another V1 homemade gauge pod
03-09-2013, 10:37 PM
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another V1 homemade gauge pod as we all know (or at least im 90% sure) there is no readily available gauge pods for the V1 so, we get to make our own 
So being that my car is turbocharged, the first two gauges I opted for were air/fuel and boost. I wanted them to sit on the steering column as this seemed to be the best place within close view of the road, and I didnt want to have to cut up any of my interior pieces or drill any holes of any sort to mount them. Also didnt want some cheesy looking plastic crap.
So I started out with a few pieces of aluminum scrap. One, a strip about 1" wide and approximately the length of the steering column bezel. Then a couple pieces of my left over 2.5" charge pipe. I cut the pipes at an angle on the back side, and cut a slit in them to bend them allowing a reduced diameter which would allow the guages to "press" into them.
I did not want a big bulky housing for the gauges because I wanted to keep obstruction of view to a minimum in respect to the factory gauge cluster.
After a few quick cuts, I mocked it up, tacked the "pods" to the mounting strip with a tig welder, re checked my mock up, added about a 1/2" long bead of weld on the backside of each one to the mounting strip to insure rigidity.
then cleaned up all the edges with a sanding roll, bead blasted it, painted it satin black and stuck it to the column bezel with some commercial grade 3M double sided tape.
Heres what I ended up with
I may end up wrapping the pods and mounting strip in 3m carbon wrap but not sure yet.
So being that my car is turbocharged, the first two gauges I opted for were air/fuel and boost. I wanted them to sit on the steering column as this seemed to be the best place within close view of the road, and I didnt want to have to cut up any of my interior pieces or drill any holes of any sort to mount them. Also didnt want some cheesy looking plastic crap.
So I started out with a few pieces of aluminum scrap. One, a strip about 1" wide and approximately the length of the steering column bezel. Then a couple pieces of my left over 2.5" charge pipe. I cut the pipes at an angle on the back side, and cut a slit in them to bend them allowing a reduced diameter which would allow the guages to "press" into them.
I did not want a big bulky housing for the gauges because I wanted to keep obstruction of view to a minimum in respect to the factory gauge cluster.
After a few quick cuts, I mocked it up, tacked the "pods" to the mounting strip with a tig welder, re checked my mock up, added about a 1/2" long bead of weld on the backside of each one to the mounting strip to insure rigidity.
then cleaned up all the edges with a sanding roll, bead blasted it, painted it satin black and stuck it to the column bezel with some commercial grade 3M double sided tape.
Heres what I ended up with
I may end up wrapping the pods and mounting strip in 3m carbon wrap but not sure yet.
03-10-2013, 11:01 AM
#2
looks greats! i mounted my single aeroforce in the same spot on the left.. keep it satin black the fake carbon stuff looks out of place in our interior imo
do you have a build thread yet?
do you have a build thread yet?
03-10-2013, 12:28 PM
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Thank you sir, no build thread yet, still a few things I need to finish up. Once the car is 100% tuned and buttoned up I will compile a bunch of pictures and start a thread. It's getting very close. Maybe a couple more weeks. And yea I think the satin black gives it a much more "factory" appearance which is why I haven't carbon wrapped it yet. Might just leave it alone.
03-10-2013, 12:37 PM
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Lol the car wasn't running so the fuel gauge showed empty if that's what your talking about. If your referring to how the view of the fuel guage and temp guage is a bit obstructed in the pic, the picture blows it out of proportion, from the drivers line of sight you can easily see around the gauge pods, without really even moving your head, to view the factory fuel and temp gauges.
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03-10-2013, 01:13 PM
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Seems like it would have been easier to go with one of these. It says it does what both of your gauges do. Boost and air fuel ratio.
The boost part might only work if it came with the car stock..but not sure.
http://www.ultra-gauge.com/ultragauge/index.htm
The boost part might only work if it came with the car stock..but not sure.
http://www.ultra-gauge.com/ultragauge/index.htm
03-10-2013, 02:03 PM
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Lol the car wasn't running so the fuel gauge showed empty if that's what your talking about. If your referring to how the view of the fuel guage and temp guage is a bit obstructed in the pic, the picture blows it out of proportion, from the drivers line of sight you can easily see around the gauge pods, without really even moving your head, to view the factory fuel and temp gauges.
Sorry for the rant.
Nice gauges, btw.
03-11-2013, 12:48 PM
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Not sure of your tactics, are you being sarcastic? Even if it did block the view of my fuel guage (which it doesnt) I'd rather have an afr guage than a fuel guage anyway. Worst case I could fill up and monitor how many miles I've driven in relation to how many miles to a tank I get and guesstimate fuel level. You can't guesstimate air fuel ratio lmao keeping pistons in the engine is more important than fuel level IMO but this is off topic bc my fuel guage is still in perfect view 
03-11-2013, 02:40 PM
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Tactics - trying to be funny, as I've run the car out of fuel, and had to wait for friends to bring 3 gallons of fuel while waiting at an offramp.
