Clean install of six 52mm gauges
01-02-2011, 10:55 AM
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Clean install of six 52mm gauges
Hey guys,
Today I pretty much finished the install of six 52mm STRI gauges in the door of the center console cubby and thought I would share.
I chose this location because I always try to minimize the amount of modification needed and because I like clean OEM-like solutions. The center console itself is untouched making the cubby with gauges a removable unit which is nice when you need to do some work on them. I was even able to keep the door functional although it can't open far because the gauges hit the center console. I do think I can just sqeez my hand in far enough to reach the little buttons on the back of the gauges that you use to setup the warning led.
The biggest issue with this way of mounting is the fact that in order to make room for the upper right and upper left gauge you need to grind away the plastic where the mounting points of the door are located. I solved this by pouring 2-component polyester resin (bonds well to hard plastics) around the "screwtubes". I made a little mould by building a little dam of maskingtape. After that I could grind as much plastic as way as I needed.
Another tricky part is the actual measuring and cutting of the holes because of the spherical shape of the door. I used a hole saw of 51mm for that. First I made round cardboard templates of 52mm and just moved them around to see what locations would work best for the gauges. I measured the drill locations on the back of the door (easier than the front) with one of those clear plastic flexible measure triangles kids you used at school for mathematics. I took the smallest metal drill I could find and gradually went bigger and bigger till I could use the hole saw. After that I filed each hole by hand to the right size. I didn't have enough nerve to use the Dremel for this.
The metal support bracket of the door also needed a lot of grinding and I glued the remaining parts back with a type of kit/glue we call montage glue here in The Netherlands. I chose this because it needed to fill a lot of space between the bracket and the door.
All the surfaces I glued (and resined) I first degreased and scratched the hell out with a little file andfor extra grip.
The rest is just cutting and grinding away with your Dremel tool.
The only thing left to do is grind a half circle out of the button which I will then glue onto the little plastic bracket that used to hold the push mechanism. I had to grind that mechanism so the springs are gone.
Today I pretty much finished the install of six 52mm STRI gauges in the door of the center console cubby and thought I would share.
I chose this location because I always try to minimize the amount of modification needed and because I like clean OEM-like solutions. The center console itself is untouched making the cubby with gauges a removable unit which is nice when you need to do some work on them. I was even able to keep the door functional although it can't open far because the gauges hit the center console. I do think I can just sqeez my hand in far enough to reach the little buttons on the back of the gauges that you use to setup the warning led.
The biggest issue with this way of mounting is the fact that in order to make room for the upper right and upper left gauge you need to grind away the plastic where the mounting points of the door are located. I solved this by pouring 2-component polyester resin (bonds well to hard plastics) around the "screwtubes". I made a little mould by building a little dam of maskingtape. After that I could grind as much plastic as way as I needed.
Another tricky part is the actual measuring and cutting of the holes because of the spherical shape of the door. I used a hole saw of 51mm for that. First I made round cardboard templates of 52mm and just moved them around to see what locations would work best for the gauges. I measured the drill locations on the back of the door (easier than the front) with one of those clear plastic flexible measure triangles kids you used at school for mathematics. I took the smallest metal drill I could find and gradually went bigger and bigger till I could use the hole saw. After that I filed each hole by hand to the right size. I didn't have enough nerve to use the Dremel for this.
The metal support bracket of the door also needed a lot of grinding and I glued the remaining parts back with a type of kit/glue we call montage glue here in The Netherlands. I chose this because it needed to fill a lot of space between the bracket and the door.
All the surfaces I glued (and resined) I first degreased and scratched the hell out with a little file andfor extra grip.
The rest is just cutting and grinding away with your Dremel tool.
The only thing left to do is grind a half circle out of the button which I will then glue onto the little plastic bracket that used to hold the push mechanism. I had to grind that mechanism so the springs are gone.
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01-02-2011, 09:37 PM
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Yeah hate to pile on but why not put the gauges in the cubby hole? Thatd make it cleaner as opposed to putting them on the door. It reminds me of a spiders billion eyes imo.
01-03-2011, 05:33 AM
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IMHO I think you would be much better off fabbing up a nice fiberglass insert to replace the door. A for effort, but looks like something straight from the Wonka factory.
01-06-2011, 04:24 AM
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okay i just installed the gauges including the wiring although i haven't hooked up the sensors yet.
i'm very pleased with the result... it looks (in my mind) very clean. if these gauges didn't have the high edge it would look even better.
glare looks worse on these pix than it really is although it might be a problem on sunny days.. dunno yet.. i connected them in a way they always have the dimmed backlight since i always drive with my lights on anyways.. so there is still the option to turn the backlight to full or get some anti glare caps. hopefully the warning LED will be bright enough to be clearly visisble in any lighting condition as that is the most important info in my mind.
readability of all gauges is fine although you will read the wrong value on some because of perpective but i don't find that a problem because you will learn where the needle should be at normal operation.
i chose these stri gauges because them have a programmable warning LED and i'm pretty sure i will notice a warning LED blink when looking straight ahead while driving.
tonight i will make some pix in the dark and post them.
i'm very pleased with the result... it looks (in my mind) very clean. if these gauges didn't have the high edge it would look even better.
glare looks worse on these pix than it really is although it might be a problem on sunny days.. dunno yet.. i connected them in a way they always have the dimmed backlight since i always drive with my lights on anyways.. so there is still the option to turn the backlight to full or get some anti glare caps. hopefully the warning LED will be bright enough to be clearly visisble in any lighting condition as that is the most important info in my mind.
readability of all gauges is fine although you will read the wrong value on some because of perpective but i don't find that a problem because you will learn where the needle should be at normal operation.
i chose these stri gauges because them have a programmable warning LED and i'm pretty sure i will notice a warning LED blink when looking straight ahead while driving.
tonight i will make some pix in the dark and post them.
01-06-2011, 06:08 AM
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for now this is fine.
01-06-2011, 06:13 AM
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Agreed. I think if you had a mold surround, it would look less out of place. But I give you props for trying something different. If you like it and it works, awesome man.
Just don't turn into this guy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL0Y1wIUg1g
01-06-2011, 06:24 AM
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hehe i always say you cannot have too much information but that guy is def. a bit of a gauge nutter (:
i have installed these gauges: oil temperature, water temperature, egt, boost, wideband afr and fuel pressure.
i will be going FI and build (later on) and I will do the tuning/mapping myself which I still need to learn. I'm reading several books on the subject right now and from the info I've read I decided these six gauges would be a good idea.
Gauges are cheap and they can be the difference between a working motor or a blown one and they will also help me with pinpointing problems while tuning.
i have installed these gauges: oil temperature, water temperature, egt, boost, wideband afr and fuel pressure.
i will be going FI and build (later on) and I will do the tuning/mapping myself which I still need to learn. I'm reading several books on the subject right now and from the info I've read I decided these six gauges would be a good idea.
Gauges are cheap and they can be the difference between a working motor or a blown one and they will also help me with pinpointing problems while tuning.