Easy_E1

iTrader: (2)

Hey Wafer ,,, for the price it can't be beat. I've ben toying with getting one and putting up some gauges. Is the material hard on the surface?
Because the thought of painting it has crossed my mind, and a few other things down from there.

1stgen8

iTrader: (1)

I order all of my prosport gauges and oil filter adaptor plate. Should have everything sometime next week. Can't wait to install everything.

chickenwafer

iTrader: (9)

hey Erick. The material is hard and just like OEM. You are welcome to see it in person if you wish. Either at one of the meets here or at AZMC, I'll bring it along next trip. Still waiting for the gauges and adaptor plates to install it

jskup1

iTrader: (7)

I got mine and the finish is probably more black than the oem panel as opposed to lighter as some of the pics look like. The grain matches very closely to the panel on top of the speedometer but is larger than the grain of the oem dash panel. It isn't perfect, but if you look at aftermarket gauge pods in any car, they never are.

sixgen3sgte

Just got mine

but i can't test fit yet because the car is in a different state

and even if it wasn't i couldn't compare the texture because mine is painted

but from i can tell it look great and for the price ypou can't beat it

if you expect to get the best mod in the world, or even the best looking gauge pod for less than $60 then you are crazy

but i'm not worried about oem finish anyways becasue i'm going to do something.......
well lets just say, different

now i just have to get gauges, wish i could find some as nice as the pod for a similar price lol


i haven't decided between the Autometer nexus (which is what i am getting for my other car) or the Defi blue racer (which are the only defi's that come in 52mm i think)

1stgen8

iTrader: (1)

Got mine on friday.....looks alot better in person. Worth every penny.....waiting for my prosport gauges to do my install.

VarneyMazda

im going to order my prosports tommrow got the gauge thursday

1stgen8

iTrader: (1)

Just installed my guage pod and prosport guages. The sending unit for the oil pressure and oil temp sensor are not hooked up yet. One of my best investments yet.....check them out.

Dookie_Rx-8

Looks like your the first with the screws.... looks nice.....

where and how you tap your wires for the +12v power from? im confused as i read theres a few opitions to do this..does the dimmer switch for the car work with the guages... really need help how to do the wiring thing when i get mine, help would be Appreciated...finally a product for the 8 thats super decently priced.

does anyone have a picture of the whole interior with the pod and gauges at night?

1stgen8

iTrader: (1)

First off I bought a roll of wire for each color used to wire up the gauges in the event I had to extend any of the wires. I ran a (red) hot wire from Aux pwr (20 amp) fuse in the fuse box to the red wires for the guages. I attached a blk wire to the frame under the dash and used that to ground the guages. I connected all the white wires for the gauges to the yellow wire on the cig lighter (this allows gauges to glow white when lights are off) and I connected all the amber (or orange) wires to the red/yellow wire for the light bulb the illuminates the cig lighter bezel at night (this wll turn the gauges to amber when lights are turned on). No....the gauges will not dim using the above method. The white is super white compared to the stock gauges and the amber is a bit brighter than the center console at night. I love the look of the pod and gauges. I went with the screw type for easy access. I may get the wideband 02 gauge when it comes out in late June.....according to my conversation with the guys at prosport.

1stgen8

iTrader: (1)

I should have mentioned it would be a good idea to get the oil filter adaptor plate if you plan on getting the oil pressure and/or oil temp guages. Cost about $38 bucks from prosport and saves you from having to tap into something. You will also need a 26mm socket to install the adaptor. Hope you have small hands cause you dont have much room back there. What i did was run the wires thru the firewall to the oil filter. I used the hole that is just below the master cylinder as my pass thru. I ran the wires under the master cylinder to help conceal them...see the green wire in the lower right corner of the second pic running under the master cylinder. I left a lot of extra wire so I didn't have to lean over the engine while I installed the temp sensor and sending unit into the adaptor plate. You may want to use teflon tape or Honda bond on the threads. Next I installed the adaptor plate and pulled the extra wire back thru the firewall. You can ground the temp sensor and sending unit somewhere in the engine bay....I did mine near the stock strut bar. Might as well change the oil while you have the filter off.

chickenwafer

iTrader: (9)

very nice 1st gen. Still waiting on my gauges. Good to know the ProSport adapters fit

Easy_E1

iTrader: (2)

WOW, Looks real nice 1stgen! I'm waiting chickenwafer to see yours.

paulmasoner

iTrader: (1)

1stgen, very nice. but i have a question; whats with the orange-out(black-out) of the lower radio panel and the HVAC *****? is it actually that way, or is it a photochop to conceal something being done?

