MOD: In Dash Boost Gauge OEM look

[cully]

in Dash Boost Gauge OEM look




to start
i bought a digital oil pressure gauge and a digital vacuum gauge in the hope of using 1 of them

to start with the oil pressure gauge read 0-100 psi being a diesel i didnt want the vacuum side .
the sensor is a mechanical resistance wipper this prover verry unreliable so this was soon shelved.

i then tested the vacuum gauge this sensor is a 12v powered MAP sensor this gauge worked real well in both + & - pressures but it only showed BAR

cm/Hg so im going to have to read metric!

so the build started !

the Vacuum gauge


started by taking it apart to see how it ticks



unsoldered the led display as there is not enough room inside the dash display to mount all the circuit boards



soldered an extention cable onto the board to mount the led remote from the vac gauge circuit board




now to take the dash display apart i put masking tape onto the faces so i could mark the needle positions before i took them off, then had to work out

where to fit the led segments.
had to make a little room so i cut out the automatic indicator lamp tubes with a hot soldering iorn



have marked up the display mask and stamped out the holes with a gasket punch



first mock up



second mock up added a flashing led for when the ignition is off



as it stands now



still have quite a bit to do mount the led segments and flashy led wire the segments to the boards ect ect

this is a start

today have been connecting the electrics and electronics
have decided to use the gauge pod as an enclosure for most the electronics.
as this would be easyer to cable tie behind the dash

the flashing led has its own driver board and relay, the relay is used to switch the power to the led flashing board off when the ignition is on.
the board itself is a Fake car Alarm board from maplins
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=219997



the boards connections were all soldered and the MAP sensor is also feed from the pod too



assembled pod



now i had to mount the led display and flashing led
i used blutack to position the leds then used hot melt plastic to fix them and the cables this was so nothing would rattle loose








now was the first mocked power up !




this is a video showing the led flashing with the ignition off
gauge setting itself with ing on
and back to ignition off


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7aSv5BVq3w

well have gone and finished the job!

i have put the needles back on and all my coloured mask and glass



i then spliced my 3 wires into the blue plug on the back of the clocks loom



ground = yellow green
12v = blue
sw 12v = orange

be carfull if you are following this as there are lots of the same colour in that loom
i used a multi meter pin and a crockclip to make sure i had the correct wires!

i sliced back the insulation and wire wraped my cables to each wire and soldered the joint before insulating with tape

sorry no pictures as it was getting quite dark!

plumbed in the MAP sensor using my existing pipework, then reasembled the dash!

Heres the finished item as a video in the dark

enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtUNyqRsmh0


price of the project

£20 DASH Dials Ebay
£4 Fake car alarm led board Maplins
£20 led digital boost/vacuum gauge Ebay

not costed items
chip socket (scrap bin)
multicore cable (offcut)
Hotmelt glue gun as its now buggered it went pop inside
bluetack
doublesided tape to stick gauge face


ow and the car has sudenly done an extra 30K miles as my original clocks showed 82K and these ebay ones show 112K

anyone know how to milage correct a dash?

i decided to have a go at changing the circuit board over as i dont like the thought of my car showing high milage yet!

so this is how it goes
remove the front glass and plastic mask by easing the clips and lifting them off



put tape on the dial faces and mark the needles position against there zero stops



carefully prize off the needles with spoons not marking the dial faces
and be carfull not to break the lcd display
carefully lift off the dial display

undo the six torx screws holding the clear plastic and back plasic together



carefully lift out the clear plastic cover
now turn over the whole unit
lift off the black cover
find the four metal tads that secure the lcd and straghten them so the will go though the board



carefully turn over board and remove metal lcd casing



you should now be able to lift off the white plastic cover



becaarefull with the cover as the lcd may fall out
this is only a thin sheet of glass connected to the board with rubber sheets of connectors




reasembly is the reverse operation but becarefull with the lcd as it only goes back one way round