e36 gauge mounting locations

[DaveCN]

Group,

After several years with a gutted, noisy, no radio/no HVAC no creature comforts at all e30 track car, I've sold it and moved on to an e36 m3.

After taking the "new" car to Mid-Ohio last month, I'm not in a big hurry to strip this one as I'll continue driving it to and from track events. It is nice to have the A/C and radio working for that.

But I want to get some aftermarket gagues in the car, and seem to be pretty limited on my options for where to locate them.

The sunglass tray location is a no-go. That is so far out of the line of vision as to be useless for me. I really dont want to remove the radio or eliminate the center stack vents.

That leaves me with the A-pillar and "mouse ears" steering column locations. The problem is, both of those are 2 pod options. Ideally, I'd want to put in Oil Pressure, Oil Temp and Water Temp. I suppose I could put in a 4th gauge and use a combination of those locations, but if possible, I'd like all three to be in the same area so as to see them at a quick glance.

Is there another option I am missing? Does anyone make or has anyone fabricated a nice dash top pod for three gauges? Or is there a three gauge a-pillar pod out there I am just not finding?

Anyone have any other suggestions? Any advice is appreciated.

[jakermac]

Euro M3 cluster with integrated oil temp gauge where the economy gauge is on the USDM car and then the mouse ears.

[RatedM3]

One for sale in mid-atlantic region and race car parts sections (same seller) of the forum right now.

[uconnr]

I used the rally-road steering column mount, and 2 SPA dual gauges. As long as you don't mind the digital display, its a nice way to get 2 gauges in one, and has some nice features like alarm settings, peak recall, etc..

[DaveCN]

dual gauges is an interesting possibility - had not considered that. SPA gauges up the budget I'd need, but I actually like the digital readouts.

Any chance you have a handy picture of your setup?

[NoOneBetter]

I used the rally-road steering column mount, and 2 SPA dual gauges. As long as you don't mind the digital display, its a nice way to get 2 gauges in one, and has some nice features like alarm settings, peak recall, etc..

+1 I have the SPA dual oil pressure/oil temp and prosport water temp on my steering column.

[DaveCN]

+1 I have the SPA dual oil pressure/oil temp and prosport water temp on my steering column.

Any chance you have a handy picture of your setup?

[gforcealt]

The steering column gauge mounts look cool, but do you ever hit them with your hands when turning the wheel?

[LuxoM3]

Made by Garmin its a GPS unit. Like $200. Read off the OBD2 port.

Read more...
http://www.brrperformance.com/projec...hp?page_id=139

The car comes with an oil temp gauge in the main gauge panel, but you can’t monitor any other functions while driving (at least not safely). So, we found what we think is a killer “win-win” solution for gauges. Garmin, the company known for their GPS solutions, offers a feature on some of their systems for Eco-friendly driving, so that you can monitor the gas mileage. BUT, what a lot of people don’t know, is that they added a whole “gauge” set option. They have an interface to the OBDII port that collects all the real-time engine data. You can then select the gauge options you want to display, and for us, we made one of them the water or coolant temperature. In this way, I can compare the oil temp and water temp at the same time. This has been very helpful. The price is great too….about $200 for the gauge, and it includes a full GPS system.

Here are some pics of the Garmin installed, with the OBDII cable connected (you can see it in the above pic of the steering wheel, look down at the lower left hand corner of the picture, where the OBDII port is, and you can see the cable w the red tag on it. We then ran the cable up inside the dash to hide it and make the install cleaner…….and for power we just plugged it into the center console outlet.

[DaveCN]

Not so sure about that Garmin setup. It lacks Oil Temp, which I'd want. Also, I dont know that I want that hanging from the window, nor the plug sticking out from under the dash.
Even if the wires were tucked away, the placement of the OBDii port on the e36 is such that you'd still have the plug sticking out.

Its an interesting device, though.

[NoOneBetter]

Any chance you have a handy picture of your setup?

Don't have any pics of my setup at the moment, and the car is in the shop getting some welding done. Here is a picture I found on google though. An aftermarket steering wheel will make the gauges completely visible.

