Do-it-yourself DIN gauge/elec mounts

[chickentendah]

I need to mount a boost gauge and a HKS Super AFR in the lower DIN of my 1989 fastback.

And, I want to do it with cheap parts from Home Depot. What do I need, and how do I do it?

Your ideas please. Thanks!

[allthrottlenobottle]

why lower din panal? why not take out the center air vents and pop em in there? all you would need is some 1/8" abs plastic. check out my webpage,theres a picture of my gauges in the vents.

[chickentendah]

Everyone talks about about making panels, but hey how did you actually mount your gauges in place? Did you custom fab some kind of mounting bracket?

[nnkfws333]

why lower din panal? why not take out the center air vents and pop em in there? all you would need is some 1/8" abs plastic. check out my webpage,theres a picture of my gauges in the vents.

Where could I get this abs plastic? Home Depot? Also Im trying to do the same thing so did you just glue it in the center spot? How did you make the holes (What tools, etc.)? I believe I would just sand off the corners to make it curve correct?

[allthrottlenobottle]

i took a piece of abs plastic (1/8")that you can buy in 1ftx1ft squares (i got mine at canadian tire,but home depot or any stereo shop etc has them) i took out my vents and then traced the front side of the vent onto the plastic making the template a little bigger. then i trimmed the cutout to fit exactly to the vent opening using a small air sander(but a grinder or file will work) if your using 2 /16th gauges you need a 52mm hole saw bit to cut out the gauge holes(just measure the plastic length and hieght to get the center pionts for the drill bit) now put a piece of stereo backstrapping bent into a 90 degree angle and screw it into the center of the vent opening.there is a chunk of plastic around the vent opening to screw into. I used a 3/4" flathead screw. drill a hole thru the abs plastic to line up with the backstrapping and put a bolt thru with a nut on the back side(i used a longer screw with a tightening clip that you get with speakers) test fit everything as you go and paint if you like.

I hope this helps. Sorry for the long explanation but i've done about a dozen of these things now and i always find something easier or better about how to do them each time.

I'm working on a fiberglass version of this install for the center vents as well as driver's vent and passengers vent so the gauges will be angled towards the driver.

[allthrottlenobottle]

if you want to use 3 gauges instead of 2 just add brackets to the side of the vent opening instaed of the middle and 3 gauges will fit

this install only takes about an hour to do (without guages wired up and paint) and about 9 bucks (cdn)