Carpe Diem

I was toying with the idea of leaving the deck out of my car for a while to see if it makes a difference to me. As it sits right now, I use my MP3 player almost exclusively. I randomly grab music out of a 16GB directory every couple nights, so I have all but completely stopped using the CD player, XM or radio.

So I was thinking about it, and thought that as long as I could wire a small 4 way amp going from my iPod to my speakers, I could bypass the deck altogether. I am going to look at some pawn shops or maybe online for a 50-100x4 amp and just put the deck in another car for the time being.

Anyways, on to the question. What would you guys use the space for?

Should I just make it a cubby? A place for my shades and smokes?

I was thinking about using it to mount some gauges. A simple plate and some fiberglass or bondo could let me mount the guages at a slight angle. The dimension of the opening is 7 5/8 x 3 1/4. Nitrous pressure, fuel pressure and air/fuel could go in this place if I go with the 2 1/16th gauges. I could then throw my manual fan switch, line lock and nitrous arming switch under them.

Whatcha guys think?

2000GTP

Personally, I wouldn't make a cubby hole with it. I would probably use it to mount aftermarket gauges and a switch panel. I have seen several setups like that and when done right, they look very good and flow pretty well with the interior.

Injuneer

Or just leave it blank.......

http://www.injuneer.com/images/photo.../DCP03460a.jpg

Carpe Diem

Sounds like a solid idea. I have been searching for pics of it to no avail though. Do you know of some?

edit: This post was in response to 2000GTP's post, lol, not Injuneer's.

Injuneer, I just couldn't do that. I honestly have been wanting an A/F and fuel pressure gauge for a while, but the pillar gauges just say "pull me over" in my opinion. It was kind of the reason I thought about taking out the radio in the first place.

Injuneer

An A/F gauge, at least one that uses the stock narrow-band sensors, is a huge waste - little more than a psychedelic light show. It provides no useful information, other than alerting you to a complete failure of the sensor. If its wide-band, go for it. My blanking plate is "saved" for an Altronics dual-band O2 Alert...... Fuel pressure is the one in the left of the three vent gauges.

shock6906

You could always slide a Scanmaster in there.

Brangeta

If it was me, I'd make it into a place to put my sunglasses. And construct a flap/lid that closes so my sunglasses aren't visible. My Corolla has that... it's nice.

Carpe Diem

Lol, I couldn't agree with you more. A buddy of mine has one of the cheap ones that you are talking about and it seems like a waste. I was looking at the Autometer 4378, it seems to give me the info I am looking for. Are there any other options out there?


I actually hadn't thought of that. I have an older sony vaio that is nice and small that I was going to use for trouble codes and monitoring after a mod install. I haven't gotten around to getting a cable for it yet though. How much is a scanmaster setup out the door? Is everything you need included with it? It would be nice to have something like that in the car at all times..

When I was thinking about going with a cubby, the first thought that came to mind was digging one of my old head units out of the attic and making a plate that looked like a stereo without its face on. My thought behind it was that it would be a place to keep stuff like gum, smokes and a pair of sunglasses while I leave the top down if I stop somewhere. I have had some stupid stuff taken out of my car because I leave the top down a lot. Who the hell needs a half empty gatorade for pete's sake!



Thanks for the input guys! The gears are turning!

Brangeta

Oh, I forgot to mention, the other nice thing about a cubby that closes is that when you get on the throttle, your stuff won't come flying out. My '95 Z28 has that problem... my sunglasses come right out of that cassette box holder.

You might even make it a lockable one since you have a convertible.

Carpe Diem

Everything usually goes into the center console or the cupholder for me, since I don't have the cassete box holder doo-dad. A pop up cover would be a good idea though if I make it a cubby.