost gauge in the middle. It looks like alot of work and can't really apreciate it right now, good luck with it though.

 

[atc250r]

Not the Cougar right in front of the GVR4, the Mazda in the garage. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

John

 

[speedyvr4]

INSERT DUMB ASS PICTURE HERE /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif
I guess I saw the tree,but not the forest. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rofl.gif

 

[Nijasan]

Quote:
Not the Cougar right in front of the GVR4, the Mazda in the garage. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

John



DailyDSM you've got some awesome cars.

 

[DailyDSM]

Well I know it has been awhile but I figured I'd bump my own thread rather than starting a new one. I followed a similar method as the one above but I used 2" diameter PVC instead of cans and a dremel. In total it has cost me around $25 including the bondo, paint, sand paper, and a second bezel from the junkyard. Overall I'm happy with how it has come out. I'll have some pics up when its mounted in the car with gauges.

Pics:

 

That came out looking realy good /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/applause.gif Definetly want to see how it looks installed.

 

+1, the pics of it installed aren't loading /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif


/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[spartan]

That looks very nice. A lot better than the one that I made, good work! Did you end up cutting the bezel completely apart or did you cut the pvc to fit the bezel?

 

[324vr4]

All we need now are pics of your setup installed and "lit" up at night with pics of the gauges you used...good job y'all!

 

[DailyDSM]

Quote:
That looks very nice. A lot better than the one that I made, good work! Did you end up cutting the bezel completely apart or did you cut the pvc to fit the bezel?



I traced a rough outline of the PVC onto the bezel and just started dremeling until it fit in the area I wanted it. I chose this route since any gaps would be filled in with Bondo anyway. I'll probably try to wire it up today. I want to get a few more coats of paint on before I install it but I'll try to get some pics of it in the car while it is dry.

 

[Myles]

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif
Wow thats really nice! The rough pic with the bondo and sh*t is really deceiving. I was not expecting to scroll down and see a beautiful finished piece.

 

[Kenny_Kline]

Nice work... very creative. I am doing something similar. I bought a single pillar pod and dual pillar pod. i am molding them together and molding that to the stock pillar to make it a full tripple pillar. Should take a few days and some decent time to get it all smooth. I like your idea and may have to steal it. I like how the 2 pods are up in the corners... not so much the one in the middle. I may give it a try. What did you use for material as far as the gauge cups? 2" PVC pipe bored out to 2 1/16" ???

 

[DailyDSM]

Finally got some gauges in there. Won't be my final setup but I just wanted to get some in so I could see what it looks like.