I bought one of these recently with a matching boost gauge because I never liked my A-pillar boost gauge location.

I realized when I bought it that I would have to do some trimming of the stalk surrounds on both sides because these are reversed on JDM cars so require different hole locations. However, I didn't realise the extent of the trimming involved.

Here are pictures with the minimal amount of trimming necessary to avoid the stalks hitting the plastic:




Obviously, I could have trimmed more to align the two holes but it would still have looked like ***. Also, the colour of the top and bottom covers are not the same (it is less obvious in the pictures than in reality).

So I looked for a JDM lower cover in the hope that less trimming would be required and that it would look more like stock. They were surprisingly easy to find (used) in the US (and FDNewbie can source them easily from JDM land too).

Here are pictures with the JDM lower cover, which also has to be trimmed:




Not totally perfect, but when installed the trimming is not noticable. Also the colours of the top and bottom covers match.

 

oh man. haha. i was thinking of getting one of these. how much did you pay for the rhd bottom column cover? post some pictures up when its mouned looks good

 

Thanks for the post, I was wondering about how much trimming would be involved with one of these.

Please post installed pictures if/when you have them. Thanks again.

 

i wanna see this thing in a side by side comparison with the pettit version that requires no trimming

 

aaaaah your the one that got it off ebay for super cheap!!!!! your lucky i had to stay at work late! :P sorry it wont just bolt on, that kinda sucks, but should be really cool once you get everything mounted up ...

 

I paid about $60 for the lower JDM cover.

The Pettit version has no mounting tabs so has to be glued/Velcroed on. From pictures that I have seen the Pettit mount does not use OEM-quality plastic - it looks like cheapo aftermarket plastic.

Also the RE Amemiya unit has the gauge slightly offset to the right so that the 9 on the RPM gauge is obscured but the 0-1 figures are clearly visible. I will take a picture in a few days.

 

Here is a picture of it installed as promised:

 

hahaha looks like my car with the pfc commander between the cig lighter.

 

looks great ive been thinking of getting that exact setup for a long time only it costs $200+.

how about a picture from drivers view like from eye level.

 

That pretty much is a driver's view picture or as close as I could get with a crappy digital camera. Eye level for me is 2 cm or so higher so the coolant gauge, 0 on tach, and bottom right corner of Commander are not obscured.

 

moconnor, nice setup And thanks for the plug

FYI, at least from what I've seen, the RE steering column mount comes w/ the lower side as well (ie it's a complete setup: gauge + top and bottom steering column covers).

~Ramy

 

When I got my RE steering column mount from rx7.com in 1998, it was only the top half for approx. $205.


Jack

 

yeah its only the top.. and thats way overpriced

its 207 or less from amemiya. with the boost gauge in either white or black.

 

I bought mine from RHD Japan for $235 or so shipped. Did not come with lower cover. The RE Amemiya boost gauge that it came with is very nice - even nicer than the Defi I had.

https://www.rhdjapan.com/shop/cart.p...t_detail&p=330

 

yeah i almost bought from rhdjapan too.. until i found that amemiya sells to the US. i'd rather support amemiya. plus rhd only has the black version.

btw amemiya has the oldschool 80mm boost gauge too, for around $170

---how about a night shot of the gauge, thats one picture i've never seen

 

Man! I don't believe you guys pay som much for this thing! It's good to have some skills. I made this one myself using the stock upper cover.

 

Hmm. My car came with that, along with the RE boost gauge. I just saw another FD with the same setup, and I was starting to think it was stock/optional. I guess not.

 

Time has value too. And if you were to sell these yourself, how much would you charge for them?

 

Although it takes some time and, If I had the time, I would probably charge about $75

 

You have skills. If you ever decide to make some to sell let me know. I'm interested.

 

RX7store has them for the US model for $100. It doesn't snap into place, so some sort of adhesive is needed. I have one that I'm in the process of installing and will give more info and pics when done.

http://www.rx7store.net/product_p/column%20pod.htm

 

looks really good.

 

Did you ever install this? What did you think of the quality of the pod? Are there any trimming required?

I'm thinking about getting this and would appreciate any thoughts on pro/con. Thanks.

 

Looks good!

 

I have the RX7store one, and I just used "Shoo goo" on the tabs. It's rock solid. The finish doesn't match 100% for someone super ****, but it's still well worth it. I have a defi boost gauge in it right now, but I may go to a wideband gauge instead.