1stgen8

iTrader: (1)

I covered some of my interior pieces with red and silver vinyl. It's red but it just looks orange due to the camera flash.


You can check out some of my work on these threads:

Interior work
-----------------
https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-exterior-appearance-body-kits-27/custom-rear-emblems-99386/

Custom short ram and CAI
----------------------------------
https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-aftermarket-performance-modifications-23/custom-cai-wish-me-luck-103093/

Dookie_Rx-8

thanks.. have everything expect 26mm socket .... what 'type' of connectors did you use? thanks again

1stgen8

iTrader: (1)

Here you go. From the guages I twist all of the same color wires (except green) together and put them in one end of the barrel type connector (on left). Then I used another piece of wire & put it into the other side of the barrel connector and ran it to my source....ie yellow wire on cig lighter, red/yellow wire to cig light bulb, etc. To tie into the source I used the connector on the right in the event I have to disconnect the guages. I did not use a quick disconnect for the ground only the barrel connector.

howardteets

The Prosport gages I got came with a wire about 6" long with a white connector on either end. Also they each came with a wire about 6" long that had a white connetor on one end and bare wire on the other.

To wire mine up I only used 2 of the connector on each end wires and 1 cable with the bare wires. The back of the gages had 2 spots to put the white connectors. These can be used to daisy chain the power across each one.

See the attachment.

For the +12V & -12V (Gnd) I found 2 wires in the head unit harness that had 12V constant even with the key off and out of the ignition. I peeled back about 1/4" of insulation soldered and then wrapped with electrical tape. For the ACC I ran a wire down to the ashtray and did the same thing. For the Light I ran to the light in the ashtray and once more peeled, soldered and taped.

Be sure when peeling the insulation of the wire back that you do it far enough away from the harness so that if you accidentily cut the wire all the way through you have enough room you do some repair work. That didn't happen to me on this project but I have slipped with the knife before on another job and it sucks.

jskup1

iTrader: (7)

I know some people were questioning the match of the gauge pod and dash piece with some of the pictures in this thread, so I thought I'd post a few that I took of mine out of the car to get rid of the lighting issues.

swoope

iTrader: (5)

i think it looks good. and for the money it looks great...

only the hardcore **** would have a problem with it. not that there is anything wrong with that..

beers

chickenwafer

iTrader: (9)

Hey Erick; I shall (hopefully) have my gauges installed this weekend and you can see them at the car show on Sunday. I just the tracking notifcation from RB for the adaptors and ProSport for the gauges, both are set to arrive Friday so I can install them Friday night. And if I mess up, I'm going to Jeff's on Sat to put in the switch to control the radiator fans, so if I mess up terribly he can redirect me. Although this looks pretty easy, but I don't want to jinx myself!

LiL BenNy

where are you guys running your wires from to the gauge pod?

Dookie_Rx-8

the radio harness and cig light/lighter

im almost done with mine.. im using tap splices 16-14 awg, will this work?

zenmoused

How is the viewing angle for the gauges? From the pics, they seem to be tilted up a bit. Oh, and anyone else that's finished their installation without screw holes, please post pics!

chickenwafer

iTrader: (9)

I just got all my stuff today. But I thought I should let people know this;
RACING BEAT GAUGE ADPATORS DO NOT WORK WITH PROSPORT SENDERS!!!!!!!!!!

The RB adapors for oil press and water temp are 3/8", the ProSport senders are 1/8"!! You need the ProSport adaptors! I found this out the *annoying* way of buying the RB adaptors and finding out they don't work. Luckily I hadn't installed them yet, or else I would have been even more pissed.
I'm gonna cut my dash piece anyways and wire up the gauges today, and send all the wires for the sending units to the engine bay so when I get the new adaptors all I have to do is connect the sending units and screw them into the adaptors, then install the adaptors and I'm all good to go.

I'll try to post pics later.