DIY -- Gauge Install & Display Relocation

[Tufast]

First of all, this is a "Do It Yourself" mod & I hold no responsibility for the work you are going to perform. In other words; work at your own risk & these instructions are only a guide line.

Tools needed: stubby phillips screwdriver, long phillips screwdriver, wire strippers, test light or voltage meter, sharp blade, heat shrink, soldering tool, solder or mechanics wire, torch or lighter, drill & various bits, dremel tool, file, extension magnet, clamping device and hack saw.





First unsnap the shifter boot at the top near the shift knob. Then remove the shift knob by turning it counter clock wise. After removing the shift knob, pull up on the lower portion of the plastic trim furtherest away from the dash & it will pop out. Then pop the front part of the shifter trim out & set it aside.



Next you will need to remove the center facia trim piece that surrounds the A/C, radio, etc. Do this by first removing two phillips screws at the lower left & right corners of the trim. Once these screws are removed, the rest of the trim just pops out like the shifter bezel did, but be careful because some areas of this trim piece are pretty thin & you don't want to break it. After you have popped the trim loose, let it dangle while you unplug the connector going to the A/C control head. In order to unplug this, you will need to hold the A/C control head with one hand & push in on the clip on the connector while tugging on the connector itself. After disconnecting the A/C control head, unplug the cigarette lighter at the lower right hand corner. Next unplug the connector going to the hazard switch up top. Follow that by unplugging the passengers airbag presence detector illumination right next to the hazard switch. You should now be able to set this trim piece aside as well.



Now you can move up top & remove the display trim & speaker cover. Start by using a prying device that will not damage your interior soft materials. I chose an interior door/trim puller kit.



Start by wedging a thin plastic blade between the lower center of the display facia & the dash material. Once you have got it started, take another thicker plastic blade & put it in one of the lower corners of the display. Then you will want to pry lightly until the trim pops loose. Afterwards do the other lower corner & the trim should come completely out. Sit this piece of trim to the side & pull straight up on the last piece, the speaker cover (blanking) & sit it aside as well. Now you are ready to go to work.

[Tufast]

Remove the four phillips screws that hold the display in place. Disconnect the connector that goes into the back of the display & then sit it aside. Now remove the tuner assembly by removing two phillips screws at the bottom of it facing outward. Next you will have two more phillips screws holding the upper portion of the radio in place. You will have to access them from above. Disconnect the radio & sit it aside. In the pic above, you can see the connector that went to the display. We need to get this down to the bottom where we are going to relocate the display. The wiring will be taut due to a couple of clips that hold the wiring harness in place. Pop these clips out of the metal dash support with a door puller tool or something similar that can work around the clips where they plug in at. Once the wiring harness that goes to the display is loose, guide it down to where the new display location will be. Route the wiring harness behind the metal support when possible, because you will have to reinstall the components & it is a snug fit. While everything is out, go ahead & route your wiring that goes to your gauges, but leave enough slack at both ends to work with. You are not installing the gauges at this point, only running the wiring.



Now that you have the display wiring & gauge wiring routed, reinstall the tuner assembly using the four phillips screws you removed earlier.




Next you must prep the display so that it will fit down bottom. There are holes down along the sides where the facia trim pops in & the display brackets block these holes. So, you must clip the upper top portion of mounting brackets so that the top screw holes are removed but the middle holes stay put. Next bend the lower portion of the brackets that are seperate where the bottom holes are. There will only be two holes now for screws to go through to mount the display, but that is fine...it will be stable.



Now, you are ready to reinstall the display down bottom, but first you must make sure that it doesn't interfere with the A/C control head. Flip over the the center facia & remove the four screws that hold the pocket & cigarette lighter in place. Now align the facia with A/C control head like you are preparing to pop it back in place, but don't click it into position just yet. Take the display & put it into position so that it is pushed up as far as possible against the A/C control head. You will have to wedge it into place so that it will stay in position once you remove the center facia with control head. Once you sit the center facia aside again, secure the display into place with a couple of self-tapping phillips screws & a cordless driver.



