of all the mods i've done, this has to be the biggest pain in the *** of all of them. I'd drather do my fan kit and pump 100 times over then do this again. I thought this was gonna be simple.

First of all , i got the autometer phantom guages with the autometer guage works pod.

Problem 1), threaded studs sticking out of guages hold pod from sitting flush against stock a pillar cover

Problem 2), on a three guage pod, the wires are too thick for the pod to sit flush against the stock a pillar cover.

So what i did is i used a copping saw and hollowed out the stock a pillar cover. Leaving just the outside edges and the pieces that have the metal slips on them. I cut the threaded studs off the guages to fix that. The water temp guage didn't come with a wiring harness, so i had to make one(didn't feel like waiting to order it).

Ok, another problem....the guage works pod comes black. I'm doing alot of interior work and painting, it took me like half a day to sand it down to a semi smooth/textured surface, and another day worth of paint and clearcoat. But even if you were to just paint it the stock grey, i don't think the texture of the plastic would match the stock very good. Just my opionion.

Now, here's the worst part......how in the hell do you run the wires????? Ok, after staring at the underpart of the dash for over an hour dreaming of the second this would be finished i had an idea. I took a think piece of weed wacker line and started shoving it into nooks and crannies. I finally found the spot that people have mentioned that you can see light shine through from underneath.....mine has like a piece of rubber or something half covering it. Unfornunately not nearly big enough to shove the wires through. Had to fish each wire one by one down the hole tapped to the weed wacker line. Also had to cut the plug off the fuel pressure harness to get the wires through, now i'll have to solder that back on. Needless to say the pod is mounted, and the wires are run to under the dash......next on the list is connecting it up. That's sunday's project.

Just wanted to give anyone who was thinking of doing this a head's up.

Also want to hear from anyone who has installed guages. Is it me or did anyone else have this much trouble, or is it typically this hard to do?????

 

Just be patient and don't rush. It will be well worth it when you are done.

 

I did the triple gauge pod from rkkustom with the autometer lunar gauges and didn't seem to have much trouble at all. Running the wires through the firewall was kinda tough for me. As for the wiring, I connected all the grounds together, giving me one wire for a ground instead of 3, and then i did the same for the power, I hooked my power into my cigarette lighter because they dim that way and turn on with your lights. It takes some patience, took me about 3 hours but didnt have any of the pod problems and whatnot you had.
Keegan

 

LMFAO.. you didnt read my post from last week did you bro?

I did my 3 gauge lotek kit with lunars. Fuel Pressure, Trans and boost.

First thing i did was locate the illumination wire to the ashtray. I tapped it and ran it under the dash. I then located the +12V ignition source. Tapped it and ran it under the dash. I then shoved a wire down the crack at the top and fished them up. I dropped the wire back down for later fishing.

I then poked a hole on the rubber grommet where the factory vacumm line to the boost gauge goes. I cut the fp wiring harness in half and fished it through along with a wire to the transtemp. I then re-soldered and heat shrinked the wires back together and connected it to the fp sending unit.

Dropped the wire for the trans down and hooked that up.

Then broke out the t-fitting and the 90 degree elbow and did the boost gauge. It took me a total of a day and a half. The biggest bitch was trying to use the joke of machine screws lotek sends you. I had to goto the hardware store and get some much longer stainless one. I think all of the pods are ****ty in some degree.

Glad you got it all done though. My autometer fp gauge had a wire that came out of the harness. I had to superglue it. My only prob. Got pics?

 

 

problem 1) Cut the threads off. They are unnecessary for our application.

problem2) huh? Which gauge pod are you using? Of the three different installs I've done, the stock a-pillar piece was removed entirely.

painting) Lotek pod comes pre-painted. it isnt perfect but damn close.

wiring) best way to wire the gauges is to daisy-chain the wiring with m-f barrel connectors and leaving some slack behind each gauge. On the three guages I have, there are only 5 wires and one tube (boost) coming from the pod (2 hot, 1 ground, and 2 sending unit feeds). The trick is to tape them all together and use the boost line tube as the feeder. The wires WILL fit better if you feed them more toward the windshield rather than straight down from the pod.

****'s suggestion on the fuel pressure wiring is a must-do.

There may be a couple other item's missed. Try a search for my SN and guages...

I need to do a FAQ on this.

Bob

 

I think the A-pillar gauge pod looks pretty cool.
But I'm wondering if the gauges affect your night driving because of their illumination being close to your face?

Any opinions?

 

They make a nice little blind spot for left handed curves. I bought mine used and could not get it to fit tight, so I pulled it back and shot some spray foam in it. Taped it up tight and a few hours latter it was there. This is a last resort method as the foam would be a real mess to try to remove.

 

Bob

Put it together and we'll either add it to the FAQ and OR Put up a Speeding Bob How-to

Doug

 

If the stock A-pillar is removed entirely (LO-TEK) how do you connect the new a pillar to the frame. There were only two screws and it looked like they went into the existing A-Pillar. Mine looks kinda white trash because the LO-TEK didn't completely cover up the stock A-Pillar. How do you connect it?

 

My lotek pod and gauges were one of the easiest mods I did. You need to drill new holes in the metal part of the piller for the pod. All the wiring for power can be done on the headlight switch. The boost gauge source is right under the steerin colum. The only wires I fished through the firewall was for the tranny temp and oil pressure sources. It took me all of 45 minutes from start to finish. It looks like it came from the factory that way. Fit and finish are perfect.

Darryl

 

Sort of related question here. Should gauges be removed before warranty work? Just curious. Thanks

 

So Daryl,
it did replace your factory A-Pillar molding???

 

thanks for the feed back, most of the stuff you guys suggested i ended up figuring out. As for the pain in the *** stuff, glad to see i'm not the only one. The slot where you guys are fishing the wires, mine was pretty tight. I think some truck might have more clearence then others.

There is no way you are putting in the autometer pod without the a piller cover. The mod is meant to attach to it. No screws. Came out really good int he end. Looks factory(except not factory color.....well, exterior cooler ).

I think a guage faq is a great idea to put on Doug's page. Speeding Bob has some great hints, and i bet i could help with the installing of the autometer pod, because that was a chore to figure out!!! I daisy chained the light wires like he said, but with three guages, elec water temp, elec fuel pressure, mechanical boost.....the wires get thick. Basically i hacked up the stock a piller cover, just leaving the outer rim and two cross pieces where the metal clips are. Fit the pod to the piller cover, drilled three holes on each side nice and equally apart. Used the plastic pins to attach. mounted all the guages and wiring. Fed the wires and such down. Put the pod in place, then pulled the slack through. Now i just have to do the connections and wiring.

2 more questions though???

Which wire is the wire to use for the dash lights???? Someone said a small blue with a red stripe. Mine wasn't visible unless i start untaping harnesses

What did you use for a 12v ignition on source. Some recommended a larger blue wire with a green stripe. Some also mentioned using a fuse tap and plug right into the non power side of the fuse(so if fuse pops, guages loose power).


Ok, Ok, there is a third. How the hell did you guys connect that tiny tube from the boost guage into a t fitting. Did you put a vaccuum boot on the tube, then put in the t fitting. What size???

 

You need to use a soft vacuum T connector. I don't remember the size off the top of my head.

-NGK