[ironic]

I finally found some time to get the gauge installed this weekend. It was really a piece of cake as long as you're a little bit handy. The toughest part was poking the hole through the grommet into the firewall because of the tight space but otherwise there were no major set backs or tears shed. If you have any kind of electrical experience - installing a tune, hardwiring your radar detector, or simply taking apart your interior trim you should have absolutely no problems with the install. The whole process only involved about 5 steps, taking your vent out, replacing its fascia with the boost gauge, lifting your center console trim, unscewing a few bolts under the steering wheel driver side, plugging in the plug and play harnesses.

I've attached a few photos to this review that guide you through the first half of the install as I found myself pressed on time later on in the install, but feel free to PM me or take a look at the other guides if you need help. It's really a simply process.

DIY Part 1:

Remove the vented trim by pulling up on either side of the trim and evenly release it from its clips.

You should have this at the end:


Now turn the unit over and notice and undo these clips that hold the trim to the vent with a small flat head:



Notice the trim is slotted and the vent grooved, so pull the trim outwards, away from the slots for the two pieces to separate.



Now that you've removed the trim from the vent, we'll be separating the vent fascia from its body. Undo the clips pictured. The clip on the front and right of the vent is most easily undone by applying pressure to separate the two pieces and pushing the clip inwards.




The bottom clips will unclip themselves after you've unclipped those pictured above. If they don't apply slight downward pressure with a flat head to undo them.


Now that the vent fascia is separated from the body, you'll need to remove the fins. Start by removing the clips pictured. The horizontal vents should slide out.


Now remove the vertical vents. Notice they're clipped from above but are also slotted in place by these circular pivots. Undo the clips and tilt the fins forward. Then using your flat head push up on these pivots to remove the fins.


At this point you should have separated the entire vent unit into 4 pieces:


Now time to install the boost gauge:
Slide in the foam with the elongated side facing the midline of the vent. Push the foam to the left and rear wall of the body.


Take the boost sensor and circuit board, being careful not to touch the display (grab it by its edges), and slide their wires through the top left rectangle of the vent body. The circuit board wires will pass from the bottom out and the boost sensor will pass from the top in.



Now clip the end of the purple, yellow, and black wire into the circuit board. Take note that the purple wire should be oriented to the right.


Now seat the screw on the bottom of the hole and align it with the white plastic mount on the circuit board. But DO NOT FASTEN. It should look just like this:


Now take the vent fascia and slide it over and its top and bottom grooves behind the circuit board. To reiterate, you'll notice the fascia tapers in on the top and bottom, the circuit board should be in front of these grooves. DO NOT CLIP the fascia on yet.




Set the unit aside and take out the smoked display for the boost gauge. Starting from the corner peal off the white covering for the back of the gauge. Leave the front cover on for now. Be careful not to touch the display - grab it around its edges.



Now slide the vented portion of the display behind the vent fascia and then slide the display potion closest to the vent controls in. Align the hole for the boost recall button and the hole on the display.



Now remove the covering on the outside of the display and reclip the vent fascia onto the body. Apply slight pressure on the display and secure the screw on the bottom.



Flip the entire unit around and ensure the foam insert is positioned closet to the left wall and making a good seal with the front display. Reposition it if needed by aid of a pen or chopsticks if you're asian


Now clip the trim back onto the vent fascia. The entire unit should look like this when you're done.


DIY Part 2 (partially incomplete):

Start by undoing the screws that hold on the panel underneath the steering wheel on the driver side.


The panel is also pressure set in place on the right hand side, separate the tabs of the panel with the center console trim. The panel should then drop down. It's held up partially on the left side by some wires so do NOT force the panel to the floor. Let it hang, you'll have enough room.


Look far back and to the left and notice wires passing through the firewall. Also notice this small hole in the grommet where the wires pass through. Take a small screw driver and poke a hole through at this point. Make sure you're pushing directly forward and not creating a slanted opening. Alternatively, you can pop the hood, undo the right bulk head cover and find the grommet on the engine side. There will be a nipple that's to the left of the bundle of wires exiting the grommet. This is the end of the hole we saw in the footwell. You can take scissors and cut the very end of it off to create the same hole. I recommend doing it this way, just be sure not to snip too much off the end of the nipple.


Pass the black boost line through the hole you created. Route it along your front fender and under the weather seal.


Locate the boost line that runs to your diverter valves. Disconnect the line at the top of the Y that splits the line into both valves. Secure the RixEffects line by way of the supplied T connector and boost hose.


Back inside the car, run the boost line up into your driver side vent cavity by pushing the wire up along the left side of the dash.


Incomplete section (no photos):
Now unclip your center console trim by first pulling up on your shift boot. Then using the inside end of the removed boot to pull up on the trim. The trim will unclip from numerous clips along its edge. It requires a bit of force. Unclip the wire at the back of the center console trim if you have Idrive and tilt the trim backwards to lift it from under the radio. You should now see a connector that connects the cigarette holder to the center console. Unclip this wire and clip the Rixeffects plug and play harness into their respective wires. Not there will be a hole on the left cavity where the ashtray used to be. You'll see wires passing through its rightside counterpart. Slide the end of the PNP wire through the left opening. The wires should drop out around the area where the foot well cover was pressure set. Run the wires across to the vent area and feed them up to the hole. Attach the boost line to the boost sensor and the 3 wires of the boost gauge to their respective terminals on the PNP harness. Then reattach the center console trim and push the vent back into place. Ziptie the excess wire in the footwell and reattach the panel.

You should now be done with the install. Switch on the ignition to verify everything still works. Give the car some gas and see if the boost flutters with the pedal input. Follow the included instructions to calibrate the gauge.

[ironic]

Videos:

Sorry they're a little shaky, I'll take some new ones later this week. But you can see the gauge is very easy to read even during the day and under direct sunlight.

