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8th September 2014, 09:58 PM

Replacing Standard GTIR Boost Gauge and DIY Dials

This is a write up of how I replaced the standard boost gauge in the GTIR

gauge cluster located in the centre dash. It's more of a summary of what

I did rather than a step by step process, but should give enough guidance

to undertake it yourself if you want. Best of all it has plenty of pics!

What you'll need:

- GTIR gauges, or any other gauge cluster you need to replace the gauge

- Smallest boost gauge you can find. I was fortunate to find an Omori

42mm unit. This has been replaced with an electronic 45mm version

which would also work. The smaller the gauge the less work needed to fit

it.

- Misc tools like sharp craft knife, screw drivers, sand paper, drill,

soldering iron, bits to wire and plumb gauge (vac lines etc)

- Bit of patience and ingenuity

- For the dials, you'll need paper, overhead transparency film (available

from Officeworks), spray adhesive, and a laser printer

The Gauges:

Oil temp, oil pressure, manifold pressure.

Why replace the boost gauge?

I had a few reasons to replace the gauge, namely:

- when my car was converted to DET the boost sensor from the half cut

was never installed, leaving the gauge lifeless. I never searched hard but

I assume the sender unit would be hard to come by;

- the gauge only shows up to about 13.5 psi (700mmHg), which is pretty

useless for someone running 20+ psi; and lastly,

- who-T-F measures positive manifold pressure in mmHg? Seriously.

I have only seen one other example of this mod. The person fitted a

52mm Greddy boost gauge to the cluster as pictured below. I was still

undecided if I wanted to do the same, as 52mm is reasonably larger than

the 42mm gauges and would require a bit of careful plastic massage to

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1 of 13 17/09/2014 8:52 PM

get the gauge to fit (an area I'm not proficient in). Luckily I have a spare

cluster that I could test with/use in case of a fatal stuff up.

After some more searching I found that <52mm boost gauges actually

exist; made by Omori/Omoni and Prosport. A couple of reviews of the

latter put me off that gauge so I hunted down an Omori gauge. They

made a 42mm mechanical and a 45mm electronic boost gauge: I could

work with either.

You wouldn't believe my luck! Within a day or so of discovering the above

information, a 42mm gauge appeared on eBay! After some "must have

that gauge at all costs" bidding, I had the gauge in my hands ready for

modding. The only problem was that the gauge had green illumination at

night. This doesn't suit the other white LED illuminated gauges and

instrument cluster.


2 of 13 17/09/2014 8:52 PM

First I changed the colour of the dial, and then fitted it to the cluster.

Converting the backlit dial from green to white

I carefully dismantled the gauge by removing the bezel and clear window

from the front. I attempted to remove the green material from the dial by

sanding it back as I discovered this technique on another forum using a

Defi gauge (Link). After furiously sanding one half of the dial and getting

nowhere I gave up and investigated other options. Turns out the material

for the front of the dial (the bit you see) really is wafer thin and not as

thick as the Defi dial I'd seen in the example. I accidentally sanded

through the front face (on the edge) and figured this was a dead end.

After some more googling on suppliers of custom dials I found a DIY dial

guide here. The gist of the guide was make the dials by sandwiching a

piece of paper and overhead transparency film together, both with the

design printed on each.

I scanned the dial face (before sanding ) and did some quick edits to

the image (in MS Word of all programs); reduced it to a black and white

image, increased the contrast etc. I could have redrawn it in CAD or

similar to have sharper, non pixelated edges but I feel this level of detail

was unwarranted for a small accessory gauge. I printed a few copies onto

paper and onto the OHP film using a laser printer (from what I've read

inkjet printers don't work too well with OHP films). I aligned the OHP over

the paper copy by eye and stapled the two layers together before using

spray adhesive to bond the two layers.

Some finished dials


3 of 13 17/09/2014 8:52 PM

Held up to the light

Unfortunately a single layer of OHP wasn't enough and light was getting

through the black areas. So I reprinted another batch and sandwiched a

paper copy between two layers of OHP (50% more black!).

Light shining through (note original green-backed dial in the background)


4 of 13 17/09/2014 8:52 PM

Getting ready to glue two layers


5 of 13 17/09/2014 8:52 PM

Dial with extra OHP layer - much better. Unfortunately due to the lighting

and internal gauge design, getting a uniform light spread isn't possible

with either type of bulb (incandescent or LED - mine are wide angle

LEDs)


6 of 13 17/09/2014 8:52 PM

Finished product.


7 of 13 17/09/2014 8:52 PM

Installing the gauge

Basically installation by guesswork using a craft knife. I started by

increased the size of the hole in the black fascia behind the clear acrylic

cover. After a bit of cutting and sanding, I got somewhere close to where

I needed to be despite it being a little off centre. The increased hole

didn't have to be perfectly round as the outer fascia covered the one

underneath. I removed the existing boost gauge and started to test fit

the gauge. I snapped off two little posts and marked roughly where the

new holes should be.


8 of 13 17/09/2014 8:52 PM

After some more cutting with the knife I had the gauge sitting in position.

Drilled/cut another hole for the gauge nipple


9 of 13 17/09/2014 8:52 PM

Comparison between the two clusters - looking neat! Prior to installation I

hit the clear cover with Meguiars SwirlX (light polishing compound) - it

removed all the crusty build up and came up like new.


10 of 13 17/09/2014 8:52 PM

After soldering the gauge wires to the existing board (for backlighting), I

installed the cluster into the car. Fortunately I had a vac line into the

cabin from a previous gauge mounted on the A pillar. I sleeved a short

length of rubber tubing over the top and taped it up. With the engine

running the gauge fluctuated madly, so I kinked the rubber section and

held it with a ziptie with enough kink to smooth out wild movements.

Terrible photo of the finished product in the car.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out and how smoothly the process

was. I had this idea on the back of my mind for years and it finally came

to fruition with ease . Now it's done I'll probably never look at it again

haha.

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