hey everyone, just wondering who likes the layout of the stock cluster and who would want a new cluster. I've got a cluster designed that holds 6 gauges, the gauge holes are standardized, so you can have any gauges you like in them. it replaces the whole gauge cluster and still has the idiot lights and turn signals.

what material would you guys like the bezel to be? I was thinking CF or matte black plastic, but I'm open to input.

 

I wanna be cool like everyone else and have mine with a neon orange background with ghost flames with indiglo gauges and strobe lights.










black matte, maybe brushed aluminum? something that can't cause a lot of glare at night

 

I like the layout of the stock cluster

 

i too enjoy the stock layout but for the custom work and ingenuity

 

I'd actually prefer 2 large center gauges (tach , Speedo)
and a few samller around it (Volt, oil pres, temp, gas, A/F meter, EGT)
But alas I have no money

 

do you have some pictures of what this will look like? like a cut out diagram or something. this sounds kind of interesting. I wouldn't mind a new one if it looks pretty good. I would actually like to get rid of some of the dummy lights and replace them with gauges.

 

 

change gauge clusters to plasma screen **** feeds 24/7 like the sirius satellite radio concept. and have on-board life preservers for those times that we take the max to 30,000 feet over the ocean.

 

lol... what the hell?

 

Dont thread crap. He is being serious.

Personally I like the stock gauges, but I'll help in any way/shape/form that I can, cause modding cars is fun fun fun!

Another thing to think about... Autometers are alot more accurate than the stock gauges.

 

You get pulled over for speeding. The officer asks you what your speed is.

What gauges would you wish you had then?

Disclaimer: speeding is against the law. dont' be a retard and go over the speed limit.

 

Nice DISCLAIMER!!!

 

I dunno, but when the speedo says your doing 135, your probably doing more like 130 or maybe 125. same thing with the tach, it will say your doing about 6700rpm when your actually doing like 6500rpm.



Disclaimer: Radar bounces off white cars, but it sticks to burgandy cars.

 

i wouldn't mind 24/7 **** feeds...

i'm not really much of an autometer fan. also, nissan gauges are actually pretty accurate. i'm ont sure how our cars are but on the 300zx TT tests the speedo was accurate the whole time.

 

mrgone,

but seriously...

if there are pictures of the concepts, those may change lots of minds.

what would be cool: if gauges were not too unlike stock, but "freshened" up. like take cues from the RX-7 -with stainless ring bezels around the gauges -very sexy. perhaps on a b/g of carbon fibre. in other words, remove the plastic lens covering the entire cluster and, instead, have "stand off" gauges that are faithful in proportion and dimension to the original, each with its own lens. so the theme is preserved, but looks better. like a chronograph. and maybe with red numbers, like beemers and all those performance kraut boxes.

we could even have a design contest and/or a poll. we could get together a slush fund from all interested in actually having the gauges - like with the pillar 3-gauge pod thing. and have the winner of the design poll get the prize: it could be like a gift certificate to auto zone, or a palette of motor oil. like 20 cases. the fabricator of the parts would be entitled to full copyright priviledges, but the winner gets the motor oil supply. or maybe the prize is a turbo kit. or a VQ35 -engine only. the winner decides what to do with it. someone must have some extra "something" to dangle as a carrot-on-a-stick.

how about that? it went from mockery to real-deal in 60 seconds, mr gone.

 

I like my stock gauges. They are like the "OG" white-faced guages. When I had my first Max, it was the only car of all my friends to have white face guages.

If you want an accurate speedo, do a little research on GPS. There are some that are very accurate. I imagine even a decent one will be as accurate as a car speedo.

Anyway, I like the "stainless bezel" idea and having a contest. Prizes always bring out creativity.

However, who the hell is going to shell out enough for a "pallet" of oil??? Better yet, a VQ engine (which won't even fit in a 3rd gen without lots of modification)???

The Auto Zone thing for like $50 I could see, or maybe a case of AMSoil or something.

 

while searching around for info on my engine i came across this...


Looks like the Nissan Leopard got our gauge cluster but got other cooler things added... looks pretty cool. I wish we could get cool thing like the people over seas get.

 

Might be kinda funny to drive around with the word "HARD" glowing on your dash. I can just see the looks on a girls face when she gets a ride home in the Max late at night, and just happens to see that.

 

lol! that would be hilarious.

 

So true you are. My friends were all amazed when I got my car and they saw the gauges. THey thought that I bought them and put them in.

....

"Dude, they're stock, 11 year old Maxima gauges"

"Really!?!?!"

 

I kind of understand what your getting at with prizes for the design, but LittlePiggie already has a design inmind. Besides, who has money for a pallet of oil or a VQ35 just to give away, let alone a turbo kit. I know we all can dream, but thats alittle extreme.

yay! Gone In 60 Seconds... yay!

