Write-Up: A-Pillar Re-Upholstery & Guage Pods

Upholstery write up:
https://rivperformance.editboard.com/t2780p30-write-up-a-pillar-re-upholstery-guage-pods#31725

Gauge pods write-up:
https://rivperformance.editboard.com/t2780p45-write-up-a-pillar-re-upholstery-guage-pods#118066

I would really like to get a pillar boost guage for my '98 Riv. I know some are against it, but I like to know what kind of boost my car is pushing, plus I like the look.

http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000421651475702242

This is the pillar that deann used from the RegalGS.org board. Looks pretty nice. How hard would this be for me to install? Who else has a boost guage on here?

I have nothing against them, have thought about making one myself. Would be cool if your car has the power to win, because everyone that notices will try to race you on the street.

I plan on installing one in mine. I'm not into the track thing but I just like the looks. Take your time and make it look right, you'll have to do some custom fitting but nothing too complicated. I want to find black gauges to match the others. Somebody else has one on here...I think maybe Ryan (Rhino), can't remember off the top of my head. Dig through the interior mods section...maybe in there.

used one for an older buick gs. didnt trim it but could of for a little better fit. no one tries to race me, but exterior is completey stock looking...kinda the point.

im working on another triple gauge setup, should have the parts (and headers muhahaha) in a month or two. Probably wait til fall to install though...freaking hot.

This makes me wonder, what is the demand for pillar mount gauge(s) from our members? Does everyone like the idea for their car? How many gauges, which gauges would be most desired? If we had enough interest, maybe we should look into low-run production options. Maybe something that could be moulded to fit, then painted to each person's taste. I could help with R&D, design, mould fabrication, etc. Anyone?

Personally, I think it would be cool to have a single pod that could hold the gauge of choice. For me it would be boost. Also, would be nice to have modular capability, so you could interlock or "piggy back" the pods in a chain, ie. build your own pillar system.

I love having gauges in the vents. It looks great, and stays hidden. I think the pillar pods are ricey. As some of you have seen, I have no dash, just the fiberglass frame. I plan on building a custom housing below the dash where the center console was and installing a few more gauges there. The only problem with installing the gauges in the vents is routing the wiring, tubing, which i initially did through the vent itself, or you can remove the door panel and the parking brake and feed everything through the rubber connection to the door.

I see your point about the "riceyness" of pillar gauges... they can have that feel from a visual standpoint, especially if you have 4-5 gauges up on the pillar. Also, the vent location has a nice, clean, almost OEM look. BUT... if you think about it another way, what is more functional: gauges in the pillars or gauges in the vents?

Gauges in the vents block cold air = not functional. Gauges in the vents make you look down from the road more = not functional (safe). Pillar mounting solves both of these problems, and if you build one to match the interior style, it can have a factory look instead of the "bolt-on" appearance.

Just playing devil's ad here, because my idea of R.I.C.E. is all show and no go (form driving function), which is sorta what you're doing with vent mount gauges... you're sacrificing functionality for a gauge that's not in an ideal location. So the question in my mind is, are pillar gauges ricey if the car has balls to back up the looks?

(Btw, not saying you're wrong, just debating your opinion in hope that others will join in. Discussion is good, imo. Please don't take it the wrong way.)

If someone has 4-5 gauges in a gauge pod on a riv, they might as well just buy hptuners. I agree with what you said, but to sacrifice the sleeper aspect with the gauge pod is what i feel kills it. especially if you do have the power to back it up. Theres so many vents in the first place and they so strong that I always ended up closing those 2 anyways. And I agree with your definition of RICE, but its funner to have more go than show. And from the safety aspect, your not looking that much further away from the road then when you look at the speedometer. And if you know how to drive in the situation where you might need to look at the boost gauge (FAST), then youll be fine. Plus if you get gauges with green backlights, it just looks sick.

Okay, you told me what I wanted to know... now we're getting somewhere: sleeper quality is trés important. I couldn't agree more. So, if there was a way to mount pods in the pillar, in a stealthy way so other drivers couldn't tell from outside, would you be for it? Or, do you still prefer the vents?

Another thing, suppose a stealth pillar were possible. There would be the option to fit 4-5 gauges, whereas with vents you're limited to two. Do you see an advantage to having that many? For me, I like to monitor a lot of stuff while driving. First things that come to mind are: boost, KR, IAT, 02, A/F mix, throttle % (if possible), and maybe LTFT. Having that stuff on the dash could save a lot of time with tuning. You could skip the scan step entirely and just tweak on the fly, right?

