Mounting my DashDAQ on the dash didn't cut it. It was vibrating and then the 3m mounting disk glue finally let loose in the heat. There just aren't any good options. It's got to be easily removeable to take it out for up/down loading, didn't want to block any vents, had to be in peripheral vision without looking up or down but not block much view and be discreet from the outside. A-pillar is about the only option. The DashDAQ is square with about a 4" screen. So... here we go: This is what you start with. Wanted it to be reachable (touch screen) without leaning forward. That would put it just this side of the front edge of the dash. Here is a handy dandy, hollow piece of steel in about the right place. No need to hack or move anything. 2" x 1/8" bar aluminum. Easily workable while still rigid enough to hold the gauge steady. Cut the top angle to match the rake of the a-pillar and slightly angle the gauge to line of sight. I'm using a hack saw and holding it on the bench by hand. Guessed on the initial length -- wrong. Had to cut it again. Victory #1. The holes I drilled in the car lined up with the holes I drilled in the bracket. The side of that tube isn't perpendicular. (Yea, I bent that with my bare hands... don't mess with me.) Now we have a bit of a dilema. How to find out where the bracket is going to come through the pillar trim? There isn't enough clearance between the bottom of the bracket and the dash to get the trim piece underneath it and the top of the bracket is all the way up. I was kind of figuring a high probability of fail on this project so I made sure to get a backup trim piece (thanks Mol!). How far in? This looks like about 1.25" doesn't it? How far up? (heh, we can always make the slot longer...) I'm thinking a high precision tool is going to sort of make up for the eyeballed measurements. There's the target. It's DREMEL TIME! This stuff doesn't really cut. You sort of melt it and scrape the slag away with your finger nail. I cut it with a cutoff wheel, widened it a bit and then had the bright idea of using a narrow grinding wheel. And there you have it. The edges were a little fuzzy so I hit them with a points file (everyone has a points file don't they?). It didn't help much. Test fit. You can't get the trim on with the bracket attached. You can't get the bracket on with the trim in place. You have to put the bracket through the trim, move the trim half way in place, bolt the bracket and then move the trim the rest of the way in place (after putting the wires back in the guides). NAILED IT!! Whooo Hooo, I'm a fabricating god! Now we have to make the rest of the bracket. These pieces should end up looking something like this. (yes, I cut and bent that one on the right by hand too -- had to use a rubber mallet though). Didn't need all those bolts but I had them and I figured it looked better. I even got lucky and the cable connectors are still exposed. (I guess good things happen to good people) Back to the car to see if it works and there's room to get the gauge on the quick disconnect with everything installed. (crap, I can't believe it got dark while I was making the bracket) It works! Rock solid too. I'll get some final pics tomorrow.
dave......... as a person who makes things all day for a living...... i am actually somewhat impressed with what you did!!! lol very nice buddy!!! i was just thinking last night that i wanted a dashdaq........
Haha, that from a professional, and in the morning too! I'm figuring award winning work. Actually it was more like hitting the lottery... with eyeballing the slot position it could have ended up being a large square hole. That's an Arkon double-T mount. You mate it and slide down about a 1/4" to lock it. I didn't know if I was going to end up with enough clearance above or end up too low. That would have been a complete fail and I would have had to start over. Highly recommended. They just came out with a new model that's all black and slightly larger screen. They also came out with a PC product that's DashDAQ for your PC with a cable to connect it. They added the missing pids for DCX (might still be in beta). Trans fluid temp, current gear (and target?), and the accelerometer pids. It has a little speaker in the back (never tried it) and an audio out. You can used canned or recorded audio alerts. ...set your high warning for RPM and it will yell "SHIFT!" at you. dahahaha. Here's daylight pics. Came out better than I thought in the dark. I'm thinking I may have to paint the bracket flat grey or black. Anything I can spray directly over aluminum? or do I have to prep it first.
