Here is a work in progress of my friends 09 civic coupe. He wanted stealth gauges so I made them in the center console pocket. The gauges are hidden behind tinted glass so they aren't visable when off. The gauges he wanted were Oil Pressure, Oil Temp, and boost. Also I added a PLX M-300. I modified the Plx unit so it would have a remote display so it can be mount virtually anywhere in the vehicle. He wanted the gauges to dim when he put the parking lights on so I made a circut to drop the power to the gauges so they weren't so bright at night. Also he wanted it so when you park the car somewhere you can put a lid over them to cover them up. I made three plates for him. One is 2x2 twill carbon fiber, one is 2x2 red kelvar, and the last is yellow kelvar. Here are some pic(not the greatest but you'll get the idea)

Not Lit up




W/flash





Lit up





Red Kevlar Lid







Yellow Kevlar Lid



Black Carbon Lid





Finally a quick video

YouTube - 06-Current Civic Si Custom Gauges

 

that is really nice

 

I decided to mock them up in my 08 fg2 to give an idea of what final product will look like.

From outside



Close ups





From driver's seat



Close ups lit up







Then just the lids installed







another quick vid

YouTube - Custom Gauge setup 06-Current Civic Si Installed for Mock up

 

looks really nice. good job

 

Nice work, but they're in a rather impractical location. It would be better if it was closer to eye and road level.

And the flat angle is a little awkward.

The lid just sits on top?

 

I think they work very well. My friend loves the placement of them. Yes the lid just rests on top of the glass. I am working on other setups in the 06+ civic. I take time to make them because I like everything to look as stock and or oem as possible.

 

Is there any room to angle the gauges more towards the driver and have them pitched a little more? Looks like they are slightly angled, but might be easier to see from the driver seat if the top of the gauged were pitched forward.

I get what you mean though about the oem look. Def. looks so much better when people keep that look and quality.

Only other thing I would suggest is trying to see if you could take the cover and retrofit a sprung lid hinge onto it. That way the lid can be "clicked" into the down position, and then clicked again and it open up all the way and reveal the gauges. Do that and pitch the gauges more and your looking at a badass gauge setup that I'm sure plenty of people would line up to buy.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. Then you mean pitched do you mean more vertical or do you mean shift the gauges towards the driver. I originally had the gauges more vertical but in the 06+ si there is a cast aluminum brace for the shifter that I didn't want to mess with. The gauges were hitting the brace not allowing them to me vertical. This is a revision 2 or 3 for me on these gauges but with your suggestions I can make it a revison 4 and do something even sicker. Any more ideas would be appreciated. I love taking people ideas and making them a reality.

 

Parallax ftw.

 

What I meant by pitched is that the top of the gauge come closer to the driver and not necessarily flat like you have them in the gauge pod pictured. Mainly I would want that so that I could turn my head and look down slightly and see the gauge clearly. With them pitched they would be more straight on when looking down slightly. Like they are now I would think they might be a little harder to see and that you might have to lean over a little to see them easily. Thoughts on feasibility of the retro on a plastic cover? Wouldn't want to mess with the brace, but maybe the gauge placement could be shuffled a little so as to avoid this issue.

 

One would think that, but when you are in the driver's seat you don't need to look down. All you have to do is move your eyes down to the gauges.