Well,
I think it equals a better way to mount gauges
I know this' been done before, but I don't recall seeing a thread with pictures of the build process. Hopefully, this might help someone else down the road.
Also, much thanks to Nate Shutters for donating this dash to me from his total'd Sunfire.
This basically shows the starting point of the filler pieces for mounting the gauges, along with the blanks that were used. The vents are already torn down and I sanded the surface of the blanks about .5mm for a little easier fit.
The donor dash came from a collision car where the airbags deployed. As a result, the airbag cover was pretty mangled and un-salvageable.
The dash from my 2000 will be donating parts, today.
The new dash is all fixed up with the airbag cover and metal skeleton from my dash.
Time to drill the holes in my filler pieces for the gauges themselves. Since they don't make (readily available, at least) a hole-saw in 2-1/16" sizing, I used a 2" saw and took the other 1mm out with sandpaper and a drill bit.
After cleaning the blanks up with some 800-grit sandpaper on the front and 220 on the back, it's time for paint. Textured black paint made for plastics did the job quite nicely.
This basically just shows the blank in between the two sides of the vent.
....annnnnnnnnnnd put together.
Once the vents are put together, they "sandwich" the plastic filler piece in there pretty good. However, the last thing I wanted was the force from pressing the gauges in to pop the vent apart or something. So, a little 2-part epoxy was utilized.
The finished product came out pretty good, I think. You'll probably note my fubar'd boost gauge. It's being shipped back to Autometer this week for repair.
I've been wanting to do this for a long time, and my hatred for my current 3-gauge pillar pod pushed me forward. As usual, C&C welcome!
very nice
Ihave that exact same drill and flashlight set ! lol comes in very handy
it's perfect! i need those for psi guages, dang i have 95-02 dash..poopy fart
I dig it! Looks good Chris.
P&P Tuning
420.5whp / 359.8wtq
Very cool..The vw/audi people have been doing this for years
Pretty siked you got it right..Nice work man
very nice... got anymore spare airbag covers?? i need one to replace my mangled one
Qwik2k2z24 wrote:Love it. Simple and clean.
RIP JESSE GERARD.....Youll always be in my thoughts and prayers...
Qwik2k2z24 wrote:Love it. Simple and clean.
We all need somebody to believe in something...
Very cool.
I did the same thing for my wideband except I used some thin black plastic as a shroud and sandwhiched it between the two halfs and that ring.
Very nice work tho, it looks better than mine...LOL
Thanks for all the comments so far, guys! The more I look at it, the more I like it. If I add an EGT gauge, it'll probably go in the vent that's on the far left.
TheSundownFire (GME Chat) wrote:Does it swivel?
I considered keeping the swivel feature, but I envisioned the gauges always being out-of-wack and never lined up correctly. I think it would've been more of a headache than anything else.
Darkened wrote:very nice
Ihave that exact same drill and flashlight set ! lol comes in very handy
Oh yeah...infinitely better than the cheap Harbor Freight 18V unit I was using before. Kept a charge for about...oh...7 minutes after coming off the charger.
Always thought this was a cool mod, great job and nice write up.
Member of J-body of Michigan.
For Sale
I remembered showing you my setup, and wondered if you were still planning on doing this. Looks good.
Agent Omega wrote:TheSundownFire (GME Chat) wrote:Does it swivel?
I considered keeping the swivel feature, but I envisioned the gauges always being out-of-wack and never lined up correctly. I think it would've been more of a headache than anything else.
The only trouble I had with keeping the swivel feature on mine was they tended to rotate themselves clockwise/counter clockwise every time I hit a bump in the road. I plan on going back and redoing mine so that they can only be moved to aim right or left. If I can do that they'll be perfect.
Looks great! Very clean install!!
I was going to swap to the Sunfire dash just to do this, back when I was Turbo, but I have no real need for extra gauges at this point.
Micah (Shadowfire) wrote:I remembered showing you my setup, and wondered if you were still planning on doing this. Looks good.
Agent Omega wrote:TheSundownFire (GME Chat) wrote:Does it swivel?
I considered keeping the swivel feature, but I envisioned the gauges always being out-of-wack and never lined up correctly. I think it would've been more of a headache than anything else.
The only trouble I had with keeping the swivel feature on mine was they tended to rotate themselves clockwise/counter clockwise every time I hit a bump in the road. I plan on going back and redoing mine so that they can only be moved to aim right or left. If I can do that they'll be perfect.
Lol...yup--ever since you and I talked, I wanted to do this. I got the dash a year or two ago but never tackled the project. But the (Glowshift?) 3-gauge pod has been bugging me so much, I decided to bite the bullet and take on the project. Didn't take long at all and I think it was more than worth it in the end.
Now I just have to decide if I want to run the mechanical or electrical gauges in the dash. I'm sorta torn until I see what the clearance issues look like...
Brad (flatblackfire) wrote:use the electric gauges. though, it depends on what ones you're putting in there.
What material did you use to do the "pods"
My dilemma is that I'll probably have to run the lines/wires for the vent gauges through the plastic vent system itself...at least part of the way. In addition, I'm going to seal it off so air doesn't blow out anymore. Wires would be less intrusive than lines, but I'd rather have my wideband on the pod in front of my face. I'm having the perverbial "moral dilemma" right now on what to do.
The material came from a company called "Bo-Mer," located in Auburn, N.Y. It's heavy and extremely dense, but I don't know exactly what it is. Almost feels like an acrylic, but I'm not 100% sure.
Agent Omega wrote:
My dilemma is that I'll probably have to run the lines/wires for the vent gauges through the plastic vent system itself...at least part of the way.
My wires are ran from the driver's footwell, up the side of the dash next to the fuse panel, behind the cluster, and over to the center of the car. Not sure how well you can do this with a sunfire interior, but it works very well with my cav interior.
Agent Omega wrote:
In addition, I'm going to seal it off so air doesn't blow out anymore.
I just dont use the dash vent settings on my HVAC.
Lol...not using the vents would be cool and all if I didn't have a tiny little fiancee who gets cold at these fall car shows.
I'll probably just block them to be on the safe side; it's not a whole lotta work.
Running wires isn't going to be an issue--there's plenty of space in the dash area. It's just a matter of, "do I wanna be running braided stainless line, or wires up there." Decisions, decisions... I'll probably go with the manual gauges (nitrous and oil pressure) in the dash because I don't want the a/f and fuel pressure gauges anywhere but right in front of my face.
Toss her a blanket and tell her to shut up, lol.
Personally i wouldnt want the possibility of oil/fuel/nitrous leaking into the inside of my car.
Lol...dude, I gotta live with this woman; I pick my battles wisely
I'm not worried about leaking lines, man. This season I'm switching over to full braided stainless steel w/ compression fittings for the boost and oil gauges. The nitrous gauge already has the braided stainless line. Fuel pressure is going to be electronic and digital.
Tinkles wrote:Agent Omega wrote:
My dilemma is that I'll probably have to run the lines/wires for the vent gauges through the plastic vent system itself...at least part of the way.
My wires are ran from the driver's footwell, up the side of the dash next to the fuse panel, behind the cluster, and over to the center of the car. Not sure how well you can do this with a sunfire interior, but it works very well with my cav interior.
That is how I ran mine as well.
Agent Omega wrote:
In addition, I'm going to seal it off so air doesn't blow out anymore.
I cut the center ducts back on my original setup to make more room behind the gauges, and I put duct tape across the inside to seal off the air flow. I'll have to get some pictures of what I did with the ducts.
