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      05-22-2011, 04:12 PM   #1
boondocksaint
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Drives: 07 Z4MC
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Charlotte

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Z4 Coupe gauge pod in the sunglasses holder idea - procrastination begins

Since I started this little laugh riot in another thread, I thought I should move it to a thread of its own.

This is a bit long, as I am going to include some images swiped from the internet.

I come from the Subaru community where the center dash pod was most popular but I have nav there now. I was sitting in the car this weekend trying to figure out where to put some sort of monitoring device and the sunglasses holder - which is actually quite useless (I put business cards in it at the moment), kind of called out to me.

Side note: I hate A-Pillar pods.

After looking at and measuring it, I think some sort of angled faceplate would work nicely. Ideally, you'd have a daisy-chain system so you weren't running a zillion wires through the a-pillar to the gauges. I'll reference the Defi Link series as I have experience with them.

Because you can daisy chain these, they're super easy to install.


Those are 52mm. I think two 52mm traditional gauges would, in fact, fit, as the space behind the plate is about 2 inches deep, which is much more generous than I thought it would be.

The PLX multi-gauges are tempting, as you could conceivably get two of them and however many sending units you wanted to use for whatever things you wanted to monitor. Defi has similar solutions, such as the the ZD.





The holder is further forward than I thought, too. A flat display might actually work well, and there's little chance anyone will see them from outside the car, so it may be okay to leave them all visible.

Sooooo...

Located a guy in this area who does carbon fabrication. I went through a local speed shop, and in case this was secret, Charlotte and NC in general is full of go-fast businesses what with NASCAR and everything. I was told that this guy - whom I have not met - worked for Penske Racing. He works in carbon fiber. I figure, what the Hell.

I've got to decide a few things before I involve him in my little sunglasses holder turned gauge pod project.

1) What kind of gauges - the shape is important here, obviously. Do I use two 52mm round gauges for water temp and oil pressure? Or do I go for a flat LCD panel display like the Defi Link Advanced ZD? Avantage of the round ones is that I can have them angled toward me. A flat panel would look a bit odd if it were angled. Advantage of the panel is that I can monitor more things, like oil temp (a number rather than that numb needle in the cluster) and voltage (yes, it's important).

2) Do I want them to be concealable? I'm thinking no for the circular option, but for the flat panel, that might be advisable.

Thoughts? Any comments/criticism, etc., welcome. This is one of those projects that's going to drag for a while before I get the money to execute it, but it will go quicker if I have a plan in place. If you know something that I should be considering either in the solution, install, etc., chime in. Looking for the community participation, etc.
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