2000 A6 2.7t 6m

I deceded the best place to add a boost guage would be in the vent, but there are no companies that supply a vent guage for the A6. I found a writeup for cutting the vent on an s4, and thought I'd give it a go. Our vent slats are individual and it proved much more difficult than expected. Here are the installed pics for those interested. Not perfect, but not too bad. I took pictures of the progress and can create a how-to if anyone is interested. Total time was ~6 hours, I was in no rush.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/110523/boostgauge_9.jpg">
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/110523/boostgauge_10.jpg">




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quattro2turbo

good work. would love a write up.

Auditude2.0T: BT PWR

nice! Your car looks good.

boostbuddy

2nd... Nice job, looks clean and good location.

Raudi_6 akaDeutschMF

Looks good, nice DIY, im thinking of goin with a pillar post

absolutcq20v

That's not too bad...have any pics of it out of the dash? How'd you 'cut the vent'?

2000 A6 2.7t 6m

I decided the best place to add a boost gauge would be in the vent, but there are no companies that supply a vent gauge for the A6. I found a write-up for cutting the vent on an s4, and thought I'd give it a go. Our vent slats are individual and it proved much more difficult than expected. There are other write-ups for boost gauges, so I am going to focus on putting the gauge into the vent. Here are the two write-ups I leveraged:

Install guide on a4. Includes custom cutting the center vent:
http://audi-diy.blogspot.com/2007/10/audi-a4-b5-diy-centre-vent-boost-gauge.html

AWE S4 install instructions:
http://awe-tuning.com/media/pdf/ventgauge.pdf

The first step is to remove the vent. After prying off the wood trim above the glove box (4 clips), the vent can be removed by pulling in the 4 rings inside the vent (as circled in the pic below). The manual says there is a special tool for this. I used forks.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/110523/boostgauge.jpg">

The side of the gauge I used (VDO) was silver, so I then painted it flat black.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/110523/boostgauge_1.jpg">

I then pulled the vent apart. In the b5, the individual vent comes out as a whole piece. In our cars, each slat clips in to the main piece individually. This meant each slat would have to be individually cut and then glued onto the gauge. Next was a lot of measuring and cutting. After removing all the horizontal slats, I removed the center three vertical vents to allow for the gauge to slide in. The top and bottom slats should be cot to 1 5/16, next 1 1/8, and the center 1 1/16. I cut them longer and then filed to a perfect fit. I notched out the bottom three slats so the gauge face would sit flush with these, and stick out slightly at the top.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/110523/boostgauge_3.jpg">

Here I am half way done. I used loctite superglue. It is holding well, but turns a cloudy white when dry.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/110523/boostgauge_4.jpg">

And the finished product.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/110523/boostgauge_5.jpg">

I then put the trim piece back on. I drilled a hole in the side of the vent to allow for wires and the boost line to be attached to the gauge. I wired the gauge light into the lights for the vent. This works well and the gauge dims with the rest of the lights.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/110523/boostgauge_6.jpg">

I followed the AWE instructions for running and hooking up the boost line. Of course, always test before fully installing.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/110523/boostgauge_7.jpg">

And the finished product

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/110523/boostgauge_10.jpg">

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/110523/boostgauge_9.jpg">

Hard to tell in this picture, but the gauge light doesn't match the rest of the gauges to well. It is more yellow. It would have been good to find a better matching light before the install...

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/110523/boostgauge_11.jpg">

SNAFU 4

Very nice job!

quattro2turbo

The pillar is so friggin big and the fabric is different (in a cool way) so its tough to mount a boost there.. I've see ppl do it in that vent on the top of the dash next to the a-pillar as well. The center vent looks just right, imo, it just kinda blends in. I don't think I'll have the patience to do all of that fine cutting with only one shot to make it look right not me!! I would let someone else go for it tho

a4xRob

good stuff brad!! But im catching up to you in hp lol