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Defi has a line of products that utilize the HUD-like technology, whereby info like boost level, etc. is displayed on the windshield.

Here's a link to the boost gauge:
http://www.defi-shop.com/bootimer/botimfrm.htm

Anybody has direct or indirect experience with that stuff?
Any idea of how much it costs and who sells it?

Jay :blue:

 

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I have the boost gauge in my WRX... at first it was kind of gee-whiz cool but now it's getting a little old. You can't read
peak boost & current boost at the same time, and it always reads about 0.1 bar higher than the true MAP. If you needed a turbo timer & gauge, it might be worth the money. Plus you don't need to spend extra for a gauge mount.

 

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PhD,

I don't have a timer yet so maybe that's a good way to kill two birds... Dashboard real estate is at premium so saving on space and keeping an uncluttered environment is important to me.

Why is it important to see the peak boost and boost level at same time? I'm under the impression that you really "care" for peak only after the fact anyways. Isn't that the case?

Regarding it reading 0.1 BARs off, if you know it, can't you just "compensate" one way or another? I think the unit reads psi too? If that's the case, does it have the same level of under-reading in psi (as it's a much larger number, by a factor of 14)?
Anyway to calibrate it?
Is it easy to read the data on the windshield?

How much does it cost and where can you get it?

Have you looked at other HUD stuff that they have? Any ideas?
Is there room to install & display other stuff next to the boost/timer?
Hope you don't mind all these questions...


Congrats on your first post... welcome...

Jay

 

[Guest]

The display itself works great since it's perfectly visible,
even in direct sunlight & it doesn't obstruct your view at all
(it's semi-transparent). I have the display in my line of sight above the left headlight, a few inches off the windshield bottom. At night it automatically dims so it isn't conspicuous. It's actually a lot more stealthy than some of the big ass gauge pods & a-pillar jobs I've seen. I got mine from Bottle at Titan motorsports for $200 ... try searching for "Bottle" at .www.i-club.com/forums

Only reads in kg/cm^2 (just about the same as bars) but this works out OK for me since my max boost = 14.5 psi = 1 bar
so the readout can be just viewed as fractions of max boost.
So at 1.1 bar = 10% overboost, 0.5 = 50%, etc.
You should know that the other HUD units they sell are all in metric units (like the speedo which is in km/h). On my dashboard by the A-pillar there's plenty of room to put a couple of these HUD units in.

As far as boost gauge versus MAP, my MAP sensor is located somewhere in the intake manifold after the throttle body, whereas my Defi sensor is right off the BOV before the throttle body. I only see this 0.1 bar difference when I really push the car and am going through the gears fast up to redline...
Under normal conditions it agrees with the MAP value
The 0.1 bar difference might be real and just a characteristic of my car's boost spike when the throttle body shuts. I've been meaning to move the Defi sensor to closer where the MAP sensor is though.

Actually I meant to say you can read current & peak boost simultaneously, it's just that the numerical readout only shows one or the other. The display still has an analog readout that always shows the boost level, it's just not a digital readout

 

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PhD,

The more I learn about existing stuff the more frustrated i become. I'm sure that those manufacturers of after-market controllers and especially gauges are fully aware that dash real estate is so limited and yet I believe that non of them is offering a central display with some brains behind it to let us hook up to it, in the engine compartment, anything that we wish (mainly a bunch of sensors) and let us be in full control of where and when to display data and the units.

I'm probably going to start with assortment of 'absolutly required stuff' but then work on puting together my own stuff. It will take a while to accomplish it.
BTW, that's why I like AEM's approach with their new ECU.

As much as I'm used to both the metric & English unit sys, I still prefer to display psi & mph. Anyway to make the Defi sus do it?

Appreciate your input - a lot!

thx,

Jay