I'm with Aaron, it's only rice if it's not functional. Would you call an American muscle car with extra guages on the dash rice? I wouldn't. Why should we stop doing what we always did to our American cars just because a bunch of dumbass posers in non-performance-modded Civics started imitating? It makes no sense.

Even an unmodded Riv could use a guage pod for boost. It should have come with one stock, like a GS.

I like the stealth pod idea. I'd like it even better if it could be covered in a velvety material to match the stock pillar, for a 100% factory look.

Remember some of the old pony cars had a tach mounted outside in the hood? I always liked that feature.

AA wrote:

Okay, you told me what I wanted to know... now we're getting somewhere: sleeper quality is trés important. I couldn't agree more. So, if there was a way to mount pods in the pillar, in a stealthy way so other drivers couldn't tell from outside, would you be for it? Or, do you still prefer the vents?

Another thing, suppose a stealth pillar were possible. There would be the option to fit 4-5 gauges, whereas with vents you're limited to two. Do you see an advantage to having that many? For me, I like to monitor a lot of stuff while driving. First things that come to mind are: boost, KR, IAT, 02, A/F mix, throttle % (if possible), and maybe LTFT. Having that stuff on the dash could save a lot of time with tuning. You could skip the scan step entirely and just tweak on the fly, right?

I have every sensor and gauge possible avaialible on my laptop and the true ability to tweak on the fly. With a bunch of gauges, your not going to be able to record jack $h!†. and without a tuner, no way to tweak anything. The only gauge really worth getting is the AEROFORCE SCAN GAUGE, which has all those sensors and would only take up one vent. That is the most reasonable and practical thing to do. No one needs an WB A/F gauge on our cars unless you've got serious modifications. and even then you wont be able to do anything with it unless you buy a tuner, if you put a fake A/F gauge in, ILL SLAP YOU for wasting money and being a ricer. I only have 2 gauges and thats boost and OIl pressure because we dont have oil pressure sensors. Anything else, I can scan with HPTUNERS, and with that you can customize the backrounds, gauges, colors, etc.

I wouldn't mind having a stealth gauge pod on the pillar. I would never want to have a bunch of gauge that people could see on the pillar. I like the sleeper look too.

I don't want people thinking my car is fast or thinking I'm trying to make my car fast by seeing the gauges. I want them to think its fast by seeing my taillights.

I put my aeroforce gauge in the vent so I could keep the sleeper look. I wouldn't mind getting a boost gauge too though.

97rivman wrote:

The only gauge really worth getting is the AEROFORCE SCAN GAUGE, which has all those sensors and would only take up one vent.

Since I want all my vents open, an aeroforce scan guage in a stealth pod sounds like a good plan.

i like having a stock looking car, but the interior is gauged out.
people think WTF? why would he do that ....then step on the gas.

I fully plan to make my buick more than fast enough to "back the gauge piller up"

You should seen the expression on some mustang guy's face when I pulled up to the local "cruise night/car show". First off, this guy had a 2000 mustang with a cobra body kit, and a stroked 302 carbeurated* V8 with aluminum fuel cell. My car is running on open headers, cammed like a MOFO, and the only gauges i have are in the door panel. Some little kid runs up and askes for my autograph. Then he says my car is a piece of $h!† and the interior sucks. Im luck fµ©k off then. So he says his dad has a "DODGE FORD" as in a model that Dodge makes called a Ford.. Im Like yeah Right!!!!! So he gets lost. and a little later I start it up and set off 2 car alarms. Then I go up and talk to this guy with the mustang, and he points out that the Riv must be mine. and asks to check it out. Almost $h!† a brick when I opened the trunk first and showed him the fuel cell and fuel pump. Then I popped the hood and he couldnt believe it.

Thewierd thing was....He said he knew a guy with a Riviera just like it that was runnin 10.2s quarter with all kinds of custom engine about 2 years ago. I knew he was bullshitting cuz one of us would have at least heard about it. And supposedly it was in Chicago. So Im listening to him sa all this $h!† and hes telling these storys about how they would pull up to people and just rape their cars, I was just like NO fµ©k WAY. Put He was serious enthusiastic about the Riv and said he wished the guy never got rid of his car. ...

