Found a sick spot for guages! mk2

[Smokey Eddy]

In front of the passenger above the glove box on an mk2 is a wicked place for monitoring gauges! modify the glove box a bit but keep the latch so you can close the door and tadaa! It's just an idea. My girlfriend and i were looking around where to put the 4 i have and she said "what about right here?"
I always figured there was stuff back there or not a big enough cavity but i think there is enough room!  You have to avoid the latch for the glove box obviously but you could still put two on one side and two on the other.
The wires can get power from stuff already in the dash, the ignition is right there and with the speedo/clock out it's easy shmeasy to get egt, oil temp, boost, etc. runing though out into the engine bay. With the dash, tach and glove box out it looked really easy.

let me know your thoughts! anyone have pics of this already done?

My only worry is; is there enough room before that vent tube to the far right vent gets in the way....? It's the only obstruction. Can it be pushed back?


Just an idea! thought i'd throw it out there  
(if you don't mind losing your glove box. at least ... some of it's functionality, im sure you could still keep insurance papers in there.)

[zukgod1]

They will fit and I've seen them there however, you seeing them is a problem. There not in your eyesight even a little bit way over there.

Even if you get those wedges under them to point them towards you you still wont be able to monitor them as needed.

You will be turning your head all the time to look at your gauges, just as well be texting while your driving. :shock:

[Smokey Eddy]

Hmph.
I don't want to put them on the armature thing that goes between the windshield and driver side window. It would be impossible to find a mount with the right size holes and i really don't want to make one out of bondo right now
The gauges would be for monitoring purposes only. I'm not intending on watching them all the time. I intend to watch them as often as i intend to drive like a lunatic - ie. the track or with a friend so he/she can watch them for me and i can drive.
It's oil temp, egt temp, rpm and boost pressure. I just want to know: how much max boost the waste gate is allowing, average temp of oil (or the change between winter and summer driving) and egt. the tach is almost purely for aesthetics... :roll:


I'm not a fan of cell phone talkers/texters at all. Been bumped already by one at a red light like 2 months ago  :? and almost hit numerous times. Seen plenty of near hits too with someone staring at a cell phone with their foot on the gas.


Edit: well i drilled the holes  :roll:
There is a light for the glove box that gives an excellent ground and lead to the ignition switch which makes it even easier to put them there. If you don't mind not being able to see them right in front of your face, i recommend putting them here. Dan does have a good point that you would have to turn your head while driving to read them but they aren't far away or anything. It's not a crown victoria so you're still not far from them. I can easily touch the faces of the gauges while im in the driver seat. The boost gives the passenger something fun to watch too

[dillenger1]

Trust me your gonna want to see them :shock: It will get pretty annoying looking over .I know i always glance at egt vs boost.

[Smokey Eddy]

If you ever want anything to turn out the way you want... start with some sandwiches

Drill some holes

Deal with the metal lip (hack saw and pliers bend them out of the way nicely.

IN they go!

Clean up the mess of wires... (ended up using a rubber sleeve to hold them all back and up)

The light that is for the glove box is conveniently tied into the ignition switch! And there is a ground to boot!


And there you go. I'm quite proud of my self. took three hours though  :roll: (until it was how i wanted it at least).
The order i have them in is...
boost, egt, oil temp and RPM (yes, rpm is the furthest away. I don't expect it to ever be accurate enough for me to care anyways. I don't intend on making a photo gate like some of you are doing)

[Kudagra]

I suppose your navigator can tell you the readings..but I dont like to have to work that hard to see mine.

I put mine where the Radio would go..Id rather listen to the tunes from under the bonnet.

Im working on getting a Votex console for cheap...it has a place for 6 gauges.

[Smokey Eddy]

Yeah I read ya.
my intent for my entire car was to spend as little money as possible and still have fun.
I'm fine with having them there. What ever, i don't care. I'm glad i still have the radio and my music. My car isn't a race car, never will be. If anyone wants to know my opinion on a daily driver GTD here it is: you never push a 1.6TD daily driver enough to have to be able to watch the gauges so closely that having them a couple inches further away is going to make any kind of difference (in comparison to VDO gauges - where the radio goes).

Mine are for longevity purposes only. Such as: are egt's too high at highway driving? does oil temp fluctuate? what boost is it running at?  and so on. I've had a couple friends over today already and they said it didn't look like a hack job and they liked it, said it looked pretty clean (which it wasn't really. Non-hack job means you spent money on it right?). I already had the wire, the tools, the connectors, the electrical tape... My gauge mount for 4 odd ball gauges cost $0.00.

Every one want's something different   Real gauge mounts look cool but i've never seen this before so i figured what the heck, no one is gonna buy this piece of junk ever anyways!


Edit: I do care about being able to see them that's why boost and EGT are the closes gauges. They are really not that far out of site ... in my peripheral i can easily see what the boost is reading without really looking at it and EGT i can guess it to the closest 30 minutes if it were a clock without actually looking at it. when something is static for the majority of the time it's going to be very noticeable when it changes. Even the rate of change the the needle changes at you will notice without looking directly at it.

[jtanguay]

would be neat if you could preset the gauges to have a buzzer go off if something is reading too high... then you can glance over to see which one, and drive/pull over accordingly.

IMO having the gauge in your face still doesn't mean much... one time i was on the highway and there was an accident... i was so pre-occupied with the traffic/accident that i failed to notice the climbing temp gauge and then all my coolant hissed out  :roll: so unless i had something buzzing at me or a huge light flashing a beam into my eye, or unless i was paranoid and constantly checking the gauges, it was going to happen sooner or later.  but now i am paranoid about my temp and always keep an eye on it  :wink:

but for tuning the car, you would want them in your face to get an idea of EGT's, and boost.

just my 2 cents

[Smokey Eddy]

but for tuning the car, you would want them in your face to get an idea of EGT's, and boost.

For sure!
The EGT gauge can be dialed in to have a big bright red light turn on at certain temp. I think it's pre-set to 1400 or something. It also turns on if something is disconnected.

[Jettagli16v]

A (not free) Good cheap way to put 3 gauges in a Mk2 is the New South Performance 3 gauge panel

http://www.newsouthperformance.com/mk2panel.htm

This eliminates the ashtray and adds a panel for 3 VDO sized gauges. (Boost, EGT, Oil press in my case)
I find them a bit out of my line of sight, but totally workable.

I bought it for like $25 from Black Forest Industries.
It looks very nice and professional,
and other people that look in my car say it does not stand out, because it looks much like the 3 gauge kit in the Cabby and Sciroccos of the 80s. (and with VDO Cockpit gauges, it looks OEM and not aftermarket)

[fdnyguy]

Can ya modify a bracket for each gauge so they are positioned facing you, making them easier to see?

Just a thought. Nice work, BTW.



Stay safe, stay well..

[Smokey Eddy]

yeah you can make wedges to make them face you but i didn't bother.

[hamradio]

Not the cleanest or most OEM looking thing.

[Smokey Eddy]

My car? I know.

[88jetta350]

Not to Pi** on your project, but why did you use different gauges? IMO it would have turned out better if you used all the same kind of gauges.

BTW, it's a cool idea. I like it, and have considered this myself, now that i've seen it done, I just might do it.