In a post dated July 22, 2008 VS displayed a picture of a temperature and oil pressure gauge he installed in his Smart Car. I, too, have a preference for gauges - but the customization project I'm working on is a bit more extreme. Let me explain:
My one month old SmartForTwo Passion coupe has a great radio/CD player installed. Most find this a good selling point for the car. This is not so in my case. I never listen to the radio or play CD's when I drive - I find that doing so is a distraction I don't need. That said, I'll be replacing my radio/CD player with a 5 1/4 X 9 3/4 brushed aluminum bezel on which I'll mount four ISSPRO 2 1/16" (electrical) gauges (amps, volts, temp., and oil pres.), a hard wired Schrader retrofit TPMS display, a lighted on/off toggle switch, and a thumbwheel dimmer switch for the gauge backlights. All of this will utilize the existing fused radio circuit connector. I'm using an on/off toggle switch because the radio is fused directly to the battery and I'd like to use this separate circuit for my auxiliary gauge cluster.
This customization isn't cheap - the instrumentation, sensors and sending units alone will cost about $500. I like the "retro" look of the dial type gauges, though, so I'm going with them instead of a digital display such as a ScanGauge.
When I complete this project I'll post pictures of the gauge package. In between times, I'd welcome any comments or suggestions.
Chris
My one month old SmartForTwo Passion coupe has a great radio/CD player installed. Most find this a good selling point for the car. This is not so in my case. I never listen to the radio or play CD's when I drive - I find that doing so is a distraction I don't need. That said, I'll be replacing my radio/CD player with a 5 1/4 X 9 3/4 brushed aluminum bezel on which I'll mount four ISSPRO 2 1/16" (electrical) gauges (amps, volts, temp., and oil pres.), a hard wired Schrader retrofit TPMS display, a lighted on/off toggle switch, and a thumbwheel dimmer switch for the gauge backlights. All of this will utilize the existing fused radio circuit connector. I'm using an on/off toggle switch because the radio is fused directly to the battery and I'd like to use this separate circuit for my auxiliary gauge cluster.
This customization isn't cheap - the instrumentation, sensors and sending units alone will cost about $500. I like the "retro" look of the dial type gauges, though, so I'm going with them instead of a digital display such as a ScanGauge.
When I complete this project I'll post pictures of the gauge package. In between times, I'd welcome any comments or suggestions.
Chris
Tags: amp, display, gauge, guage, oil, pressure, temperature, tpms, voltage
Replies to This Discussion
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i prefer a scan gauge 2, it gives coolant temp, air intake temp, engine load, timing advance, fuel rate GPH, fuel consumption MPG and a dozen other things, it can display 4 at once, also is a trip computer that gives data for current trip, day, previous day and tank data. and it costs $160, wires directly into the OBD2 port under the dash. and it uses standard CAT 5 computer data cables if you want a custom install.
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Permalink Reply by Christopher Smyth on -
Thanks for the info. mbe,
As with fine wine, women, and cold beer, guys have different likes and dislikes when it comes to customizing their vehilces.
Chris
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I too have been looking for extra gauges. In my research I found a solution similar to installing the scan gauge. Auto meter makes a system called Nexus OBD II which looks like an easier and solution to extra instrumentation. I for one don't want to squint at a Scan Gage at 70 MPH. The Smart dash display is bad in that aspect as well. Yeah, yeah I probably need my bifocals adjusted, but..... Check'em out here http://www.autometer.com/ Check out the Ecometer. It must be new Looks cool, and readable too.
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I need to update this entry. The Nexus system DOES NOT use the OBD port. It uses new sensors you install, wired through an interface box that controls the cosmetics of the displays. The Ecometer mentioned DOES use the OBD port to display MPG, etc. It is plug and play. I clarified all this with the help of a guy at Auto-Meter.
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