Custom Gauge Cluster?

[8R6]

if you got funds, you can use this. my friend has it in his G35 race car and it is BADASS.
http://www.haltech.com/product/dashes-and-data/

[Tromatic]

Going to stick this behind the wheel, post a pic in place later.

Torque app on GTab 3 8".

[extrashaky]

I'm running Torque with a Galaxy Note phone I wasn't using. I have it mounted to the little triangular window in the door. I'm a little afraid of what will happen if the a-pillar airbag ever deploys, but not afraid enough to put it anywhere less convenient.



As you can see, I'm running water and oil temps and GPS speed. Since that pic was taken I have also added a digital tach. There's plenty of other data available, but these made the most sense to me. I tried running Torque's distance to empty gauge, but I can't get it to work right.

Note: If you start using Torque, be sure Torque is NOT running each time you start the car. If Torque is running, the car will sometimes throw the U0073 code and go into limp mode. You can simply clear it (using Torque) if that happens, but it's better to avoid it if you can because the car will not immediately come back to 100% after clearing the code if you drive it any distance in limp mode.

What Torque will NOT give you on the twins is oil pressure, because the ECU does not have that data. The oil pressure sender on this car only feeds on/off info to the idiot light, and the warning level is set ridiculously low. It does not provide the variable resistance necessary to calculate an actual pressure.

If you want real oil pressure, you will have to add a sender and separate gauge. This thread has info on the best places to tap in.

I do not like the way any of the aftermarket gauge pods look, so I'm working on putting an oil pressure gauge where the clock currently sits in the center console. I have a slimline digital oil pressure gauge out of a Beechcraft airplane with a display almost the exact same size as the clock display. It looks like the pic below, except that it says "Oil Pressure" on it instead of "tit."



It will fit where the clock sits with a minor amount of cutting and should look almost stock when I'm done. The clock shares a single board with the passenger airbag indicators and hazard light switch, so I'm going to have to relocate that board back behind the console and rig the hazard switch to work. I'll lose the airbag indicators, but I don't give a shit and plan to replace them with the remote face for my V1.

I have everything I need except the 150 PSI sender to feed this gauge. It's really just a matter of getting around to doing the cutting and soldering.

Originally Posted by MokSpeed

I don't know if it's just me, but I've always preferred blue lighting for gauge clusters compared to red. I'm sure a couple of LED bulbs can fix that for me though.

Blue lighting looks cool, but red lighting is actually much better for your night vision. Blue/white lighting impairs your night vision, whereas red lighting does not. That's why red lighting and red gauges are used in aircraft cockpits, and why rear facing lights on cars have to be red or amber. It makes a difference during long night drives.

[Tromatic]

Theme from Torque theme pack.

[Simon99]

I know about torque and I am using it. I just don't get why, since the twin is becoming the new car that everybody modding, why Buddy Club or any JDM companies hasn't released an aftermarket cluster that gets rids of the analog display since there is clearly a demand, and replace it with either physical gauges or (shit I'd love that like in thenew Porsche) a digital LCD display that could switch between a couple of options !

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

[8R6]

Originally Posted by extrashaky

I'm running Torque with a Galaxy Note phone I wasn't using. I have it mounted to the little triangular window in the door. I'm a little afraid of what will happen if the a-pillar airbag ever deploys, but not afraid enough to put it anywhere less convenient.

dumb question, but how does it connect to the car to get the info? and do you just charge the tablet when you get home?

[Simon99]

Originally Posted by BRGT86

dumb question, but how does it connect to the car to get the info? and do you just charge the tablet when you get home?

connection is made over Bluetooth, regarding the charging I dunno

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

[extrashaky]

Originally Posted by BRGT86

dumb question, but how does it connect to the car to get the info?

You use a Bluetooth OBDII adapter. You can pay as little as $6 or more than $100. I have two of them. The [ame="http://www.amazon.com/BAFX-Products-Bluetooth-diagnostics-Android/dp/B005NLQAHS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403145154"]first one I bought[/ame] was $24, and it worked just fine. But then I bought [ame="http://www.amazon.com/ScanTool-427201-OBDLink-Bluetooth-Interface/dp/B00H9S71LW/ref=sr_1_7?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1403145286"]a much more expensive one[/ame] because it had the auto-off function that doesn't drain the battery if the car is sitting for a long time. The cheap one has been moved to my Jeep.

WARNING: If you buy a cheap OBDII adapter, DO NOT use any software that is supplied with it. Those CDs are laced with malware. All you need is Torque (or the Apple equivalent) anyway.

Originally Posted by BRGT86

and do you just charge the tablet when you get home?

Nope. I ran a power cable for it behind the dash. I tapped into the fuse box with an add-a-circuit. I just used the seat heater circuit, since it cuts off when the ignition is off (to keep the tablet from draining the battery), I never use the seat heaters and I was too lazy to figure out which empty slots were tied into the ignition.

I cut open a 2.1 amp USB car charger, soldered it directly to the line coming out of the add-a-circuit and mounted it to the crossmember under the steering column. Then I ran a USB cable from the charger, behind the dash and out through a small hole between the trim panel and a-pillar between the door and the dash (leaving enough slack so that I can open the door). I have another longer cable that I'm planning to eventually run inside the door and out through a small gap in the door trim right there by that triangular window, so that I don't have the excess cable visible. Just haven't gotten around to it.

