New idea for gauge pods ?? Need some opinions

Chris Vu · Feb 13, 2012

Okay, so I had some ideas in my head regarding gauge pods, and I've seen some made out of plastic bins and whatnot, so I decided to draw some up on Solidworks and see if my ideas are indeed plausible. So I guess I need opinions from those of you whom already have gauges to give me some insight.

The location of my gauge pod idea is in the little cubby hole on the center console right under the stereo (No, it's not the second DIN slot). It's the space right behind the shifter.

So for those of you whom have taken your center console apart (which is most of the forum I believe hehe), you will know that the little cubby hole is held on by just two screws. My idea was to use a 1/8" piece of aluminum and fab something up to utilize those two pre-existing screw holes, and this is what I came up with ..

As you can see, the assembly will be held on by two screws, and is able to move back and forth via the hinge so you do not lose the cubby space, if you really do use it.

Now, my questions are:

1) Is this idea WORTH trying ? IE: Is the location too far out of sight to be reasonable?

2) If it is worth trying, what improvements can I make?

This was just a quick little draft of an idea that I had floating around in my head because I'm getting ready to boost, and haven't found any reasonable location for gauges (I don't like the look of the gauge pod on the A-Pillar, and don't want to drill into my dash

)

C&C always welcome! Just try not to flame me :beer:

AFAccord · Feb 13, 2012

Without putting too much thought into this, my first question is whether you'll be able to open this 'door' without having an unsightly gap at the top to allow it clearance to swing. Know what I'm sayin?

Russianred · Feb 13, 2012

Would be nice if you took every little detail into account and did it correctly. As far as being time and cost efficient, that's another question.

Snoobly · Feb 13, 2012

im having trouble figuring out exactly where that goes. I know which cubby your talking about. but which part of it? the top piece?

Chris Vu · Feb 13, 2012

AFAccord said:
Without putting too much thought into this, my first question is whether you'll be able to open this 'door' without having an unsightly gap at the top to allow it clearance to swing. Know what I'm sayin?

Yeah, I was looking at that situation last night, and I made the top panel 1/4" shorter than the cubby hole is itself, just to get the proper clearance.

Russianred said:
Would be nice if you took every little detail into account and did it correctly. As far as being time and cost efficient, that's another question.

Well, that was just a rough drawing .. I was planning to angle the pod holes 45* in order for them to face me just a bit more. Also, I've never done any kind of work like this, and with aluminum too, so I have no idea what the cost would be like. I do have 'hook-ups' with certain people, and they said they'd help me with it, so I guess we'll wait and see