[ironic]

Impressions:

I previously had an Autometer analog gauge and it's no doubt completely obsolete next to Rix's new gauge. The analog needle was nice to watch but the new gauge's bar graph display gives the same feedback and is much easier to read. Boost recall is also a must as keeping an eye on the road and the gauge is nearly impossible to do if you actually plan on driving fast.

But onto the fit and finish of the gauge as that is probably the one thing that puts this gauge yards ahead of its competitors. The unit is at home in the 3's interior. The LEDs match perfectly and the design is unobtrusive, there's nothing more you could want in a design. It's also very easy to keep an eye on in its present location. There is nothing that will integrate as cleanly into this car's interior that Rix's gauge. Also with the PNP harness you don't have to hack away at your wiring to get power to your gauge. The whole install is simply plug, play and forget - and that's something I wish I could say about more of my mods.

[RiXst3r]

Cool! Thanks Alex!!!

[ironic]

Originally Posted by RiXst3r

Cool! Thanks Alex!!! How are you liking the look of it compared to your previous gauge?

I couldn't be happier My Autometer gauge had to be double sided taped onto my dash and even then it liked to fly every now and then haha. Your boost gauge should enjoy the ride a little more

[MTV]

Nice setup!

[ezatnova]

Alex,
Question on your first instruction (sorry if this is clear in the real instructions...don't have em yet). When you say lift up on the trip piece, do you really mean UP or do you mean straight out towards the driver?

Rick,
Any update on the video install instructions? As good as these few writeups have been (and I assume and hope that the included instructions are at least as comprehensive), I think I a video would help fools like me be more comfortable and not break the hell out of things.

[ironic]

Originally Posted by ezatnova

Alex,
Question on your first instruction (sorry if this is clear in the real instructions...don't have em yet). When you say lift up on the trip piece, do you really mean UP or do you mean straight out towards the driver?

Rick,
Any update on the video install instructions? As good as these few writeups have been (and I assume and hope that the included instructions are at least as comprehensive), I think I a video would help fools like me be more comfortable and not break the hell out of things.

Sorry, I mean pull out. As far as breaking anything goes the trim on the cars are put together very well and very snug to that note. I doubt you'd break any of the trim pieces the only thing that is really delicate would be the clips that hold the vent together.

[RiXst3r]

Originally Posted by ezatnova

Rick,
Any update on the video install instructions? As good as these few writeups have been (and I assume and hope that the included instructions are at least as comprehensive), I think I a video would help fools like me be more comfortable and not break the hell out of things.

Video is almost done... just need to narrate it...

-Rick

[phattbam]

very well done Alex. man I might have to get this now.. I just dont know how to read the bar graphs/gauge

[RiXst3r]

Originally Posted by phattbam

very well done Alex. man I might have to get this now.. I just dont know how to read the bar graphs/gauge

Your boost is displayed on the screen via the digital numbers, so if you are pushing 12.5psi, at that moment, the gauge will read 12.5psi ... and the bargraph will be about 3/4th of the way up.

As for the bargraph... its there to give you some vision of what your boost is doing, without needed to read the numbers, sortof like an analog gauge.

The bargraph has a "set" resolution, which you can change. I recommend the 18psi setting for the 335.

It works like this...

VACUUM starts at the right side of the gauge, and the more vacuum, the further the graph goes to the left

BOOST starts at the left(bottom) of the gauge, and the moves up, 18 psi would be the top of the graph.

It also has a setting to light up the last "peak" on the bargraph as boost builds, so you can see, just based on the bargraph, if you are hitting the same boost on every run.

Thats the basics of the bargraph

Oh, and there is also an "off" setting in the menu, to disable the bargraph entirely if you don't like it, but I think its a great feature for simulating the "glancability" of an analog gauge.

Here is a video of the gauge actually getting on the boost: (fast forward to about half way through)

[phattbam]

man... You're killing it... how long before the next batch ship out?

[RiXst3r]

Originally Posted by phattbam

man... You're killing it... how long before the next batch ship out?

I actually still have room on this batch! Just a couple, but still got room! It just takes me about 10-15 days for assembly and shipping since I am a bit backlogged

If you miss this batch, the next one is about 5 weeks out.

-Rick

[ironic]

Originally Posted by phattbam

man... You're killing it... how long before the next batch ship out?

go for it man, this is your best option for a boost gauge. if you want to wait and see, come check it out on sat

[phattbam]

Originally Posted by ironic

go for it man, this is your best option for a boost gauge. if you want to wait and see, come check it out on sat

I might not be able to make it out this Saturday, but if I order it, would you be able to help me install it?

[ironic]

Originally Posted by phattbam

I might not be able to make it out this Saturday, but if I order it, would you be able to help me install it?

if it's one of the events i'll already be at that's no problem, just make sure u remind me and i'll bring my torx

[phattbam]

Originally Posted by ironic

if it's one of the events i'll already be at that's no problem, just make sure u remind me and i'll bring my torx

how many more meets will there be throughout the year? haha. seems like people are slowly hibernating.

[ironic]

Originally Posted by phattbam

how many more meets will there be throughout the year? haha. seems like people are slowly hibernating.

haha well, i'll be there rain or shine if there's an event. i know there's another show at japantown in january, but i'm sure there will be more meets before then. the only thing is i'm pretty swamped with work during the week and i don't make it back into the city on weekends much. if you want to take a drive over to berkeley i can do it for you.

[phattbam]

UC Berkeley? J's gathering in Jan?

[ironic]

yup, and yup haha

[BES335xi]

Beaituful!! put this review/diy on the DIY Section.

[phattbam]

Originally Posted by ironic

yup, and yup haha

Lemme move things around and get that thing ordered then.