Ideas on mounting data acq display to steering column?

[Matt93SE]

Not quite sure where to put this post, but its kinda race car specific so here goes... if mods want to move it, I won't be upset.


I recently purchased an AIM MXP dash logger, and I'm having a hard time figuring out how to mount this sucker on the steering column or in the gauge hole.

Need to keep the gauge cluster to make the car start, plus I still need a few of the dummy lights on it, gas gauge, etc.

To get thru the first race weekend, I mounted it to the center of the dash, but its hard to see the shift lights since they're not center-vision. the text is also hard to read due to reflections and etc..

Sooo.. im back to trying to figure out how to mount it to top of steering column.

It appears the steering angle sensor is mounted to back ofnthe clock spring, then lights and wiper stalk, ignition switch.... theres no room i see to get anything else in there stong enough to hold the dash in place.

I'm sure someone else has done this, so hoping I can find some ideas.
Thx!

[soundman98]

how far are you willing to go?

have you considered extending the oem gauge wiring so they'll go in the radio location?

[Matt93SE]

Originally Posted by soundman98

how far are you willing to go?

have you considered extending the oem gauge wiring so they'll go in the radio location?

I looked into that just after I cut the huge hole in the dash to fit the cluster. looks like I need to add about 2" to the harness to make it fit. haha. (maybe a little more to be able to get my hand in there and actually plug it in.
I *might* be able to loosen all the zip ties on the main harness holding it down and trim some of the harness bundling junk back, but I have a feeling there will be a few wires that just don't want to cooperate.

It's certainly an option if I can't do anything else.
I mess around with things a bit more over the weekend and if I relocate the ignition switch to the dash somewhere, I can make room on the column to mount some clamps. then it got into the 30s and started raining and I came inside. hate working on cars in the winter!

[M0nk3y]

I feel like you should just give it away since you can't mount it properly :p

Stolen from a friends FB Page. An Aluminum or CF piece drilled into the shroud like such should facilitate an easy install

[ls1ac]

Remove the key lock and ignition from the column and you will have room for a solid mount. Put switches for start, ignition, fuel pump, lights, ext. where the radio was.

[Matt93SE]

Originally Posted by M0nk3y

I feel like you should just give it away since you can't mount it properly :p

Stolen from a friends FB Page. An Aluminum or CF piece drilled into the shroud like such should facilitate an easy install

IMG
IMG

Thanks. I shoulda thought of that a long time ago-- like before I threw those trim pieces away! LOL
The car had an MXL2 (same/newer as pictured there) installed before I bought the car, but I didn't see how it was done. I assume that's what the PO did.

I might still have those plastic trim pieces and that would be a decent way to do it, assuming they don't vibrate much. I'm wary of using sheet metal to mount unless it's really thick/stiff because the accelerometers are housed inside the dash unit. I've seen some of these things bounce around at speed or when hitting bumps, and it causes problems in the data. so it's gotta be a fairly rigid mount. Maybe I can do like above and use an angle brace on the back to the rear of the trim piece. come to think of it, I think I have some 1/8" alu sitting around that's large enough to make that happen. it should be stiff enough over the 14ga sheet aluminum I'm using elsewhere.

Originally Posted by ls1ac

Remove the key lock and ignition from the column and you will have room for a solid mount. Put switches for start, ignition, fuel pump, lights, ext. where the radio was.

I thought about that as well-- I pulled the lock cylinder off the steering column and there's roughly 1.25" of room now. there's also a big hole in the steering column where the lock pokes through to the shaft, but I can work around that.

I assume there's an immobilizer thingy next to the key since the lighted portion of the ignition switch has more than two wires in it for a light.. so instead of reinventing the wheel on a wire harness and switches, etc, my thought was to simply mount the whole lock cylinder behind the trim where I can reach the key while belted in. keeps the harness intact and less crap to fail.

plus I can still use the key as a security device.. [protip: if you're racing first group in the morning and you left the car outside the trailer last night, be sure to get to the track at least an hour before the race so you can find all the shit your friends ran off with the night before .. mofos filled the interior with my spare tires, parked my car in the back lot, and hid my steering wheel in the trunk. I got it together enough to race and rolled up to grid with 1 min to spare. good times!]