Alright, time to trim the new surround for the display. Take the pocket cigarette lighter trim piece & remove the lighter assembly. After which you will need to use a drill & bit to develop a hole large enough for your dremel tool to penetrate. Once the hole is drilled, take a small dremel bit & trim the material away that used to be the lighter mount & pocket. This will take a while, so don't rush & once your done, mount the trim back to the rear of the facia with the four phillips screws you removed earlier.

[Tufast]

Ok time for some gauge wiring. The two AEM gauges I purchased only need a switch positive for the red wires coming from the gauge & a ground. I chose the power lead going to the cigarette lighter as my switched postive since I'm no longer using it for the lighter (removed) & it's in the perfect spot to accept the wiring from the gauges. I started to use the negative lead from the cigarette lighter for a ground & remembered having problems using a pre-ran wire as a ground. So, I decided to ground them to the metal of the transmission tunnel by grinding a spot with a wire brush on the end of my cordless drill. I then used a wire connector with a loop on the end & secured it to the metal with a self-tapping phillips screw. I made my wiring connections using a soldering tool & solder wire, followed by sliding a piece of heat shrink into place and heating it up with a torch to create insulation for the wiring.

Now you can reinstall the center facia trim. Start by plugging in the connector going to the A/C control head. Next reinstall the connector to the hazard switch, followed by the passengers airbag display. You are now ready to pop the facia back in place. Do this carefully while watching for the thin areas of plastic, so there is no damage.



Now we move up to the top. I always try to keep scrap materials & hardware whenever possible from other mods I've done in the past & I HIGHLY recommend doing this, because it will save you time & money when taking on your next mod. It's nice to have what you need lying around. Anywho, I happened to keep the rear trim facia (not diffuser) from my BMW 540i when I installed the M5 rear trim facia. So I took this long trim piece & cut out a section about the size of the display facia using a pair of tin snips & then used the dremel to clean it up & make it fit perfectly. Note: this will take a while, so don't rush it or you will be cutting out another piece of plastic trim to work with (ask me how I know this....LoL).



Once you have the trim insert just the way you want it, drill a small hole on each of the top corners of it. Sit it in place in the old display trim & mark the holes to be drilled in that plastic as well, then drill them. Next use some type of adhesive that will hold the two pieces of plastic together & apply this along the edge lip on each side of the inside of the old display trim. Now place the piece you fabricated in place & secure against the adhesive using two small phillips screws. You can do this w/o the screws for a cleaner look, but will have to use some method to keep the two pieces together until the adhesive dries.



Once the adhesive is dry, take your drill & make a hole in your fabricated plastic trim piece where you want the wiring to pass through. Now you will need to take your dremel & clean the wiring hole up so that there is enough room for the wiring connector for your gauges to pass through. Now pop the top speaker trim piece back into place, but hold off on installing the new piece you created that used to be your diplay surround.



You are now ready to mount your gauges. Start by finding or making some brackets. The gauges come with U brackets that slide over the screws on the rear of the gauges, but these only work when you are mounting the gauges flush, which can't be done using this design due to the limited space where the display used to be. So, I found a few brackets in my misc parts bin that I trimmed, grinded, drilled & painted to become what I needed. Mount a bracket on each of the petruding hareware bolts sticking out of the back of the gauge using a small nut in washer to hold them in place.



Now mount the gauges to the bottom of the old display trim angled at you (the driver) by marking the holes in the brackets with a pencil where you want the screws to go in. Once you have marked your spots, break out the drill again with a small bit & make the holes. Just screw the gauge brackets to the bottom of the display trim. Now take the wiring connectors for the gauges & push it through the hole you made for the wiring & install the connectors to the back of the gauges. Pop the newly developed gauge pedestal in place. You're done with the gauge install & display relocation.

