Piller Pod and Guage Wiring Install Part I

[legmaker72]

I took some pictures of my first attempt at wiring up my D-pic gauge and clock, just in case anyone wanted to attempt this in the future..or had to get into this area of the car. American Muscle helped me out with the written instructions of how to get in this area, Thanks man!


One screw next to the E-Brake


One screw behind this panel at the door frame. The panel has two clips. You just have to pull towards you on the panel to remove it.


Once these two screws are out, you can pull the whole cover under the steering column straight towards the drivers seat. There are three clips, two on the left, one on the right.


Be careful as the E-brake cable is still attached. I'm assuming you can disconnect it if you want, but I left it and just moved it out of the way. You can also see the clips on the cover in this picture as well.


Once you get the cover out of the way, there is a metal shield you have to remove. There are four bolts (I don't remember what size socket I used to remove them). Hopefully your shield isn't covered in rust like mine! Not sure what I'm going to do about the rust yet.


Once you get the shield removed, follow the wires to the ignition cylinder. The 12V ignition wire is the Pink and White striped wire. You have to cut the tape it is enclosed in. The wire bundle is attached with a connector to the ignition cylinder and there is a red clip you must pull out towards the drivers door. Once the red clip is out, you have to squeeze the bottom of the connector and pull downward to release it.


Here is the red retainer clip


Here is the wire bundle connector.


I stripped a ~ 1 inch area on the 12 V ignition wire so I can (eventually) solder the power wires to the D-pic gauge and the clock. I'm going to have some help from some friends with this part


Here's a picture of the pillar pod and the gauges. I'm not done with the soldering yet, so that is why they are not illuminated. The pillar pod is a tight fit, but the color match is great. Not the thickest paint as I have already rubbed a little off under the bottom pod..luckily you can't see it!


I'll take more pictures when I finish the wiring. I hope this might help at least one person out.
Cheers
Christopher

[Darthvader]

I don't recall seeing the panel before.Who makes it? What are you putting in it? It's cool.

[MangoInTX]

Too cool legmaker72. Guess AM has his installed also, I saw the pics of his wiring. Will look forward to your and AM thoughts of how the D-PIC works.

[legmaker72]

The dual pillar pod I got was from GSM Motorsports and is made by Autometer. The top gauge is the Autometer D-pic. It reads HP, 1/4 mile, G Forces, 0-60 ..
http://www.autometer.com/cat_gaugede...earch&gid=3293
The bottom is just a clock ...just a spacer for now...Waiting on another pod (interceptor gauge)that hopefully they will be making for our cars soon!
http://www.aeroforcetech.com/

[legmaker72]

Mango,
Hopefully I can get it wired up before I put my sways and my headers on to see what kind of difference the mods make against the G-forces and HP. I think this gauge is going to be great for setting a baseline to see the effects of future mods!

[Darthvader]

The dual pillar pod I got was from GSM Motorsports and is made by Autometer. The top gauge is the Autometer D-pic. It reads HP, 1/4 mile, G Forces, 0-60 ..
http://www.autometer.com/cat_gaugede...earch&gid=3293
The bottom is just a clock ...just a spacer for now...Waiting on another pod (interceptor gauge)that hopefully they will be making for our cars soon!
http://www.aeroforcetech.com/

Is the fit and finish really nice? i bought one from another place some time ago and returned it.

[legmaker72]

The fit is very tight and perfect in my opinion. I removed the stock pillar, which they recommend to place this over it..I can't see how that would work though. This fits very snug. I like the way it looks. It is textured, so it matches very well. Like I said, the paint is very thin though, so you have to be careful putting it in. I'm pleased.

[pigpen]

that's pretty cool though!!

[RobAGD]

Nice !

Looking good, how is it while driving ? i was looking at one at the local shop I want to stuff in a AF guage and maybe a trans or oil temp unit. I am really looking for some extra guages for reading some stuff, but What I really want is data logging that can read engine speed, Throttle possition, Trans output speed, wheel speed

Anything else is gravy

-R

[Aikidoka]

Great write up Legmaker. Looks really good and like it was born there.

[legmaker72]

Nice !

Looking good, how is it while driving ? i was looking at one at the local shop I want to stuff in a AF guage and maybe a trans or oil temp unit. I am really looking for some extra guages for reading some stuff, but What I really want is data logging that can read engine speed, Throttle possition, Trans output speed, wheel speed

Anything else is gravy

-R

Rob,
That is why I am holding out for the Aerotech gauge! it will do all that stuff. I spoke with the guy from Aerotech and he said this summer he may be buying a Charger to experiment on. If we could get a local member to volunteer their LX for him to work on, that would speed things up!

[American Muscle]

Looks great Legmaker!

[05MagnumRT]

Rob,
That is why I am holding out for the Aerotech gauge! it will do all that stuff. I spoke with the guy from Aerotech and he said this summer he may be buying a Charger to experiment on. If we could get a local member to volunteer their LX for him to work on, that would speed things up!

MyMagSXT is local and already set up to help Aerotech out with this, with Todd specifically. Last communication I had was that Aerotech wasn't moving forward until later this spring - but that's been awhile now.

[legmaker72]

Very cool to hear. I hope they get working on it!

[SteveRT]

That set-up looks excellent, factory looking, another mod to dream of.....