Heres a quick rundown on my a pillar pod mod that cost less than $100. I purchased the VDO cockpit royale gauges (oil temp & voltmeter) and a 14mm VDO oil temp sender that replaces the oil drain plug. Also 2 viewmax gauge cups that come with 5 adapters and can swivel. www.egauges.com

First
Eye ball where you want the gauges to go, bear in mind the a-pillar panel has plastic flanges (below pic) that are located near the top and bottom so you will want to position the cups accordingly to avoid them. When positioning the bottom cup, place the gauge far enough up so your hand wont smack into it when driving. Just pencil a circle around the pod mount as close to the center of the panel. There is a center spine in the back of the panel that will help to get it 100% aligned later.
gaugeplace-1.jpg?t=1263755824 bottom one


gaugeplc2.jpg?t=1263756063
top one

second.
Remove the panel. The 2 plastic flanges (top & bottom) that fit into metal clips and, 1, or 2 (I might of lost one ), that snap onto the panel which are midway up and are a PITA to get to snap back on later! just a good pry down and out with an old fly swatter handle does the trick.




exposedaplr-1-1.jpg?t=1263756287 heres whats underneath

Now line up your pencil mark on the outside of the panel with the center spine on the inside. Drill your holes to bolt the cups on. I had to buy two, 3/4" x 10? bolts because the ones that came with the cups were to short. NOTE: after the cup is mounted in, drill a small hole aprox 1" behind the rear of the cup for the wires to go through. You might want to use small gromets to neaten it up. I used the shortest ball mount in the kit to get the cups as flush to the panel as possible.

onedone.jpg?t=1263760500

Wrap the exposed wires that run from back of cup to gromett in heat shrink tubing to give it a clean look.

How I wired it: I tapped a sheet metal screw into the metal a pillar and ran about 10" of wire for my grounds. It only connects at the screw and the other end just gets taped or capped. I ran a power wire up (from fuse piggy back, see below) and a spliced ground wire (from 10" lead) up through the gromet hole into the back of the cup to the gauge. Instead of running 2 additional wires, from gromet to cup, I simple spliced the light off the power/ground wires already installed. (Below pic)

one hot wire is all you need to run up to the bottom of the a-pillar. The Voltmeter simply taps (Solderless connector) onto this hot wire. It also will be the power source (& light) to the oil temp gauge.

fusebox.jpg?t=1263762633

gaugewire.jpg?t=1263757042 keep enough wire in the cups so you can pull the gauge out later if you want to get to the back of it

I replaced the clear light bulbs with green ones, 168 0r 194 will work, to replicate the dash lights. I took that one step further and painted black BBQ paint on the tip of the green bulbs to give it an eerie glow. I used male/female connectors at the base of the a pillar so the whole pillar can be removed eaisier.


The oil temp sending wire runs down the pillar to the firewall where there is an existing plug, below brake resovoir. just cut a small hole in it and run your wire thru it to the drain plug...very easy to get at
VDO part # for sender. Yorkie sold seperatly


Now all wires are in place. To better run the wires down the panel, i cut 2 small angled cuts in each fin on the back of the panel to create a recess for the wires. 2 cuts and fold the plastic over and it also makes a handy place to secure a zip tie too. NOTE: This pic doesnt show the holes for the grommets

backpillar-2.jpg?t=1263761879

Puting it back in. The middle clip is cruical to keeping the panel in place. It took several tries but you will know when its correct because the panel wont pull away at all. HINT. before you remove the panel, put a piece of masking tape where the top of the panel sat before you pulled it out. This you know the panel is back in it's right spot.

The forum limits the number of images I can post in one thread so see below for more pics.

hope this can help you folks out. The pics dont do this mod justice...for under 100 bucks Ive got a dual a pillar pod holder that can be adjusted!

