R53 Dash Vent Gauge pod

Discussion in 'Car Builds, Projects, Idea's Experiments' started by soccerbummer1104, Feb 17, 2016.

  1. soccerbummer1104

    soccerbummer1104 New Member

    Jun 20, 2014
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    R&D engineer (plastics, films, other)
    Inman, SC (greenville / spartanburg)
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    Not a new idea, but I can't find them for sale anymore.


    Anyone interested in an R53 gauge pod for the dash vent?

    I designed one up that replaces part of the mechanism for the factory vent piece.

    It is static, does not swivel, and has no ability to "block" the vent port like the oem twist knob.

    This is just the first prototype (final will not be in black)

    Final will still be 3d printed, but out of nylon. (black) and laser sintered.

    Should be fine for those purposes (a gauge pod)

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Thoughts?
     
  2. soccerbummer1104

    soccerbummer1104 New Member

    Jun 20, 2014
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    R&D engineer (plastics, films, other)
    Inman, SC (greenville / spartanburg)
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    Oh!

    I should mention, Shapeways (where I decided to have the part hosted for purchase) has the part costing ~$25 out of SLS black Nylon + shipping

    Still in Beta, so if you buy it now, there are no guarantees if it fits or whatever, as I will be receiving my two in mid March (away on business till late march so I saved some dough and selected the longer delivery time so the pieces were ~$17 ea. )

    R53 Mini Gauge Vent Pod. - Part 1 (9TNLBMVCK) by Daley_Engineering
     
  3. Mr. Jim

    Mr. Jim Mudshark
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    Figures, I've got my home-made one already complete and installing today.
     
  4. narvarr

    narvarr Active Member

    Nov 8, 2014
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    Looks good! What size gauge will it fit?
     
  5. soccerbummer1104

    soccerbummer1104 New Member

    Jun 20, 2014
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    R&D engineer (plastics, films, other)
    Inman, SC (greenville / spartanburg)
    Ratings:
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    It is currently targeted for the innovate gauges (62.5mm bezel OD with a 52mm body diameter), but can easily be changed for any body diameter you need. (simple dimension change)

    If anyone needs the model file, I designed it in OnShape (a new web-based CAD package that is free for small and private users. - Made by a bunch of people that left solidworks. Still growing, but it is pretty good!)
    - and onshape lets you share your work, so I can send it to whoever needs to customize it for their own needs.

    -Brad
     
  6. soccerbummer1104

    soccerbummer1104 New Member

    Jun 20, 2014
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    R&D engineer (plastics, films, other)
    Inman, SC (greenville / spartanburg)
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    And I'm not even far from you! :lol: (Inman / Spartanburg, SC checking in!)
     
  7. Mr. Jim

    Mr. Jim Mudshark
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  8. soccerbummer1104

    soccerbummer1104 New Member

    Jun 20, 2014
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    R&D engineer (plastics, films, other)
    Inman, SC (greenville / spartanburg)
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    ahh, yours is a block off.

    They came in!

    Perfect fit for these innovate gauges!

    so first a few shots as they came in the mail.
    did't have to touch them up or anything, they just installed as-is. :D

    [​IMG]

    surface detail
    [​IMG]

    you could always sand and finish these, but I didn't see the point.

    [​IMG]

    OD of gauge to OD of mounting ring
    [​IMG]

    one of the two clips that needs to be un-done.
    [​IMG]
    I unclipped these by wiggling in a small, sharpened (slighly) flat head screw driver until between the gimbal housing and the gimble mechanism until it was in just far enough to pry ever so slighly, and then eased the gimbal out of it's housing.

    Did it one side at a time. Thankfully the gimbal is flexible enough to make this easy-ish (if you are careful.. if not you will crack the housing)

    donor housing:
    [​IMG]

    if you can get an edge of the adheesive peeled up, the foam comes off fairly mess free and pretty easily. took less than 2 minutes / gauge to clean them up.

    [​IMG]

    Mount installed:
    [​IMG]

    just slides and clips right in place.

    gauge installed and back in the dash
    [​IMG]

    side profile:
    [​IMG]

    and showing the air path

    [​IMG]
     
  9. BlimeyCabrio

    BlimeyCabrio Oscar Goldman of MINIs
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    May 4, 2009
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    Great stuff. Nicely done!

    I used to do CAD/CAM and 3D modeling stuff twenty years ago. I should get back into that... There are definitely times it would be handy for parts like this, now that 3D printing is mainstream.
     
  10. narvarr

    narvarr Active Member

    Nov 8, 2014
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    Mine came in today. Should look nice with my meth gauge, opposite side to my P3cars gauge.
    [​IMG]

    This is the P3cars gauge.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  11. BlimeyCabrio

    BlimeyCabrio Oscar Goldman of MINIs
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    Really like these :Thumbsup:
     
  12. soccerbummer1104

    soccerbummer1104 New Member

    Jun 20, 2014
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    R&D engineer (plastics, films, other)
    Inman, SC (greenville / spartanburg)
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    Awesome!!!

    Note:

    Should the gimbal housing crack when you try to remove the factory gimbal,

    The housing is made of ABS.

    So instead of trying to use adheesive to glue it back together, I would suggest getting acetone and a syringe.

    The acetone will actually melt the abs that it touches.

    So if you sparingly wet the inner surfaces of the crack with acetone out of a syringe, you can use light pressure to melt the piece back together without loosing too much geometric accuracy.

    Just be sure to let it sit for 24 hours to make sure all of the acetone evaporates off so you have a strong joint again.

    Any ABS that did push out and onto the surface can usually be scrapped off pretty easily with any sort of metal tool with an edge... fork.. spoon... knife... exacto.. whatever really.

    Post up some pictures, or if you have any questions!

    -Brad
     
  13. narvarr

    narvarr Active Member

    Nov 8, 2014
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    Just to make things a little easier, the vent can be removed without removing the dash. Just follow the instructions on the first part of this link.
    http://www.p3cars.com/content/pdf/r53-car.pdf
    After removal, the gimbal section can be removed as per the instructions in this thread.
     
  14. narvarr

    narvarr Active Member

    Nov 8, 2014
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    I can confirm that they fit the Aquamist gauge as well after some very minor sanding.
    [​IMG]

    Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
     
  15. Dave.0

    Dave.0 Helix & RMW Powered
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    Did you know you can unscrew the silver gauge ring and paint it black to match..... ::idea:: I did it and it looks great. :Thumbsup:
     
  16. narvarr

    narvarr Active Member

    Nov 8, 2014
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    That's a great idea Dave. That would make it a better match to my boost gauge.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
     
  17. james.

    james. New Member

    Sep 10, 2016
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    model file

    Can you share the model file to me. I believe if i scale it down it will work for what im doing on my project mazda rx4.
     
  18. JKo

    JKo New Member

    Dec 5, 2016
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    Could you send me the model file too? Probably easier for me to have it printed here (in Finland) rather than you sending me the part. :)
     

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