Building Pod for gauges

After having a look around auto accessary shop, i wasnt able to find a pod that i like, to house three gauges, so ive decided to make my own. The picture below gives you some sort of idea on where i want to position it and what it will look like when finished. I need a pod to house a voltmeter, air/fuel ratio meter and the all important boost gauge for when ive done the engine swap.

heres what ive done so far. Ive made a basic structure out of 6mm MDF. The sides will then be curved using aluminium gauze and then the whole thing will be covered in body filler and shaped.

heres another pic

I thought you'd try to do something a little more challenging. enough of the amateur stuff. hehe, j/k. looks nice so far.

Believe me, it challenging enough. What ive done so far was the easy part, shaping the body fillers gonna be a right pain.

Also, in this picture of my air/fuel gauge, ive actually installed six blue LED's and i have to do the same to the other two gauges, so they all light up the same.

you got some weird LED fetish, don't you? ahh hell, whatever blows your load man.

Looks like a nice little project, can't wait to see the end result. :)

:D :lol2: hehe, yep, you know me only too well!

My cousins got a 9-5 job, whereas i work nights, so he goes to the cruises alot on weekends. I was suprised to learn of the ammount of people who ask him about my air/fuel guage, cos it can be seen glowing bright blue when i drive around, especially at night. Just wait till all three of them are glowing........... the Police are gonna love me!!:D

how many amps does each LED take? looking good, good luck in shaping the body filler, lots of sanding :eek:

damn thats gonna look sweet. hey if you wanna build me one for my left hand drive g20 i will buy one from you! keep up the good work.

today, i managed to get the alu mesh fitted. I just used a hot glue gun to stick it on with. Its now at my friends bodyshop, being fibre glassed. I'll be picking it up tomorow, and then the sanding begins. This is how it looks so far.....

I also dismantled the to other gauges so i could accurately measure and drill the holes for the LED's. Ive now got them all fitted and this is what it looks like powered up.

Picture at night..... these puppies are gonna be 'Blindin':D

eh, they look, ok. lol. is the pod itself gonna have some led's on it?

Theres enough LED's already, I wouldn't overdo it heh ;)

yeah, dont wanna over do it:D Im gonna need me shades on at night, just to see where im going!!:hehehe:

I have a feeling the lights will get annoying cuz they are right in your line of sight.

yeah, true, i'd thought about that, so im gonna firstly, see if i can use a dimmer on them, and also have an overide switch. But they wont come on until the headlights are on anyway.

Since leds are so small, and use so little current, you're gonna have to get a really sensative petentiometer to dim them

yeah, im gonna look into the voltage side of things, see if that'll work. It might, but then again, maybe the LED will just switch off is there aint enough voltage............ i'll find out, keep you posted.

how many AMPS does each LED take up? and the voltage is different that 12V? what did you wire the lights to?

Heres the spec on a single LED.

Description:
3mm high quality, high brightness blue LED available with either a blue-diffused or water clear casing.
Specification
Diffused Clear
Part no.: L-934MBD L-934MBC
Light output: 40mcd 90mcd
Viewing angle: 60° 20°
Peak wavelength: 430nm
DC forward current: 30mA max.
Forward voltage: 5.5V max.
Operating temperature: -20°C to +80°C
Reverse voltage: 5V

Each LED is wired in sets of three then put to 12 volts, so i guess the combined voltage would be 3 x 5.5v = 16.5 volts.

Ive have a word with my local electronics shop and they said that all i need is a variable resistor, a potentiometer and that would do the job. So im off to get me one of them. cost 69 pence.

what does a resistor do?

it resist the current flow so that whatever youre powering doesnt receive too much current and ultimately blow.

I got what i needed, basically, a variable resistor, is like a volume control knob, so the more you turn it, the more volume/power goes to the output device, BUT i left the damn thing in the shop!! Ive rang em back, and i'll pick it up next time im passing.

That is some damn good work dawg. Very professional looking. You could probably make some buck$ doing that.

yeah, you see what i mean now about helping other with building things, like sub boxes etc. thats what i mean by 'offering my services':D

This is what it looked like after a bit of fibre glass and sanding.

Ive then added an Eyebrow, so the gauges are sort of covered. Its now getting more filler added, before final shaping.

Originally posted by P11GT
yeah, you see what i mean now about helping other with building things, like sub boxes etc. thats what i mean by 'offering my services':D

he he.:o

Heres the pod smoothed and ready for the final covering of Black Vinyl.

here it is

looks awesome, but how are you gonna get the vinyl over the visor part withoutit bunching up

the vinyl should be ok, well, it'll be done this time tomorow hopefully, so i'll take a pic and post it up then.

looking damn nice :D

good thing im having you design my box :p how many hours was put into that? you just laid sheets of fiberglass right and added the resin and bondo?

Originally posted by P11GT
Heres the spec on a single LED.

Description:
3mm high quality, high brightness blue LED available with either a blue-diffused or water clear casing.
Specification
Diffused Clear
Part no.: L-934MBD L-934MBC
Light output: 40mcd 90mcd
Viewing angle: 60° 20°
Peak wavelength: 430nm
DC forward current: 30mA max.
Forward voltage: 5.5V max.
Operating temperature: -20°C to +80°C
Reverse voltage: 5V

Each LED is wired in sets of three then put to 12 volts, so i guess the combined voltage would be 3 x 5.5v = 16.5 volts.

Ive have a word with my local electronics shop and they said that all i need is a variable resistor, a potentiometer and that would do the job. So im off to get me one of them. cost 69 pence.

what did you use to convert the 16.5 volts to 12 V? so basically, all 6 LEDS will use .30 X 6 amps? and does the return voltage matter cause its just going to ground?

heres the pod all finished and ready for installation in the car.

heres another

and another

Very nice Kev,
How you gonna mount them to the dash ?

Looks nice and clean. It be a little to bright for me but still looks good.
Almost like having a neon light in your car. Better get your windows tinted as dark as you can, so "PIGS" don't hassle you as much.

dude! you rule at DIY-stuff!

big respect...

thanks for the kind words.

chris..... yep, its going on the dash top, just above the airvents.

mrcoilover..... everythings taken care of. Ive put a variable resistor inline with the power to the LED's and there is a knob at the side of it which i can turn to dim the gauges:D

the cameras not working properly, so i guess, i'll have to send it back, thats why the pics arent very clear.

Sounds good to me.

Heres the finished article.
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11546&highlight=p11gt

Just linking the threads for those whove been asking and havent seen it.

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That's pretty dope. Now, can you DIY some angel eye style headlights? lol.. That or some Morette style ones? I'm thinking of doing my own lil eyebrow evil look to my headlights. I'm going to use an slanted eyebrow for the top of the headlight, then a double curved(for the headlight beams) for the lower browe on the headlights. So basicly it will look like someone giving you the evil eye. Have to wait till it stops snowing here to start messing around with it though.