tools and supplies needed:
-flat nose screw driver
-sandpaper
-gauge pod (i used a dual)
-gauges (i used boost and air/fuel ultralites)
-drill
-3/16" drill bit
-other misc drill bit sizes
-spotlight
-metal clothes hanger
-electrical tape
-needle nose pliars
-cloth, and some armor all
-pensil
first of all, put thoes uphostry screws for the pod away in a safe place and done loose them! (like i did, it took me like 3 hours to find one)
ok now that that's outta the way lets get this shit started.
first of all if you have all the supplies listed and arn't sure if you wanna tackle it yourself or pay someone to do, just do it yourself. all you need is this how-to, and there is pleantly more on the net.
ok, get in the car and first of all pull off that liner that goes around the edge of the A-Pillar, its easy you just gotta put it out, and then yank the end from behind the dash and throw that piece somewhere for now.
next get some fingers in where the a pillar meets the windshield and yank it out, there is just clips that pop out. do that all the way across the pillar and then pull out both ends and throw that piece somewhere for now.
then get out your pod and place it on the a pillar you just finished pulling off in the previous step. place the pod on the pillar in about the middle of the A pillar. you can mark that spot if you want so that you can keep that spot remebered. (but i didn't). then take the pod out and take the drill with the 3/16" bit and drill a hole in each of the 4 corners of the pod nicely in the middle of the corner, and not to close to the gauges or the edge. then take the pod and sand off the plastic filings made from drilling with the sandpaper, or whatever else you want, cause the sandpaper leaves marks in the plastic if you sand it, which i found out. and if you happen to do just that, take that armor all and try to get the color back.
wipe off all the dust and sand paper dust and then take the pod over to the a pillar and put it on on the spot you made for it before. take a pensil and mark through the holes on the pod to the pillar through all 4 holes. then take the A-pillar and drill holes with the same bit through the marked spots.
when thats done repeat that whole sanding process. then take the pod and put the gauges in it however you want and in the right order you want because it will be hella hard if you wanna change it later on, but dont worry too much about how the are faced cause you can rotate them in the pod when its installed to meet your needs.
now figure out how big of a hole you will need to run the wires and tubing and what not from the gauges to get them through the a pillar. once you figured that out take a bit that size and make a hole in the a pillar in the correct spot for each gauge for the hardware to run through. now once you have the wires all run through the pillar you can place the pod on the pillar and get out your 4 uphostery screws and drive them into each corner of the pod and make sure they come right through to the a pillar and are secure.
now that thats done you can take the pillar with the pod mounted out to the garage and run all the wires through the dash for a clean mount. this is where the spot light and clothes hanger come in handy. take the coat hanger and push it through where the hole is in the corner where the pillar use to occupy and see if you can stick it through so that it comes out under the dash right behind the hood latch.
if you can do that your set, all you gotta do then is fish all the other wires down that same path, and you can do this however you want. and then take the pod and bring it up in place and the pull the wires under the dash tight so everything is ok. now you can put the pillar back on in the opposite way you took it off, just push and it will snap in.
well leave that as such with the wires hanging under the dash and just send them through the firewall somehow and to wherever else you need to get them. dont ask me how i did it cause im not that far yet
.
lastly, take that liner and put it back on, its a bit tricky but you'll get it, and use the flat head screwdriver to pry up the gauge pod a bit to seperate it from the pillar so you can put the liner in there for a nice clean install.
there you have it.
who is the fucking MAN!
Thanks Phiber, I know I'm the man! Seriously, thanks for the how-to. -lemonrex