But, if you want to go there, the AFR gauge is completely worthless if all your tuning is done right, or wrong for that matter.
1. Nearly all production cars that are turbocharged from the factory don't have an AFR gauge.
2. By the time you've noticed a lean condition with the AFR gauge, it's already too late, and you've probably melted a piston.
But hey, thanks for sharing the photos of the gauges - perhaps doing a better job of photographing the photos from where you sit will do a better job of telling the story. At least it will prevent a bunch of people telling you it blocks the fuel gauge.
But, if you want to go there, the AFR gauge is completely worthless if all your tuning is done right, or wrong for that matter.
1. Nearly all production cars that are turbocharged from the factory don't have an AFR gauge.
2. By the time you've noticed a lean condition with the AFR gauge, it's already too late, and you've probably melted a piston.
But hey, thanks for sharing the photos of the gauges - perhaps doing a better job of photographing the photos from where you sit will do a better job of telling the story. At least it will prevent a bunch of people telling you it blocks the fuel gauge.
03-11-2013, 03:22 PM
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03-12-2013, 12:08 AM
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Tactics - trying to be funny, as I've run the car out of fuel, and had to wait for friends to bring 3 gallons of fuel while waiting at an offramp.
But, if you want to go there, the AFR gauge is completely worthless if all your tuning is done right, or wrong for that matter.
1. Nearly all production cars that are turbocharged from the factory don't have an AFR gauge.
2. By the time you've noticed a lean condition with the AFR gauge, it's already too late, and you've probably melted a piston.
But hey, thanks for sharing the photos of the gauges - perhaps doing a better job of photographing the photos from where you sit will do a better job of telling the story. At least it will prevent a bunch of people telling you it blocks the fuel gauge.
But, if you want to go there, the AFR gauge is completely worthless if all your tuning is done right, or wrong for that matter.
1. Nearly all production cars that are turbocharged from the factory don't have an AFR gauge.
2. By the time you've noticed a lean condition with the AFR gauge, it's already too late, and you've probably melted a piston.
But hey, thanks for sharing the photos of the gauges - perhaps doing a better job of photographing the photos from where you sit will do a better job of telling the story. At least it will prevent a bunch of people telling you it blocks the fuel gauge.
I did take the pic from where I sit, but as previously stated, the PICTURE blows it out of proportion. Pictures are 2 dimensional, the Picture makes the AFR guage appear closer than it actually is. There is no way to simulate this without looking in person or taking my word for it
As for air fuel guage being worthless, yes for a factory turbocharged chevy cruz eco or equivelant you're correct lol.
-If they're so useless then why do 99.999% of tuners have one in their personal vehicles that are modified??
-why does every tuner I know recommend one? not to mention on a car with completely built from scratch turbo system, why not monitor boost and air fuel?
-with a guage like this, there is PLENTY of time to let out before catasrophic failure happens. Its simple, the guage blinks green when afr is 10-12.5:1, if you start seeing it turn yellow or orange in your peripheral vision LET OUT. Doesnt take a genius or hours to do. For the same reason I have elected to mount it as close to my face as possible within reason of obstructing view.
-If you have forged pistons (like me) you can put them through some surprising abuse before something lets go, this air fuel guage will most definately catch a lean spot in the tune that can then be corrected, which would otherwise go unnoticed if it were in the hands of a retard that believed air fuel guages were worthless, and just kept stomping it till it nuked a piston
-If an air fuel guage was pointless than why would so many people make them and why would so many people buy them? thats like saying an oil pressure guage is stupid
Let me guess, your probably the type of guy that hears a rod knock and stomps the gas to see if it goes away? -If I wanted a squirrely opinion of some keyboard warrior that probably doesnt know an engine from a hole in the ground, I would have asked you
But I was simply posting pics to help out the community since there is no manufacturers that offer guage pods for our cars, and wanted to share this simple idea for others to copy if so desired. Like you, I beleive maybe you could benefit from having a pair of extra fuel level guages since the one factory guage evidently isnt enough to alert you when its time to hit the station. As for me, Beleive it or not in the past 4-5 weeks that Ive had these guages in place, I havent ran it out of fuel ONE single time 
Oh, and In case you didn't know this isnt a factory turbocharged vehicle
Furthermore, this brings me to my next question: perhaps we should post a poll thread in the tuning section to ask all the tuners how worthless wideband guages are??
03-12-2013, 12:14 AM
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Horse Power Freaks, they are known for turboing E46 M3's they perform quite well, although its a hefty price tag. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iL_j1xo67mo
03-12-2013, 12:28 AM
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Big thanks to those of you that had something positive to say to my attempt to share this simple idea 
which I hope may help others out who may be in need of a place to put spare guages like I was
which I hope may help others out who may be in need of a place to put spare guages like I was 
