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- Oct 10, 2021
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Very early stages in this at the mo, but I'm not a big fan of the standard boost gauge at all. It looks a bit Lego, and in the day time is hard to read because of the lack of illumination and the big blob in the middle obscuring the pointer. So plan is to fit a tiny digital boost gauge (I had similar on my Subarus - v easy to read out the corner of your eye), but that leaves a problem with what to do with the original one.
But anyway, without further ado, boost gauge removal; there are plenty of guides for removing the LHD one but not a lot for the RHD, so I'll give a quick guide on how to remove it prior to my main bit of experimentation.
To remove the original boost gauge you have to take out the radio, and then remove the centre air vents. This will vary depending on the model of radio you have and there are plenty of guides on how to do it, but for the single din like I have, it's a matter of removing the 4 dummy buttons on the radio, putting in 'DIN removal tools' and pulling it out.
Personally I absolutely loathe those DIN mounts because inevitably the stereo sticks in place and then you damage something pulling it out, and the Abarth one was no exception - there are some sticky pads holding the stereo in place, so had to use a butter knife to lever it free even with the tools in place. No chance you'll ever get it out in a million years with home-made tools since you need something which clips into the DIN mount to provide a little leverage in addition to the butter knife, so bought some of these:
Halfords DIN removal tool
Once the darned stereo had been wriggled free (thankfully without too much damage to the dash) it's simply a matter of unscrewing the DIN radio mount (4 obvious screws plus a bolt at the back), and undoing the 2 freshly exposed Philips screws to remove the air vent facia, followed by careful prying from the top (butter knife again) to lever it free. Then the air vent ducting will just pull out.
Once the ducting is out, look to the right underside of the dash top and you'll notice a little plate with a 10mm nut on it. Unscrew this nut (be careful not to lose it in the dash innards!) and carefully lever the plate off. Once this is done, the boost gauge can be wriggled free from the top of the dash, and then it's a simple matter of tracing it's cable back a few cm, and unplugging it.
I've not had any issues with the speedo flashing or anything with it unplugged, but still need to take the car out on the road to confirm, as well as putting it in sport mode. That all appears fine though.
The big issue is you're then left with a hole in the dash, like this:
To be continued
But anyway, without further ado, boost gauge removal; there are plenty of guides for removing the LHD one but not a lot for the RHD, so I'll give a quick guide on how to remove it prior to my main bit of experimentation.
To remove the original boost gauge you have to take out the radio, and then remove the centre air vents. This will vary depending on the model of radio you have and there are plenty of guides on how to do it, but for the single din like I have, it's a matter of removing the 4 dummy buttons on the radio, putting in 'DIN removal tools' and pulling it out.
Personally I absolutely loathe those DIN mounts because inevitably the stereo sticks in place and then you damage something pulling it out, and the Abarth one was no exception - there are some sticky pads holding the stereo in place, so had to use a butter knife to lever it free even with the tools in place. No chance you'll ever get it out in a million years with home-made tools since you need something which clips into the DIN mount to provide a little leverage in addition to the butter knife, so bought some of these:
Halfords DIN removal tool
Once the darned stereo had been wriggled free (thankfully without too much damage to the dash) it's simply a matter of unscrewing the DIN radio mount (4 obvious screws plus a bolt at the back), and undoing the 2 freshly exposed Philips screws to remove the air vent facia, followed by careful prying from the top (butter knife again) to lever it free. Then the air vent ducting will just pull out.
Once the ducting is out, look to the right underside of the dash top and you'll notice a little plate with a 10mm nut on it. Unscrew this nut (be careful not to lose it in the dash innards!) and carefully lever the plate off. Once this is done, the boost gauge can be wriggled free from the top of the dash, and then it's a simple matter of tracing it's cable back a few cm, and unplugging it.
I've not had any issues with the speedo flashing or anything with it unplugged, but still need to take the car out on the road to confirm, as well as putting it in sport mode. That all appears fine though.
The big issue is you're then left with a hole in the dash, like this:
To be continued