Curtis

 

Thanks Green-Ghost. It looks very interesting. Do you have any larger pics? I am having a hard time seeing any detail. Thanks

 

see below pics

 

Volt meter 2 wires in (hot spliced and ground, and 2 smaller piggy backed ones off of that for the light
gaugewir2.jpg?t=1263607750

gear.jpg?t=1263607906

They are alot greener but my camera didnt catch it
donelit2.jpg?t=1263607951
cupback.jpg?t=1263608060
I put electrical tape over the slot for the wires and ran them out the base of the cup for a less exposed look. You cant see the backside wire or gromet much at all when its back together


bolted.jpg?t=1263608250




Use a bent screwdriver to reach way into the cup or the angle's impossible. Note the flush ball mount in the pic

tool-1.jpg?t=1263787412




notice the one metal clip (above blue wrap) not sure if there is supposed to be 2 of them
guts.jpg?t=1263608454


the pics make them look unaligned but they are set perfectly. The cool thing, besides the cost, ease of application, is they can be swiveled much like a rearview mirror

lignedunlit.jpg?t=1263608489

 

Just spent the morning re-editing and fixing pics in hopes of making this DIY a bit more reader friendly. I would be interested in input or opinions

 

Nice. I would like to see even shorter standoffs though? If they would give enough adjustment.

 

nice concept....good for you...

 

looks great glad i could help well,, any make you start thinking on how you can make it ,,, really you should put a kit together and sell it it would be reasonable cost and could be two or three gauges set up on it,, great job post a pic of it from the back hatch and outside the drivers door, so we can see how it looks mounted. jim

 

I used the shortest one in the kit, its a ball/socket deal about the size of a marble. Unfortunatly its made so it just barely fits into the cup to allow room for the gauge but it actually sticks out about the same distance as a manufactured gauge pod.

 

Jim, I really appreciate your help locating an aftermarket application As far as a kit goes, it would be far eaisier, and cheaper, for members to get it all from www.egauges.com and follow the DIY. On a scale from 1 - 10 this mod was about a 3. I would like to mention that if you use a piggy back fuse adapter, you need to grind down the fuse blade it fits on to make it thinner or it wont fit back into the fusebox.

 

Just kidding about my help, you did this all on your own,, now after seeing how you did it,, i'm glad the one in the box i was going to send you was the wrong part, (box had one P/N and part had a different P/N) it really looks good and quite different than the standard pillar pod, way to go. I may borrow it one day. jim

 

Excellent job, and great writeup.

 

Wow, looks great bud, thanks for posting the pics, I can't wait to see it in person. When Mrs_Shark see's it she is going to want one too so bring your tool box. LOL

See you soon,

Kell

 

heres some pics of the finished product
P1010641.jpg?t=1264376791

P1010637.jpg?t=1264376908

P1010639.jpg?t=1264376990


sending unit installation. Seemed like the sender wasnt going to fit but finally got about 3 threads in and tighted. no leaks
P1010642.jpg?t=1264540345


and some side projects that kept me busy...
this little skull has about 5 hours of work, cutting doll eyes out and dremmiling them to fit plus several coats of silver and clear.

P1010635.jpg?t=1264377075

I bought 2 skull shift ***** off ebay for 6 bucks a piece. This chrome one and a bone colored one with eyes. I favored the chrome one and transfered the eyes to it. Also bade a "boot" for the shifter lever and laced it up because the plain chrome lever looked out of place
P1010634.jpg?t=1264377267

Ive a few more winter projects to go and can't wait for the car shows to get here!

 

Looking Good i like the gauge mounts....

 

One very kewl setup.

This is one good reason I sit on this forum.

Thank you, kind sir for taking the time to bring us in on the project.

 

UPDATE

Drove the xf for the first time since instal at night. The upper gauge was just a bit to bright, almost had a close call pulling out in traffic. I pulled the green bulb out, replaced it with the clear one (that I painted all black save for a small dot at the top of the bulb) then I slipped an old buld "condom" I had lying around from years ago. Its simply a green rubber hat that slid over the painted bulb. Its still green but really soft and shouldnt be a night vision issue anymore

 

Great description. I haven't seen any of these around for a long time and have no idea what they're called.
Any ideas on where I might find them?

 

Found this on ebay, search for bulb covers

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/AUTOM...Q5fAccessories

 

Radio Shed - No Go

eBay - Yes! Great search and find to the green-ghost.

AutoMeter is the supplier
http://www.autometer.com/cat_accesso...st.aspx?pid=26