Point of the story is, Flashy gauges up high catch attention and they might be a little easier to see, but the total sleeper is what its all about. The other thing I relized is that if You have all these gauses up, and your car says Supercharged, dont you think a cop might pay attention to them also. A little food for thought. But I took the whole car show by storm and it was FUN!!!!

Im voting no gauge pillars. We stay as annymous as possible to what we are truly doing with our cars so noone ever expects it.

the link that you posted, his fits a little better than mine to the pillar, but here's my pod, it's a faze boost/vac gauge with a faze pod

I agree with you guys about the sleeper affect, but it's just a preference to me to have it there, I love the look of it, and once my windows are tinted, you won't really notice it anyways.. that and I like having it there because I don't have to direct my vision to somewhere else in the car, it's right there in front of me and I can keep somewhat of a focus on the road without having to look down, left, right etc..

RhinoFLA wrote:

I agree with you guys about the sleeper affect, but it's just a preference to me to have it there, I love the look of it, and once my windows are tinted, you won't really notice it anyways.. that and I like having it there because I don't have to direct my vision to somewhere else in the car, it's right there in front of me and I can keep somewhat of a focus on the road without having to look down, left, right etc..

97rivman wrote:

Point of the story is, Flashy gauges up high catch attention and they might be a little easier to see, but the total sleeper is what its all about. The other thing I relized is that if You have all these gauses up, and your car says Supercharged, dont you think a cop might pay attention to them also. A little food for thought. But I took the whole car show by storm and it was FUN!!!!
t.

i know what you're saying. I guess most of us see body kits, rims, and wings as showy that needs to be backed my go-ey, not a couple gauges on a buick that never get attention (like cops, racers, etc.) in the first place.

you're just more extreme on the sleeper effect. but straight headers ruins that effect pretty quickly

dreww wrote:

i know what you're saying. I guess most of us see body kits, rims, and wings as showy that needs to be backed my go-ey, not a couple gauges on a buick that never get attention (like cops, racers, etc.) in the first place.

you're just more extreme on the sleeper effect. but straight headers ruins that effect pretty quickly

Im saving up for an exhaust system but thats still gonna be a dead give away that my car aint no joke.

My final saying about the gauge pillar is this, if you pull up to a QUIET civic with no gauges or at least visible ones, and he rapes you, how are you gonna feel?
* DISCLAIMER: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A PERSON WITH A QUIET CIVIC THAT IS FAST, NOR WOULD THERE BE A RELATIVELY FAST ONE WITHOUT TONS OF GAUGES. The previous statement was entirely theoretical.

Why not just hang a couple gauges right under the dash overhang. or mold them on top of it.?

I almost feel talked out of the entire idea - however, I'd still like to monitor my boost. It tells me a lot about how my car's running, plus I think the look would be pretty good, but I don't want a bunch of races that I can't win. My car only has the 3.5" SC pulley and soon-to-be-installed 3" downpipe.

I didn't really think about some of the points that came up. I still would like to get a pillar guage that monitored boost and KR, but I have to think about where I want to go with this car in the future before I slap one of those on there.

Buapo wrote:

I almost feel talked out of the entire idea - however, I'd still like to monitor my boost. It tells me a lot about how my car's running, plus I think the look would be pretty good, but I don't want a bunch of races that I can't win. My car only has the 3.5" SC pulley and soon-to-be-installed 3" downpipe.

I didn't really think about some of the points that came up. I still would like to get a pillar guage that monitored boost and KR, but I have to think about where I want to go with this car in the future before I slap one of those on there.

for functionality purposes, the boost gauge isnt the most efficient to have there. a KR gauge, oil pressure, fuel pressure are all more important when under WOT conditions. That being said, I might move my planned oil pressure gauge and scangauge (KR) into my pillar and move the boost/a-f gauges into the old cassette holder opening I will utilize.

and rivman, as you said, it will be a giveaway. But even if exhaust was all stock, that stage 3 cam will always keep it sounding mean I assume.

Alex you don't have that much of a sleeper from what I've heard from your clips.

I do agree with trying to keep the sleeper effect as much as possible though. What if you have some cool kid in the mustang with his system up all the way next to you. Most likely hes not going to hear the exhaust with a full exhaust but if he sees the gauges hes going to think somethings up. If there aren't any there he won't be expecting anything.

if someones not expecting a race, chances are, they won't get on it like you are, so where's the fun in that? besides, every mustang driver
KNOWS their car is the fastest anyways right :> at least that's what my experiences so far have been