 

Oh yeah, check out my homepage, I think page 2, theres a bad pic of my old carbon fiber bezel. I still would like to get another one.

womaannnn?
The only problem with that is your car has to be fast first

 

anyone have a pic of the digital/analog dash some of the 3rd gens have? I remember seeing it last time and thought it was amazing.

 

1) At least my car isn't afraid of going fast.
2) Stop spamming.

 

To be honest, I have never seen a Maxima with the digital dash. I have only heard about it having serious problems.

Someone post pics if you can.

 

 

Those gauges look high tech.

Yayy for 1989.

 

great Ideas man, but once an idea has entered the public domain it no longer is eligible for copyright. I already have a design in mind and I can't compyright it, but the pics I have are very sub-standard and the mock-up is cardboard marked with pencil...

I would be interested to see what other people come up with...how about the prize will be half off a cluster of the final design?

I have the contacts to manufacture the base matte-black bezel and then have an overlay in CF, brushed aluminum, or whatever. but yeah, throw some ideas out guys.

 

I have an idea for the gauge bezel.....

1. grab some tin foil...
2. crumple/work the foil to obtain desired results
3. place foil over gauges
4. cut out gauge holes
5. admire your work, take pictures and post them for everyone to admire.

I'm thinking about trying to make a mach up 'cluster' aswell, its just easier for me to imagine stuff with a machup or something I can reference to. I was also thinking of ways to intergrate a digital voltmeter instead of an analog one, it would probably save space.

 

I'm thinking CF as well... and I'm not too particular on how our gauges look. Granted, we try to "spiffy" things up a bit with bezels made of different material or with indiglo, but it always can be "better"

So, when you say that the idiot lights and such will still be there, do you mean that they will still be in the same spot, or kinda put in different locations (looking at Integra gauges or even the newer Escalade gauges gives one reason to pause)?

I'll scribble down a couple ideas I've got going, snap some pics, and get back to ya....

 

man, i really dig the digital, the ones in the pics have the HUD too. Amazing.

 

this is a good idea i like the look of our gauges and would want something simalare but with some other gauges maybe a real water temp gauge and oil pressure and maybe a speedo that goes to 180mph

 

little piggie,

bear in mind that i am trying to help you, man. you're a bro. my hat goes off to entrepreneur/designers. as i am one.

you are half-correct about "public domain." yes, ----beethoven's 5th symphony is no longer copyrighted, per se --it is "public domain," ie, up for grabs. but if you go using, say, columbia record's *version* of it for a show or something, without columbia's permission, they can sue your a$$.

also, yes, any raw "idea," undeveloped, brainstormed, is not copyrighted, per se. all of these ideas here, for example, not ever really brought to manufacture, are "up for grabs," even beyond the reach of the owners of maxima.org (who, btw, "own" copyright to all content posted here forevermore).

but, as an intellectual creator, YOU own, by default, copyright to any creative work you "publish." publishing is a grey area of intellectual property lawyers, mind you, but basically any mechanical reproduction of a creative work is considered publishing. like xerox copying. and it is furthermore legitimized when you sign it "copyright (C) 2003. joe schmoe." that automatically gives you legal ownership of the work. it is FURTHERMORE legitimized when you register it with the library of congress (there is an online site to do just that), or you patent the idea (very expensive but doable).

public domain happens when enough time elapses, typically a 50 years to a century, that the copyright "runs out." this can be staved off if the creator's heirs re-register the copytright.

this is a simplified copyright lesson. for you, i would use these forums as a means to gather raw ideas, but do not completely give away the baby here, as others can legally intervene. this is why you have manufactures keeping their new ideas "secret" until they hit the retail floors.

 

I'll have to run this by my lawyer

 

I am the Law





really though, good info. I hate the whole secrets thing though, I just like hearing about the stuff people do to their cars, thats the fun in it. I can understand the need to keep things on the down low and whatnot, but personally I like to see stuff people are working on, thats how I learn stuff, plus I can think of more ideas for the person to possiably use or build off of.

blah blah blah, i'm going back out to work on my car.

 

im with MrGone 100%

 

like my all wheel drive dual engine drag maxima that I have in the works?

dang... i gave it away

 

i like to see works in progress, too. most of the posted pics on here are fun to see and often are informative, as most procedures are not 'legalistic.' the digression into the copyright issue is for anyone who really cares, as it is related somewhat.

take what really means anything and leave the rest. like picking pieces of disgusting celery out of an otherwise good salad.

 

hopefully I'm not going to get in trouble for saying this, but I saw the design today.... I like it a lot on cardboard... now we'll just have to see how it actually turns out.

 

well the idea I had was that the idiot lights would wrap around the inside of the tach and speedo. kind of like a curvy X in the middle