ARCHIVE Wits' End- Adding Auber Guages to JDM81 w/1HD-T

[NLXTACY]

@sonofskipper has his JDM81 over here to be worked on. While here there were a couple of interesting things being done to his truck. Already did a big write up concerning the complete rebuild of his OEM electric winch: Wits' End- JDM Toyota Electric Winch Complete Rebuild - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/wits-end-jdm-toyota-electric-winch-complete-rebuild.1256516/

This time its to document adding two digital Auber Gauges for the EGT and Boost for his 1HD-T motor.

The decision to run the Auber gauges was made before the JDM81 even rolled into the shop. The advantage to using these was that the profile of the gauge was better suited to the early 80 dash found in his right hand drive truck. It mean finding a spot in the dash to make them fit instead of trying to find a place to put a couple of round gauges.

The first order of business was to decide where to put the gauges. No easy task. How do we fit these and make them look organic to the dash? It took some time to finally pick a spot but in the end it really was the best spot.

On the early 80 dashes (LHD and RHD), the two end spots that look like they are just blanks waiting a new switch, are actually just molded into the dash piece. They aren't usable spots...unless you make it usable

Quick sketch to figure out the profile and then it was time to fire up SolidWorks. Because this is a total one-off, the decision was made to simply 3D print the mount for the Auber gauges.

 

[NLXTACY]

Having never used Auber gauges before we figured the first step is to figure out how they work and what is needed to get them operational in the truck. These gauges are crazy complicated little computers. Its impressive. Lots of little things that need to be figured but it was clear that the folks that designed these gauges were way WAY WAAAAAY smarter than we were

But we figured it out and these were bench tested fully before starting the install. The gauges do not come with connectors and instead just have screws for ring terminals. For sure we were not going to wiring them directly. Instead some connectors were pilfered from a complete wiring harness here at the shop. Used factory Toyota connectors and factory Toyota wires and pin terminals. The other side of the wiring had the mating wire with it.

 

[NLXTACY]

The EGT gauge requires the addition of an EGT probe. This means drilling into the manifold. This means removing the manifold, because we of course don't want shavings getting sucked into the turbo. The problem was the turbo was toast. Completely different issue and a different write up. For now we just need to take care of the probe.

But even before a single nut was removed we had a problem. The manifold was cracked. Not good. Luckily we ordered a new manifold and all of the gaskets and hardware to replace it. So now with this brand spanking new manifold in our hands...it was time to start drilling and install the EGT probe port.

 

[NLXTACY]

Now that the manifold was replaced, and EGT hole drilled and tapped, it was time to give the heat shields some attention. The manifold heat shield would need to have a hole drilled into it for the EGT probe. Easy peasy. But the heat shield looked like ass. And so did the Turbo heat shield. Spent some time with a wire wire to clean both up and then sprayed them both with HI-Temp "aluminum" color paint. Its actually the same color we used to match the winch rebuild. Came out niiiiice.

 

[NLXTACY]

Next up was to get the gauges completely wired up into the truck. Not easy to test gauges on a truck that we can't start but there are work arounds to test both boost and EGT

Making the wiring clean, reliable, and fully functional is the longest part of the install to do it right, Many hours spent on just wiring.

The buzzer hanging off the wiring is an alarm we installed that is triggered once the EGT hits 1250ºF. This can be changed at anytime but we felt that at 22psi this is probably a safe number.

 

[NLXTACY]

After quite a few iterations, we finally had the profile correct so we can start 3D printing the gauge mount. The mount had to do two things: 1. Be able to hold the gauges securely, and 2. be able to be mounted and secured to the dash. We finally got there after maybe 6 or 7 prints. Now that the mount can securely hold the gauges, it was time to start removing material from the dash where the gauges were going to be installed. Once everything lined up, a few holes were drilled/tapped into the mount.

 

[NLXTACY]

Test fitting the gauges into the new mount.

 

[NLXTACY]

Couple more pics of the gauges in the 3D mount installed onto the dash piece.

 

[NLXTACY]

The final. Everything working and it came out very very well. I can't wait for @Sonofaskipper to finally see it

 

[NLXTACY]

Oh and we added a boost controller to the truck as well. Initially we installed in under the dash but hidden. That was a mistake. You hear everything going on with the boost thru that controller. It got crazy annoying very quick. We decided to move it next to the Radium oil catch can. But the fittings and hose looked like hell on it so both were changed out to make it look way slicker.

 

[FJBen]

nice work. I would make sure that you have good slack or a tension loop in that EGT probe. I'm on my 3rd probe from Auber, actually 4th but the 3rd was DOA. I think most of it is vibration/movement from the engine.

 

[NLXTACY]

nice work. I would make sure that you have good slack or a tension loop in that EGT probe. I'm on my 3rd probe from Auber, actually 4th but the 3rd was DOA. I think most of it is vibration/movement from the engine.

We do and noted.

 

[Sonofaskipper]

The final. Everything working and it came out very very well. I can't wait for @Sonofaskipper to finally see it

View attachment 2742841

Can’t wait for Sunday!

 

[MrMikeyG]

Any thoughts on an Auber vs. the common scangauge for coolant temp?

 

[Sonofaskipper]

I can’t see any reason an Auber wouldn’t do the job. From an aesthetic standpoint, there is no better option for these trucks.

 

[NLXTACY]

Any thoughts on an Auber vs. the common scangauge for coolant temp?

I’d just use ScanGuage. Unless you are running a second gauge.

 

[DEADSALT]

auber gauges are great; discreet, small and accurate.

as they display live/changing value, i’ve found the best placement to be lower left obstructed by steering wheel.

if you ever got over ‘preset value’ they would beep!

 

[NLXTACY]

Ever now and again I fail. This time I messed up by not listening to my instincts.

This is the gauge made that was designed around the Auber gauges to mount them on an early RHD JDM81 Land Cruiser dash. It’s supposed to be a one-print. I hate 3D printing for final production. But for this application I figured it would be a lot less time consuming than machine milling a piece that could be considered production worth. I was right, 3D printing a one off did save a lot of time. But I’m doing so I introduced another problem, I used PLA instead of waiting to order PETG or ABS filament. I had it so I ran with PLA. For 99% of the stuff I prototype with PLA it’s been fine. Not this time.

Why? Because it turns out during the move from SoCal we brought the weather with us. Brutal heat for weeks. It’s been at or around 110°F all week. 112° today. Then we noticed something. The one-off dash mount was getting soft (melting in the heat) and was drooping.

The material failure is killing me

Time to start machining a piece from Delrin.

Oh and for those that I said that I would print one for your own needs and send for free so that you can install your own since I wasn’t actually making this a product…sorry but I can’t send out something I know will fail, even if it is free. Once I get the new filament I’ll produce another batch. Sorry folks.

 

[DivByZero]

Ouch, that really sucks. But at least you've got the fitment all sorted out now for the final print. Small delay, but not a failure, just a minor setback, one more prototype iteration. Looks like the final product is going to be awesome!

 

[Douglas S]

With the time spent, is this something you are planning to offer for sale?