Gauge Pod

[NewGenSTi]

Well since I am turboing my car I need to get some gauges in it. and unlike my STi they dont have an abundance of aftermarket pods that fit nicely in our car. well actually I couldnt find any other than universals. I like the defi style center hood so I decided to make my own. the heck with payin $120 for hte defi and trying to make it fit :) :)

this is where I am after about 3 hours fiddling with wood and fiberglass
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2006/02/000_0173-1.jpg

[Superu264]

looks pretty good.. what color will it eventually be?

[NewGenSTi]

hope to get it to match the dash as close as possible. probably going to get some vinyl and upolster it. would like to do my whole dash black. but thats gunna be a pain I guess I will figure that out when the time comes. ha

[Superu264]

either way I give you credit, its lookin good.. I know who to go to if I ever want one now :wink:

[Wiscon_Mark]

wanna go into business? ;)

[NewGenSTi]

lol, yeah actually I am working on starting a business up. I do powdercoating on the side now, and basicly fabricate a lot of stuff with fiberglass and metal and stuff. in the near future I may have something going on.

I am going to try and make a mold of this pod when its done and maybe make a few more to put up for sale.

[Superu264]

That's pretty sweet. Where are you from?

[NewGenSTi]

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area

[Superu264]

excellent 8)

[Reason]

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area

Where?

[Superu264]

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2006/02/scrantongif-1.jpg

heh heh heh..

[Reason]

Nice, you going to the Corning meet? http://www.sl-i.net/FORUM/viewtopic.php?t=1554

[NewGenSTi]

Hmm. I may have to say I will join you boys up here for this. So for March 11 count me in I guess.
If my jeep sells soon I may have the Turbo setup done along with the 5mt swap.

So add me to the list

Chris (NewGenSTi)

[NewGenSTi]

If this whole mold thing works out ok I plan to make a few of these pods to bring up to the corning meet with me for you guys to pick away at. No guaruntee yet but I am trying.

[dropdfocus]

I was going to go that route, but the wife wouldn't let me drill holes in the dash, so I could only use the A-pillar. It will be smoothed in and look like a stock piece. I'll snap some shots of it tonight. Your dash pod looks very sweet BTW!! Other than the front flat piece, what are you using to make the back section mold to shape with the fiberglass matting?

[NewGenSTi]

I was going to go that route, but the wife wouldn't let me drill holes in the dash, so I could only use the A-pillar. It will be smoothed in and look like a stock piece. I'll snap some shots of it tonight. Your dash pod looks very sweet BTW!! Other than the front flat piece, what are you using to make the back section mold to shape with the fiberglass matting?

I built the whole thing from balsa wood. just hot glued it all together and then stretched fabroc over it with fiberglass on top. then I used a coat of fiberglass reinforced body filler, and now I am just touching some things up with regular bondo body filler. I dont plan on using this one in the car. I want to use this one to make a mold of, I have been talking to a guy about plastic injection molding kind of a friend of a friend who does it and he says if I bring it over we can make a mold and he can make them up in plastic for me. so I am going to give it a try and see how they look

[NewGenSTi]

So heres an update on the gauge pods. I invested in a plastic forming machine and I went ahead and made a copy of my original guage pod. It came out better then I could have hoped for the first time using a machine like this, but Still not the quality I am looking for. I still have a little fine tuning and a few more practice runs, but I should be able to have a few of these made in the next couple weeks in a black textured material.. I was also thinking about making a tripple A-Pillar pod for our car because I cant find a company that makes one now, and I like the look of them as well. that however wont be a for a few months at least. I am going to be spending most of my time perfecting my original piece here before I get ahead of myself.....

So heres a picture of the first gauge pod reproduced.. . little rough around the edges the plastic didnt form around the bottom how I hoped. pretty sure I figured this thing out though.

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2006/03/000_0242-2.jpg

[Wiscon_Mark]

the material looks a lot like our interiors! nice :D

Keep up the good work, and you'll probably get a few customers :)

[NewGenSTi]

the material looks a lot like our interiors! nice :D

Keep up the good work, and you'll probably get a few customers :)

Yeah, I am really trying to get a few of these done to bring to the corning meet and I would like to have one mounted in my car to show how nice it really looks. but we will see

[Reason]

I'll take one (maybe 2) when you have them made.

[NewGenSTi]

Sounds good to me. I will keep everyone updated I pulled 2 more trial runs and I am getting much closer to perfection. I need to go back and fine tune the mold a little bit more because these are coming out with such detail you can see the sanding marks from the original mold. I am also in the process of starting a speed shop up and i should have the website up and running in a few weeks as long as everything goes smoothly here. I will be carrying a nice blackout gauge that has the start up sequence like the STi and Defi Gauges that will be available in red, white, and blue. but at a very reasonable price. I was thinking of maybe getting a package deal together for the SLi members but thats all in the future. Again I will keep you guys updated..

[Legacy-Version94]

this looks good. waaaaaay better than getting the Defi or Gruppe-S ones and i am sure its waaaaaay cheaper too. what kind of plastic forming device did you purchase and from where?

[NewGenSTi]

this looks good. waaaaaay better than getting the Defi or Gruppe-S ones and i am sure its waaaaaay cheaper too. what kind of plastic forming device did you purchase and from where?

Hey now, cant give away all my secrets... All I will say is I got it from a friend who owns a plastic shop and does this sort of thing for a living.

and I am hoping to sell these for about half the price of a defi triple meter pod

Its still in the R&D stages now..

[Manarius]

http://img435.imageshack.us/img435/503/scranton26wp.gif
Heh heh heh :P

[EXP1787]

I want one.

[NewGenSTi]

Yea, this is great feedback I am getting already on them everybody here that sees them likes them. I have almost got the mold down perfect now. I am just trying to figure out a good way to mount these now. I am going to work on it a little bit more when I get time over the next few days and really hoping to have a finished product by this weekend. I will def let you all know when they are available to you though!!

[Legacy-Version94]

this looks good. waaaaaay better than getting the Defi or Gruppe-S ones and i am sure its waaaaaay cheaper too. what kind of plastic forming device did you purchase and from where?

Hey now, cant give away all my secrets... All I will say is I got it from a friend who owns a plastic shop and does this sort of thing for a living.

and I am hoping to sell these for about half the price of a defi triple meter pod

Its still in the R&D stages now..
ahh, come on!! :lol:

[Perdue]

Just an FYI: The 2 gauge pod from the GC's will fit the BD/BG A-pillar with no problems...It will possibly fit others, but I'm not sure. My plans: A/F and Pyrometer on the pillar, and a single gauge cup on the steering column for boost.

[NewGenSTi]

ah good to know

[dropdfocus]

Just an FYI: The 2 gauge pod from the GC's will fit the BD/BG A-pillar with no problems...
So the WRX piece is a direct fit the to contour of the factory A-pillar plastic?

[jakmobile]

I want one!

[NewGenSTi]

Glad to see so many people really interested in these. Its really nearing the point where they will be up for sale I am still trying to figure out a good way to mount these though.....

[Wiscon_Mark]

how did the people with Legacys mount the delphi pods?

[Perdue]

Just an FYI: The 2 gauge pod from the GC's will fit the BD/BG A-pillar with no problems...
So the WRX piece is a direct fit the to contour of the factory A-pillar plastic?No, but the dual gauge pod from the pre bugeye impreza will fit ;-)

[dropdfocus]

Ok, my bad. So basically anything that fits the pre-WRX (in the US) models will work for the BD Legacy then huh? Cool.

[grayguy]

I know this is an ancient thread, but I was just wondering what happened to this project? I'm kinda looking into gauge pod options