Now that my SE-R will spend most of its time driving to and from autocrosses and trackdays, I figured gauges were a good idea. I like Chris's setup, so I guess imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
I have no boost, cams, or VE, so I chose a voltmeter/water temp/oil pressure setup. A voltmeter is much more telling than waiting for the emergency brake light to start flashing when the alternator starts dying a long way from home. Yeah, been there. And water temp and oil pressure are the two pretty much everyone needs.
Much like electricity, I take the path of least resistance. The SE-R is stereo-less and no longer a daily driver, so the spot vacated by the head unit leaves me with an easy source of dimming and switched power (aka only juiced when the key is turned). I bought a cheap Nissan stereo wiring harness from Wally World, and pulled out all the pins I didn't need, leaving ACC and two illumination wires to run to the gauges. It all plugs right in, no extra cutting/tapping/wiring neccessary.
The 42 Draft DIN gauge panel is kind of thin. I made brackets out of aluminum angle stock from Lowe's, and mounted the panel with four tiny screws and some crazy Loctite epoxy. I used the same aluminum stock to make a bracket for a terminal block for my grounds. One wire connects to metal around the shift boot and distributes to three wires going up the gauges. Overkill? Probably.
The oil pressure sender is mounted to the firewall engine mount/shifter bracket with a sturdy $2 exhaust hanger bracket from Autozone. That's the last of my creativity on the sender end. Going to Custom Steel for all the other underhood bits will make things easy. The wires go through the firewall in the factory hole by the wiper motor, just behind the passenger side strut tower on a B13.
I'm an electrical knuckle-dragger, so anyone can do this with a little time and money.
