baSorry for the quality of the pictures, but, here they are, as you requested:

First, the pictures:

Behind the gauges


Behind the gauges


Behind the gauges


Front of gauges, the extra hole is for my brake lamp for the camera


Connector for gauges


Measurements/Drawing

Dash Panel/Gauges

Top view of panel, notice the step


Notice the connector. Extra wire is for lighting


Better view of the step


Better view of the step/wiring


Measurements/Drawings

Basic info:
- I used alluminum, it was light and usily pliable.
- I have a chipped ecu, so the speed sensor isn't needed
- The speedo is off by about 10mph, no modification needed to speedo cable
- No fuel gauge
- I didn't have a huge "hole" drill bit, so i drilled 20 little holes around the circle that was to be used as the holes for the gauges, then sanded/grinded them down with a dremel.
- The oil pressure gauge is the only true mechanical gauge i have in the centre.
- The dash panel has a step/recess that's 3/8" deep.

Wiring:
After having 20 some odd wires going this way and that, I ended up going to the junk yard, picking up several wiring connectors and used them as the basis for my panels. The dash panel uses a corner marker harness from an ED8, the centre panel is a connector i cut off the heater core.

I soldered all the ground wires together and the power wires together... creating two thick wires. One wire for the RPM (for tach) and another wire for lighting. Since the corner marker harness only has three wires, i had to add another wire for the lighting on the dash gauges. The heater core wire had enough wires to carry the 4 wires i needed (ground, power, lighting, and water temp signal).


The other end of the harnesses is on the car, in discrete locations as to not make a huge wiring mess behind the dash. I'll take pictures of that when i get my dash back in.

Let me know if you guys need anything else.

Modified by Driven at 6:53 PM 8/19/2003


Modified by Driven at 8:14 PM 3/2/2006


Modified by Driven at 8:14 PM 3/2/2006

 

Oh, forgot some things:

Centre panel slides UP into the environmental vents. The dash was cut on the bottom and the panel slides up into it.

The panel is then secured with 4 bolts. I'll take a picture of the dash in the next few days.

 

oh, and if you want a wiring diagram, i can create one as well, if needed.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Driven &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">oh, and if you want a wiring diagram, i can create one as well, if needed.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Wiring diagram would be awesome! I want to do something very similar but only use my water,oil, and EGT gauge. Do you have pictures of what it looks like from a distance? I was going to use a 3 pod gauge holder that goes on your dash up front in that little pocket area but I want to conceal it more. Looks great though...I always admire people who custom make things like this and take their time to do write ups. Keep the info coming!

 

Wiring:

Power is taken directly from the fuse box. I simply tapped one of the fuses that doesn't control anything in my car (ie. Sunroof fuse)

Ground, bolted to the steering column

RPM is taken off the wiring harness off the ECU.

Temp is routed thru the firewall to the sending unit.

Lighting is tapped into the factory dash harness.



This is how it looks from a distance. The box below the 3 gauges is a Field VTEC controller.

The 3 gauges would fit in the space just below where they are mounted now.

You can kinda see the old wiring behind the centre console.

I'll take a better picture of the chassis wiring later today or this weekend.


Modified by Driven at 8:21 PM 3/2/2006

 

Your setup is what inspired me to make my own. Here are a few of the one I just made tonight.








Modified by jasonb at 12:03 AM 5/17/2003

 

Hey Kam, which way did you hook up your oil pressure gauge? Tee off the block or run a line from the block to a tee on your firewall?

**** nevermid, just saw you said you have mechanical gauge for oil press ****


Modified by jasonb at 1:46 AM 5/17/2003

 

what gauge wire did you guys use? im running into the problem on mine that i wanna use the stock wires but they are 22awg as opposed to autometers 18awg. any suggestion on what i should do? should i make a custom harness for my self?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jasonb &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Your setup is what inspired me to make my own. Here are a few of the one I just made tonight.[/i]</TD></TR></TABLE>
Very nicely done. You definitely took it to a whole new level! Excellent!

I LOVE seeing people taking ideas and improving them and you certainly did this!


My oil pressure gauge is taking pressure off of the oil pressure sensor off the back of the block. i removed the sensor, and bolted it to the firewall where I tapped the line for my gauge.

I would recommend a seperate harness for the gauge cluster, it makes installation/removal that much easier in the future.

 

so i shouldnt use the wires off the orginal harness to power the autometer ones?

 

Kam, can you post a wiring diagram of how you wired your gauges up?

 

Looks sharp. Do you have more gauges in the dash?

Blaze

 

at the time, no I dont. if someone ever makes a fuel level gauges that works correctly with the stock sending unit, then I'll pick up one.

 

i made a custom sending unit for my autometer fuel gauge.

 

Why don't the pics work???

 

Because this post is hellaciously old.

 

3 months is hardly Hellaciously Old...

 

On this board? 2 weeks is old here

But I was just trying to answer his question

 

nice x's is all i see

 

try:
http://www.theballschallenge.com/kam/


Modified by Driven at 8:22 PM 3/2/2006

 

Back from the dead...

but, there's a reason.





Looking to improve on the original design.

This will be snuggly situated in the dash cluster with the following gauges:
- Tach
- water temp
- oil temp
- fuel level
- oil press.

I'll have warning lamps for:
- CEL
- low oil press.
- high water temp
- high oil temp
I've thought about a shift light... but, I think i can drive well enough and/or have driven my car long enough to know when to shift (aka, not an idiot). But, the possibility is there.

You can see a lot of the sketching on the panel. It was me checking the best layout of the gauges prior to cutting. The four open holes will be enlarged, as they are currently cut at 1 5/8" using a hole saw. I'll have to physically file away (as opposed to powertool grinding) the circles to get them to be more aligned.
Also, the top corners have to be trimmed in order to fit under the stock cluster housing.

I can cover the metal portion with some sort of overlay as well, before reinstalling... CF overlay and tell everyone i got a JDM CF gauge cluster then sell it on ebay for $300.


The panel cost me $19, it's gonna take me 3-4hrs to make it fit perfectly. and I won't have a single gauge pod on the A Pillar or some big ugly tach bolted to the top/side of the dash. maybe one day i'll spend the cash and buy a STACK.

Edit: I'm also redoing the centre gauge cluster to house three gauges and to semi-permenantly mount my lap timer. Don't know what three gauges i'll need outside of what I have...I do have a volt gauge laying around i'll stuff in there, but two more gauges?

 

Gauges installed:






these were used for just testing. there will be two lights installed, one for water (or oil) temp and the other for CEL. The water/oil temp light will come on at a certain temp.

The panel will also be painted black so it's less intrusive.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Driven &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Back from the dead...</TD></TR></TABLE>

No ****!