I had an epiphany yesterday while I was trying to figure out how in the hell I was gonna accommodate the new gauges in the old housing. The center gauge insert is obviously completely cut out, so there was already a need to re-think how I was gonna hold the individual gauges in that space..
The gauge kit comes with 4 gauges in addition to the speedo and tach. They'll fit in between the AFR gauge and the "now I don't really need it" boost/vac gauge.
I planned to piggy back the tach and speedo in a housing that would look like a supercharger mini two hole "bird catcher"
But that would've completely obscured my vision.
I looked at moving the things to the side, hanging them off like some sort of wonky version of sid the sloth,....
And it would've looked just as stupid too.
Then after looking at it all too long, and considered posting my pic of the guy throwing in the towel......
I thought "What if I put the tach and speedo IN the gauge pod........
They almost fit. Getting them to really fit forced me to cut the gauge pod, and re-create a new bottom edge that drops at the center just enough to allow those two gauges to sit there....
(It's Genius.....I literally get hit by bolts of genius lightning when these things just pop in my head.....
.........it doesn't hurt or anything though.)
Now with all things I do, you don't get to see "the ugly"... ( and right now it looks decidedly ruined) .We'll just have to wait till I get it close enough to "rough" before that reveal. It meant that I had to cut out a section of the bottom leather, because there'll be welding that will have to be done. I'll also have to section in replacement piece of leather, and re-stain it when it's all said and done.
That will leave room for the remaining 4 gauges out to the sides of the two main components....and forces me to relocate the two digital gauges somewhere else....
I'm thinkin' here:
It's the only place they'll fit............Right in the middle of that cut line on both sides of the column....and at really great risk.
I'd have to cut it with a hole saw.....in finished material,....at a less than optimal angle,..using a tool that is NOTORIOUS for fcking things up if something isn't perfect.
Or conversely, I can ditch the two digital gauges and go w/o monitoring the AFR and vacuum in the car...(like who in the hell ever looks at a vacuum ga. after all things are tuned in anyway? The same for the AFR?
It'd be good to have an eye on the AFR just as a monitor for a lean condition, but since this is now a N/A combo... I don't think it's really relevant.
Maybe I'll put them in the same drawer that the gauge panel is now in and be done with it.