[JustJeff]

Originally Posted by Pete_89T2

Resurrecting an old thread... As I said before, Jeff's writeup inspired me to try this gauge mounting setup in my FC. 7 months later I finally had the time to do it! Previously I had my gauges in the empty DIN slot under the radio. Basically followed Jeff's general plan for flip-flopping them, by reusing the stock radio mount brackets and some hefty sheet metal I recycled from an old computer case to fabricate the panel. Started with some cardboard to make a template, and played with that till I was happy with the test fit. Then went to work recreating the template in metal. After some work with the jigsaw, hole saw and a bit of metal bending later, I got the gauge panel you see here.

Here's a picture of the panel, mounted with stock brackets, my JVC head unit & gauges test fit:

Attachment 11422

Lucky for me, the front threaded holes on my HU that lined up perfectly with holes already in the stock bracket, and they put the thing at just the right depth when test fit in the car, so I didn't have to resort to making slotted holes as Jeff did for the in & out adjustment. Just drilled a 2nd hole in each bracket (to get 2 screws per side for strength) that line up with another existing threaded hole in the head unit. Here's a pic that shows the screws:

Attachment 11423

And here's how it looks test fit in the car, without the console surround piece:

Attachment 11424

And now with the surround piece:

Attachment 11425

If the gauges look crooked, it's because I didn't bother to line them up perfectly and fully tighten the U-clamps on the back. I made the holes a wee bit oversize to provide a bit of adjustability. Now I just need to finish it, because I don't like the shiny metal look. Either going to paint it satin black to match the interior, or I might cover it with some black vinyl I have leftover from another project (DIY hatch cargo cover) that is a perfect match for my leather interior.

I like your's, great work.

I'm thinking of re-relocating my gauge. I'd loose my oil temp gauge and put my boost, water temp and oil pressure all on the a-pillar. I have one single pod and one double pod for the a-pillar. Reason being, I'm giving serious thought to building a carputer. I"ve been building computers for a long time and have enough spare parts to build a serviceable carputer. I've got a motherboard, CPU, RAM and spare hard drives. The only real expenses would be getting a 7" touch lcd monitor and building an enclosure.

The only other obstacle is wanting a solid state hard drive. My concern is that a traditional hard drive is going to fail from shock and vibration. I have Illuminas and Tein springs and I just don't see a non-SSD having much of a lifespan. I'd buy a small SSD and only keep OS and bare minimum software. All my entertainment would be on USB flash drives.

My idea is to put the enclosure in the trunk with a push button control in the glovebox for my power supply. I can also run a usb port from the glove box.

Well one other thing to consider is that I have a convertible and the LCD monitor is NOT going to like direct sunlight during the top-down warm weather. It may be so washed out from the glare that it will be barely useable. I may have to spring for one of the expensive LCD designed for outdoor use.