Racing Beat Gauge Pod Update
 

A couple of weeks ago I was bitching about racing beat taking so long to produce their gauge pod. It looks like they updated their website with an explanation as well as a preview of their gauge prototype. Looks great.

http://www.racingbeat.com/photos/11816L.jpg

yeah thats nice! i talked to Jim Langer just a few days ago on the 20th and he said
"I received the final prototype of the gauge pod yesterday, I will be calling
the shop today with the "go-ahead" to product the final batch. I would
expect to see them within a couple of weeks." so they are just waiting for stock to arrive

http://www.racingbeat.com/photos/11816L.jpg

looks a bit crowded down there

i put money down that you would be the first to post a negative comment in this thread. thanks for contributing to my 7stock fund:)

I like it, I think I would use different gauges, though.

glad to be of service.... for the record, i was actually looking forward to these though - oh well

you just cant help yourself:)

What in the world would I do with all my pennies?? :) . Seriously though, isn't it a bit out of the preferred line of sight for driving? Digital gauges would likely be better in that location so you can just glance down and get instant information to your brain, rather than having to determine what the gauge is reading. I'm spoiled by the digital speedo, analog ones are now difficult to get used to.


Edit: I guess once you become used to the scales on each guage it probably wouldn't be an issue. You could get a ballpark # at a glance.

i like them, but I had gauges down in the cd player slot in my old mustang, which was in a similar location to the ashtray on the rx8. It absolutely sucked ass for doing anything besides looking "cool". Driving and taking a quick "glance" at the gauges was downright dangerous.

DerWankels solution is much better. It looks stock and the gauges can be easily viewed without losing your peripherial vision of the road.

Thought about doing something like that once upon a time, but didn't think it would fit. Looks like they really squeezed it in there.

a solution is the Defi-Link display which you can hook up to display any gauge you want and have it programmed to grab your attention if something goes wrong... i've looked at them and it would fit in the ashtray area but in its current state its a bit too archaic looking for my taste

not to mention the total for the defi-link II, link display, the the temp and pressure transducers is outrageous and then you still have to craft some sort of frame


edit-> just saw Blitz has a very nice setup in the MMd I color guage that does the same thing as the Defi-Link plus is a dyno all while looking goog... looks like about $700 for everything though

I want to see a pic of them when they are on. Are they going to move at all? I mean I know the pressure one on the dash is a dummie gauge and I hope this one would actually move. I wish one of them was oil level. I don't even know if that's possible though.

yes they'll all move. There is no oil temp gauge, so thats a nice addition.

The water temp gauge will mimic the gauge in the car, it's really only there to get an actual temperature reading of the fluid.

The oil pressure gauge will move all the time, stepping on the gas and off, will produce changes in oil pressure.

The oil pressure gauge in our car is just "pressure? yes/no?" regardless of what the pressure actually is. If you've got it, the gauge goes to the same spot it always does.

I've been thinking of going with vacuum, oil pressure, and either oil or water temp. Not 100% sure yet, but I'm leaning towards oil temperature.

I'd agree, it's not a good spot and it looks crowded and like the panel doesn't fit quite right.

I think the best solution is a heads up display.

I would use the Autometer Nexus line of gauges. You can switch the colors of the gauges to match your daytime or nighttime dash. They also can be programmed to turn a certain color if you are approaching a preset danger value (ie. lean, overboost, oil pressure drop).

I would definitely place gauges that monitor more critical values up on the dash with the derwankel pod (afr, boost) and if I feel like I want to add more gauges later put them in the ashtray spot with the RB pod. You're talking about a lot of cash for gauges though. :p

finally the 3 gauge instrument cluster panel :cool: i like the look with glossy black pod,nice :) i know it seem crowded down there,but nobody ever made and install 3 gauge in it ;) kudos to Racing Beat :score:

RB makes quality stuff. I am a little surprised they went this route. Definitely out of line of sight and believe me the back side of that panel is going to be more crowed than the front side. You would almost have to use electrical gauges with this setup as the mechanical ones line may not be able to take all the bends they would need to get to where they need to go.
I just dont understand why someone in the business does not make an affordable center pod gauge mount for this car.
olddragger

DerWankel will be soon. He's already debuted it. If you know where to look you can find the price too. It's reasonable for what he's done and how it's perfect stock looking.

I really like this location. It is very stealthy and not at all distracting. Really something you can glance at every once in a while and leave it at that.

I have gauges in the exact same location in my Probe. I wouldn't do it to the RX-8 as I use that area for storing stuff.

It looks like a quality product though, like everything from RB.

i want gauges the mount ontop of the nav screen, so when you need the nav it will still pop up (though you wont be able to see the gauges) but i dont need to see the gauges all the time nor use the nav all the time... to me thats the best idea..

dam thats a tight fit...

yikes, can't believe they got all of them to fit! If only they matched colors with our display, that would be SWEEEET!!

(goes in search of Derwankle's guages...)

I like it.

I would not want something in the nav area since I have a nav, and I would NOT want something that attached to the top of the nav screen either.

It might be out of the line of sight, but if I had any problems it's not a big deal to look down. My main items are afr and boost, and they're already on my steering column.

right now I'm using the scangauge2, it has an LCD, so I'm using it for coolant temp, mpg, intake temp and some forth thing that I can't remember right now..

mysql101: these would look SWEET in your car...