DIY dash gauges holder

[FLAMEBOY]

PHASE1 - DIY dash mould gauge holder...

ok guys... here we go...

i bought the gauge pod for wrx... i chose that coz is the closest on to flat and its easier to mod and fit into our flat dash pieces....

so i make the pattern from cardbox and draw it to the mazda3 dash piece. and then cut it with dremel...



for the rounded edge, i cut on angle and mark the surface lightly with dremel... reason being, the dremel cant cut small curves coz of the size of the blade...


then i use hand saw with the finest teeth to cut according to the curve line... still abit rough....



then i sand the rough bit off.... i also sand the gauge holder for paint preparation.... if you see in the pics, i stick the gauge holder to mazda3 center piece.... i use epoxy glue... just temporary, coz im planning to put plastic bond on it later...

if you notice, at the back of the mazda3 dash piece, there are plenty of plastic bone structure... becareful when you cut them off.... dont cut too much or you will make the plastic very flimsy.... just cut what you need...

here is the view from the top...



and here is the test fist for the 52mm gauges... i bought oil temp, oil pressure and one ricer gauge (vacuum gauge) - its mean to go up and down as u throttle up or down... i actually only need the oil temp and oil press, but since i get one more space, it wouldnt hurt if i rice it up a bit...





tonight, i'll do the second post... the surface of both plastic are different, but it can be fixed tonight with plastic-bonding, sanding and painting... i want to make it look OEM as possible... ^_^ so wish me luck... hope doesnt look too ricey and tacky...



========================================================

PHASE 2 - DIY CENTER DASH GAUGE POD completed

well well... couldnt sleep last night... so i ended spending 4 hour sanding and 2 hour painting... :ubbgrin: feel like zombie now...

lets start....

i apply plasti-bond that i bought on bunnings to the gap between the 2 panels.... and also on the gauge holder (coz its surface have texture and i dont like it....) and scrape the excess...



then i start sanding... start with 60 grit, 150, 400, and then 800... u dont need to do this.... but i just want a perfect surface ^_^ its good for painting foundation...



now, test fitting before painting



and start painting.... i use that light to warm it up, coz its bloody cold atm...

and keep sanding between layer using fine 1200 grit.... i put about 6 thin layers...
i use this anti-glare matt black paint...


now before the final layer... i sand the whole thing with 2000grit... and the result was amazingly smooth!!!

finished painting...


colour matched, texture matched...


and i know its annoying, but colour is very important to me... so i spray my light silver gauge ring to the darker silver... closer to mazda3 silver interior hi-light


and FINISHED!!

now i just need to learn how to hook up those bloody gauges.... any hint? :tongue:

i dont know how to hook up the oil temp and oil pressure sensor.... can anyone help me?

 

[icspots]

Great job. It just goes to show how important prep work is. Good finished product.

 

[tsunami]

nicely done yet again... to bad you couldn't angle them a bit towards the driver.... as far as to how to hook them up.... i've go no clue... Goldwing might know as the resident mechanic with all the answers... some one else was asking not to long ago may do a search and pm that person to see how they did it...??

 

[FLAMEBOY]

nicely done yet again... to bad you couldn't angle them a bit towards the driver.... as far as to how to hook them up.... i've go no clue... Goldwing might know as the resident mechanic with all the answers... some one else was asking not to long ago may do a search and pm that person to see how they did it...??

lol... yeah...

i just realised that after i cut the panels.... oh well... cant be bothered to do it all over again.... and i still can see all the gauges without turning my heads...

hmmm.... i'll try to ask around.... thx tsu...

 

[Zero Cool]

Damn good work there! Now that is craftsmenship! Some people would have just slapped it all together but it looks like you really took your time and did an excellent job!

I use my Dremel tool all the time and i found having the right bits for the job is key. I have a stock of drum sand bits, rasp bits, cut off wheels etc for doing plastic work. I found that you have to get into what i call the "Zen Zone" where you just block the rest of the world out and hyper focus on what your doing and and just move slow one bit at a time and you can do some really amazing things with plastic. Keep that bit speed so the bit cuts rather then melts through the plastic. Most people have the bit speed too high.

Do you have a photo of your dash with that piece out? i am curious how much room is under that panel. I am guessing quite a bit if the nav systems can fit there.

I think i might do something similar with an XM radio. or maybe a mini touch screen PC MP3 player or something.


Zc

 

[down_shift]

You have the nicest M3 I have ever seen. Some people have a gift for making things look great.

 

[FLAMEBOY]

Damn good work there! Now that is craftsmenship! Some people would have just slapped it all together but it looks like you really took your time and did an excellent job!

I use my Dremel tool all the time and i found having the right bits for the job is key. I have a stock of drum sand bits, rasp bits, cut off wheels etc for doing plastic work. I found that you have to get into what i call the "Zen Zone" where you just block the rest of the world out and hyper focus on what your doing and and just move slow one bit at a time and you can do some really amazing things with plastic. Keep that bit speed so the bit cuts rather then melts through the plastic. Most people have the bit speed too high.

Do you have a photo of your dash with that piece out? i am curious how much room is under that panel. I am guessing quite a bit if the nav systems can fit there.

I think i might do something similar with an XM radio. or maybe a mini touch screen PC MP3 player or something.


Zc

thx ^_^

i just wish i could afford better gauges like defi... lol

hmmm... dont have that pic... thats all the pics i got.... sorry dude....

 

[FLAMEBOY]

You have the nicest M3 I have ever seen. Some people have a gift for making things look great.

thx

its not hard to make mazda3 look great.... but its hard to make it fast.... without vtec/turbo... lol....

 

[Zano]

Nice! I'm glad to see so many success stories with adding in a 3 guage pod for the Mz3. Looks like I'll be doing this once boosted .

Nice job though looks awesome!

 

[mazda3zoom]

looks good man, how are those brakes coming? You never wrote back to tell me how that whole thing ended up.

And a while back i posted a thread asking how to hook up the gauges as ive got some on my A-pillar that STILL arent hooked up.
I still cant get used to seeing the steering wheel on the right side of the car, looks crazy.lol