Gauges and dash board upgrades

Well after the car sitting in the garage for too long, I finally got around to doing some major work on it for a change.

I started off by fitting the prosport gauges to the A-Pillar using a custom pillar pod mod that replaced the entire pillar and holds 2x52mm gauges.

I decided to replace the mechanical boost gauge with a peak hold gauge so that it would log the pressure and I could recall it once I had slowed down instead of trying to look and accelerate on full boost which is a little dangerous!

I also install a fuel pressure gauge and all of the gauges now match in the red/amber display.

It was easy enough just connecting the new pillar gauges into the dash mounted pod and routing the wring down the inside of the dash and using cable ties to secure it under the steering wheel section. The sensor wires ran down the door trim and through the fire wall into the engine bay where I connected to the boost line and also the fuel line on the fuel pressure regulator. 

After that, I decided I wanted to copy an idea I had heard of from some of the original Spec C STi's from Japan. I wanted to remove the radio altogether, as I hardly use it anyway seeing as the engine sounds so good!

I bought a sheet of mild steel and used my Dremel tool to fabricated a blanking plate. Its actually harder than you think as I had to make a paper template to place on the inside of the dash so work out the shape as it is difficult to secure the plate flush against the dash as it tends to fall inwards, away from you. 

I measured up and cut the section out of steel, then welded a couple of small sections on the bottom so I could used the AC controls bracket as a mount to secure the lower section in place. The upper section simply fits flush with the upper dash, beneath the vents so once bolts into pace its really tight! Plus the metal doesn't flex as its 2.5mm thick.

The next plan is to install some dead man switches and a gauge or two in the space once I figure out what I want but at least for now the area is blanked off.

Plus one part of modifying you have to remember is that once you start a job, you need ten times the amount of tools and materials you thought you would need!

The next job was to remove the dash blank again and measure up to install the clock gauge and also the two kill switches that control both power to the gauges and the colour of each gauge during night/daytime. 

After testing the wiring on a spare batter trig I had in the garage, I decided to remove the dash, install the wiring and attach the kill switches then give it a final test. My thoughts behind the setup were to allow me to isolate the power to the gauge when I stop the ignition, to prevent parasitic losses when the car is parked. This meant that I could isolate power to the gauges only and therefore the would not be as large a drain on the battery when the car is stored for an extended period. The other advantage is that during the daytime if the sun is bright, you can chance to white gauges for high illumination and red at night to cut down on eye strain.