[Tufast]

I also have a Aeroforce Interceptor scan gauge I wanted to install, but didn't have enough room with the two AEM gauges. So, I decided to mount this different looking gauge to the bottom of the the instrument cluster overhang. Start by removing the trim piece right above the steering column; it just pops out. Next, remove the cluster by taking two phillips screws at the bottom out using a long phillips screwdriver. Now you will need to grab your stubby phillips screwdriver in order to remove two more phillips screws facing upward in the cluster which are countersunk & kinda hidden. Once you have all four phillps screws out, work the cluster around until you can access the rear of the cluster & reach the wiring harness connectors going to the back of the cluster gauges. It's easier if you move the cluster to one side to get one of the wiring connectors, then move it to the other side to reach the other.



Sit the cluster out of the way & begin removing the dash overhang by taking out two phillips screws facing left & right on each side of the overhang. There will be two more phillips screws hidden way back at the overhang which will require a long phillips & a light source to see them. You can now pop the overhang portion of the dash out away from the rest of the crash pad.



While you have these components out of the way, take your wiring harness for the scan gauge & drop it down from the top of the dash down to the OBDII connector. There is another wiring harness for the scan gauge that isn't applicable to our vehicle, so you can ignore it. Next take the scan gauge & create a couple of more brackets in order to mount it. Install the brackets to the back of the scan gauge & place the gauge on the overhang while it is lying upside down, so you can mark your holes for mounting. I recommend placing it forward enough that the wiring will slip under the guage cluster plastic. You will need to use your dremel to trim the plastic of the overhang where the cluster sits on top of it. Now reinstall your dash overhang using the four phillips screws you removed (2 sideways & 2 hidden way back). Now route the OBDII wiring through the hole you made with your dremel. Next, reinstall the gauge cluster, but don't forget to plug in your connectors to the gauges. Install the four phillips screws to the cluster, but remember two screws are different that go upward & sit flush. You are ready to mount the scan gauge using the same stubby phillips screwdriver you used to install the two flush screws of the cluster. Install the wiring into the back of the scan gauge first then mount the gauge, but remember that the gauge will be hanging & needs to be right-side up.



Now for the wiring that runs from the AEM gauges. I started to try & slip my wiring through where the hood latch pull is, but found that the connectors that came with my AEM afr wideband & boost gauge are just to large to pass through that little hole. So, I busted out a hole saw bit the size of another pass through plug I had in my old parts bin stash & installed it in the drill. I then drilled the hood latch cable hole much larger & installed the new pass through plug. To reduce the chance of rain water getting into the driver's floor board, I decided to take a tube of sealer & apply a fair amount around the outside edge of the new plug where it meets the metal of the firewall. I found it was easiest just to put it on the tip of my finger & carefully put it on (the metal that was just cut is sharp, so be careful). Now I have a pass through large enough to send both the connector to my wideband O2 sensor & my boost gauge connector, plus the hood latch cable & anything else that may need to go through in the future.



Now we're ready to hook up the boost gauge feed to the intake. I didn't want to use the white wire ties & T-fitting. So, I rounded up some black pieces I had lying around. I like this T-fitting even better because of the angle it is at. I plugged the connector into the back of the brass fitting & installed the smaller brass fitting using thread tape for better seal. I then trimmed & ran the length of rubber hose provided to the intake as described in other thread regarding boost gauge install.



I didn't like that the weighted brass fitting just dangled there with the connector installed bouncing around. So, I went back to the parts bin & found a left over mounting bracket for the hand guards on my ATV that I didn't use on my bike. I mounted on the strut tower right above the ground. That completed the install of the boost gauge.



I couldn't finish installing the afr gauge due to my CP-e downpipe has no wideband O2 sensor bung in it yet. Next I will have the bung installed & pick up some replacement bolt/nuts for the exhaust, since these have been known to break off & I don't want my car to be down for an extended amount of time.

I hope this is helpful to whomever reads it & sorry so long winded, but the details will make a difference if you decide to take on this project.