Thursday, March 13, 2008

Gauge Pod

I made a gauge pod today from some 2" PVC-90 degr elbow's, cut them in half and sprayed some underbody coating on them so that they have some texture on them and painted them black with bumper paint.

Next I made an aluminum plate and cut 5 holes in it and held it against the belt sander to give it a brushed look,then glued all elbow's onto it.

Because the gauges that I used were quite deep, I made some aluminum rings that pressed into the elbow's and gave some extra dept.
It fits right over the ashtray opening.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Herman, Great work!

SteveC said...

Interesting work Herman. I have a 6 cylinder version of that engine from a Volvo. It is about 4 inches longer than the 5.
Can a Vanagon be modified to allow the extra length of the engine by moving the bumper back etc?
Will the D24 clutch fit the bellhousing if the plate and splines are right?
Your opinion ??

thanks

Herman said...

Thanks guys. Steve, the 5 cyl Audi engine barely fits inside the engine compartment, so in order to install a 6 cyl Volvo (Turbo I hope) you will end up with a lot of cutting.
The crank pulley, alternator and P/S pump will all stick out of the back about 3".

You would have to use a heavy duty rear bumper to act as a replacement of the chassis support beam that you will have to cut out.

The engine will bolt up to the transmission if you use a South African bellhousing, the clutch will fit in there with minor grinding on the inside of the bellhousing and you will have to use an Audi TD clutch plate, the Volvo has more splines.

Would be an interesting project for sure!

Anonymous said...

Hello Herman,
I really like your gauge pod. I am installing a three VDO gauge pod in my 1986 Westfalia. Can you tell me what connector you used for your volt gauge? I have only the starter battery in my van at the present time, but plan to install an auxillary battery at a future date. I have read the K3 terminal on the back of the fuse panel would work, but the K bank already has a plastic connector with no wire from the K3 connector. Thus I would have to figure a way to add a new wire to this VW connector. I don't have any special tools to do this. Any suggestions?
Thanks
Craig

Herman said...

Hi Craig, I have tapped into the wire that goes to my radio(my radio turns off when the ignition is off),you could also take the instrument cover off and tap into the wires for the rear window heating switch.
I have used the 3m connectors that you can buy in any automotive store,just put one on and with a pair of pliers push the little metal part in and close the clip.
all you need is a test light to check which wire is hot and when.

Works OK for low amperage use.

Anonymous said...

Herman, great work.
I've been working on my Syncro 16 for the last 2 years in a very similar direction to you.
I'm running a 2.5TDi AAT engine and I'm just at the point of adding an oil cooling setup to my gearbox. Spooky how minds think alike!
You can see my van here, http://brick-yard-co-uk.olympus.webwizhost.com/forum/forum_topics.asp?FID=8

You can contact me at performanceghia@hotmail.com

Keep up the good work. Wish I had your machining knowledge!
Cheers
Mike Ghia

Herman said...

Hey thanks Mike! Interesting project that you are doing too, sure takes a lot of time and money!
Good thing that you are doing your tranny cooling and lubrication mods, that 5 cyl 2.5 tdi has lots of torque!

Cheers Herman

Anonymous said...

cool gauge pods man! great stuff.

mugen

lee said...

Hey Herman,
what do the gauges on your new pod measure?
thanks,
Lee

Herman said...

Hey Lee, they are 2" gauges.

Cheers Herman