[NotUrAvgM]

I'd been thinking of using the Rally Road column gauge holder and doing a dual digital Spa Water T/Oil T on one side and a full sweep needle Oil P on the other since it would be easier to recognize. Ive been using my phone to monitor Water T at the track but still feel a little naked.

[ECSTuning]

I run an ATI "mouse ear" set up on my e36. The pods are in just the right location that with the stock steering wheel I can clearly see the gauges. Yeah it only holds two gauges but with devices such as the SPA, PLX, DeFi, etc you could run multiple gauges (52mm in the case of the ATI set up) in each pod.

[uconnr]

dual gauges is an interesting possibility - had not considered that. SPA gauges up the budget I'd need, but I actually like the digital readouts.

Any chance you have a handy picture of your setup?

Heres a pic of when i was still getting the interior back together.



Ive since gone to a digital dash or else I'd tale more pics for you.

The steering column gauge mounts look cool, but do you ever hit them with your hands when turning the wheel?

Ive used the rally road set-up on 2 of my cars (one with stock steering wheel) and never had an issue. Theres easily a few inches of clearance behind the steering wheel.

Heres a VDO set-up I had with the RR pod and A-pillar pod

[drken]

Not saying this would be the best option for you, but just to keep tossing out ideas, you could use a data aquisition screen based system. Something like RLC Racing's Micropod Lite. Besides the lap timing functions, etc, lots of these devices will let you monitor several engine parameters at once, and you can set them to alert you (via flashing red screen and such) if anything is out of expected range. You can set the parameters. This particular system is small enough to tuck in front of the center vents, yet allow them to function pretty normally. The one I'm thinking of has the harness coming out the side , rather than the rear, to allow close mounting to the dash area.

Ken

[das borgen]

But I want to get some aftermarket gagues in the car, and seem to be pretty limited on my options for where to locate them.

The sunglass tray location is a no-go. That is so far out of the line of vision as to be useless for me. I really dont want to remove the radio or eliminate the center stack vents.

That leaves me with the A-pillar and "mouse ears" steering column locations. The problem is, both of those are 2 pod options. Ideally, I'd want to put in Oil Pressure, Oil Temp and Water Temp. I suppose I could put in a 4th gauge and use a combination of those locations, but if possible, I'd like all three to be in the same area so as to see them at a quick glance.

how about a combo....the 2 most important of the gauges you list are water temp and oil pressure....Put those 2 in a mouse ear setup on the steering column and mount the oil temp gauge in the sunglass holder.

My thinking is that oil temp is less of an immediate concern prblem maker than water temp or oil pressure in the middle of a track session....rising oil temps isn't too big a problem that it cannot be ignored for 2 laps compared to water temp or oil pressure.

[PCarroll]

[jakermac]

OK. I fail at taking pics in the darkness of the garage, but here's my best attempt. And no jokes about my Autometer narrow band air/fuel gauge. It's actually hooked up to a PLX wideband setup with one of their old school narrow band to wideband converters and displays actual wideband readings.



I bought my cluster from an Ebay seller in the UK. You'll get it for about $150-160 if you go that route.

[M3C]

My choice was back to the sunglass holder for all 3 gauges for:
-engine oil pressure
-water temp
-engine oil temp
-tranny oil temp
-diff. oil temp

All with visual and audio warnings.

[pbonsalb]

You can put 3 pods on the pillar. I have all individual gauges, but like the idea of duals. Unfortunately, they are expensive and there are not so many choices or combinations.

People have fitted them into the center vent. Also, a custom fiberglass pod could be made for the top or side of the dash.

[Massive Lee]

For years, I had three gauges mounted on the top of the dash, in the line of sight. The pod was velcroed on the dash. Loved it.

[jays01s4]

I was very happy with the decision to ditch the radio. I know you'd rather not, but I thought I'd show you what it looks like at least.

[RatedM3]

Similar to above, I ditched the HVAC and kept the radio. The panel is din sized. I still prefer the gauges higher up, possibly where the center vent is. Just working with I have though.

[Dlebl1]

what did you use for a gauge cluster in the stereo slot?

[jays01s4]

what did you use for a gauge cluster in the stereo slot?

eBay for the actual panel that fits in there...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-E36-VDO-...e218d6&vxp=mtr

Everything else came from Autometer(Angle rings, gauges, hoses, etc).