The phone itself has been rooted, flashed with Paranoid Android and stripped of everything except the essentials. I messed around with Tasker to try to get it to turn on and off automatically with the car, but I haven't been able to get it to work quite right. It does come on automatically, but I still have to remember to shut it off.

With this setup, the display still draws slightly more power than the charger replaces, so there's a very slow drain on the battery. I can go about a week of normal (for me) driving before I completely drain the battery, but I can avoid that altogether if I run it with the display turned off for a while every now and then. I've gotten pretty good now at remembering to give it a rest periodically to recharge while I'm driving.

I've seen some people use Nexus 7 tablets, but honestly I think the Galaxy Note is just about the perfect size. The Nexus is just too big, and other phones are too small. That Galaxy Note was a piece of shit as a phone (which is why it was sitting around not being used), but it's just about perfect as an engine monitor.

[Tromatic]

I have the ScanTool LX, and it works great. Just know that it does not seem to be compatible with iPads because Apple is special.

[8R6]

Originally Posted by extrashaky

You use a Bluetooth OBDII adapter. You can pay as little as $6 or more than $100. I have two of them. The first one I bought was $24, and it worked just fine. But then I bought a much more expensive one because it had the auto-off function that doesn't drain the battery if the car is sitting for a long time. The cheap one has been moved to my Jeep.

WARNING: If you buy a cheap OBDII adapter, DO NOT use any software that is supplied with it. Those CDs are laced with malware. All you need is Torque (or the Apple equivalent) anyway.



Nope. I ran a power cable for it behind the dash. I tapped into the fuse box with an add-a-circuit. I just used the seat heater circuit, since it cuts off when the ignition is off (to keep the tablet from draining the battery), I never use the seat heaters and I was too lazy to figure out which empty slots were tied into the ignition.

I cut open a 2.1 amp USB car charger, soldered it directly to the line coming out of the add-a-circuit and mounted it to the crossmember under the steering column. Then I ran a USB cable from the charger, behind the dash and out through a small hole between the trim panel and a-pillar between the door and the dash (leaving enough slack so that I can open the door). I have another longer cable that I'm planning to eventually run inside the door and out through a small gap in the door trim right there by that triangular window, so that I don't have the excess cable visible. Just haven't gotten around to it.

The phone itself has been rooted, flashed with Paranoid Android and stripped of everything except the essentials. I messed around with Tasker to try to get it to turn on and off automatically with the car, but I haven't been able to get it to work quite right. It does come on automatically, but I still have to remember to shut it off.

With this setup, the display still draws slightly more power than the charger replaces, so there's a very slow drain on the battery. I can go about a week of normal (for me) driving before I completely drain the battery, but I can avoid that altogether if I run it with the display turned off for a while every now and then. I've gotten pretty good now at remembering to give it a rest periodically to recharge while I'm driving.

I've seen some people use Nexus 7 tablets, but honestly I think the Galaxy Note is just about the perfect size. The Nexus is just too big, and other phones are too small. That Galaxy Note was a piece of shit as a phone (which is why it was sitting around not being used), but it's just about perfect as an engine monitor.

damn. if you were nearby, id ask if i could pay you to do that for me lol

[extrashaky]

Originally Posted by Tromatic

I have the ScanTool LX, and it works great. Just know that it does not seem to be compatible with iPads because Apple is special.

That's the more expensive one I linked above, the second one I bought. The only negative about it is that it's ugly bright green. I want to relocate it to the hole next to the ignition button on one fork of a Y-cable, so that it doesn't have to be removed for a tech to scan my car with another scanner. I would just put it behind the dash and forget it, but mine goes to sleep when the car is off and doesn't wake up until I push the button on the front of it. I thought it was supposed to wake up on its own when the car starts, but maybe that's normal.

Having that bright green thing in that hole would be kind of ugly. I may shell out the extra dough for the MX, since it's black and will blend better with the dash. Yes, I probably would pay an extra $35 just for the color.

Originally Posted by BRGT86

damn. if you were nearby, id ask if i could pay you to do that for me lol

It ain't that hard to do. You can get away without soldering by just splicing wires using crimp connectors, and it isn't actually necessary to root your device. And when you're done you have a sense of accomplishment, and you start thinking of all the other things you want to do when you get around to it.

I should have taken some pics as I went and done a DIY. Maybe when I finally get around to running the USB cable into the door, I'll pull the lower dash off and snap a few.

[innerthought]

If you're gonna spend the money, I'm becoming a huge fan of this head unit running torque. http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=62619

[Dezoris]

Obd2 over bt would be a very flakey way to do it even with torque. There are plenty of bugs enough where it would be a fussy dash solution and I have spent years with it in dash.

You'd need something like this and piggy back ecu to really do what you wanted. But its so over kill for a street car.

http://www.cosworth.com/products/rac...hes/omega-icd/

[antt]

Toyota NZ has a neat solution in their specially built race cars