So I went to a wedding last weekend and got a present from a best friend for being his best man. I got a Scangauge. At first I was like woah cool a diagnostic tool but there is much more and it is even cooler yet. Almost all sensor outputs can be displayed on it 4 at a time! There is a list on their website scangauge.com of all the functions. It does all kinds of stuff like record trip info too. At anyrate this is a how to forum so I will get to the point. The only downside to this thing is the case is huge and fits nowhere well on our cars other than the top of the dash and that just looks crappy. At first I was going to get a Saleen dash pod and mount all the electronics in that. But that would require me to hack up my dash and well I'm not willing to do that with just over 3k on my cobras clock. Here is what I did:
Step 1: Pull the radio trim off the car and pop one of the vents out that you want to mount your scangauge in
Step 2: Make a template out of cardboard of the vent opening, sorry for the crappy pictures I did this on midnight oil on a worknight heheh. The vent hole is around 2 5/16 by 3 7/8
Now take everything out of the scangauge by taking out the screws. Dismount the board, buttons and lcd screen. Make note of the screen and circuit board orientation so that when you put this back together your screen is not upside down. That could make it hard to read. Take your template and mark up the front of the box the scangauge comes in. Take a carpenters knife or small keyhold saw and cut out on the lines. Make sure that the four bosses that the circuit board is mounted too are included in the portion you cut out, ie don't break them or cut on the inside of them or something.
This is what it should look like when you are done cutting.
Step 3: Take the new smaller faceplate and trim it until it fits snug into the front of the air vent. It may require SLIGHT bending to get in initially and should retain itself firmly.
Now install the LCD screen from the backside using original mounting hardware. Install buttons and use some scotch tape on the front side of the pannel and the buttons to keep them in place. Now it gets hard.
Step 4: You are going to need small fingers for this or something. Install the ribbon connnector into the board remember get it in the same orientation as before or you will have to do this twice. The board has to be install on the backside of the vent so you will have to hold the board in and probably pull the front plate out to give you access to put the ribbon in the board. I could not do it vise versa which is why I had to use tape to hold the buttons on so they did not fall out when I installed the face again from the front of the trim pannel. Once you get this done screw the board down just like from the factory.
Step 5: Get back into the car with the trip plate and test to make sure the LCD is installed right by plugging the scangauge into your OBDII diag port on the drivers side by your right knee. If all checks out you can route the connector in a hole at the top left of the HVAC pannel. The wire should fall all the way down past the radio and you can pull it out right by the OBDII connector. Plug it in, tie up the wire and reinstall all trim with scangauge in the vent. This is now mine looked when I was done, I want to do something about the light shining through the top and bottom of the scangauge I will let you all know when I figure out an easy solution for this.
ENJOY!! Feel free to PM me with questions.
:beer:
Step 1: Pull the radio trim off the car and pop one of the vents out that you want to mount your scangauge in
Step 2: Make a template out of cardboard of the vent opening, sorry for the crappy pictures I did this on midnight oil on a worknight heheh. The vent hole is around 2 5/16 by 3 7/8
Now take everything out of the scangauge by taking out the screws. Dismount the board, buttons and lcd screen. Make note of the screen and circuit board orientation so that when you put this back together your screen is not upside down. That could make it hard to read. Take your template and mark up the front of the box the scangauge comes in. Take a carpenters knife or small keyhold saw and cut out on the lines. Make sure that the four bosses that the circuit board is mounted too are included in the portion you cut out, ie don't break them or cut on the inside of them or something.
This is what it should look like when you are done cutting.
Step 3: Take the new smaller faceplate and trim it until it fits snug into the front of the air vent. It may require SLIGHT bending to get in initially and should retain itself firmly.
Now install the LCD screen from the backside using original mounting hardware. Install buttons and use some scotch tape on the front side of the pannel and the buttons to keep them in place. Now it gets hard.
Step 4: You are going to need small fingers for this or something. Install the ribbon connnector into the board remember get it in the same orientation as before or you will have to do this twice. The board has to be install on the backside of the vent so you will have to hold the board in and probably pull the front plate out to give you access to put the ribbon in the board. I could not do it vise versa which is why I had to use tape to hold the buttons on so they did not fall out when I installed the face again from the front of the trim pannel. Once you get this done screw the board down just like from the factory.
Step 5: Get back into the car with the trip plate and test to make sure the LCD is installed right by plugging the scangauge into your OBDII diag port on the drivers side by your right knee. If all checks out you can route the connector in a hole at the top left of the HVAC pannel. The wire should fall all the way down past the radio and you can pull it out right by the OBDII connector. Plug it in, tie up the wire and reinstall all trim with scangauge in the vent. This is now mine looked when I was done, I want to do something about the light shining through the top and bottom of the scangauge I will let you all know when I figure out an easy solution for this.
ENJOY!! Feel free to PM me with questions.
:beer:
