[SILVY968]

IMHO, the steering wheel, with Porsche badge installed, is the most pleasant interior mod you can make.....but the NAV system is a close second.

Brian

   

   

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[Cloud9...68]

Yes, the 930 wheel is beautiful, and it looks like it has a nice, thick rim. At first, though, I thought it made the interior look dated, because it obviously doesn't have an airbag, but over time, its look has really grown on me. It's definitely on my wish list. And the NAV system is very sharp as well - it looks like it was meant to be there, though I also like the look of the Greimann gauge cluster (sadly, no longer available).



For those of you who've done the 930 wheel, doesn't the absence of the airbag concern you a littlle, from a safety standpoint? Although, I suppose that if you wear your seatbelt regularly (I wouldn't think of driving my car out of the driveway without my seat belt fastened), the air bag doesn't really offer much additional protection.

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[Cloud9...68]

[quote name='SILVY968' post='45136' date='Dec 31 2007, 06:54 PM']IMHO, the steering wheel, with Porsche badge installed, is the most pleasant interior mod you can make.....but the NAV system is a close second.

Brian



[/quote]



Brian,



I just noticed, as I was showing my 10-year-old how cool your nav system and steering wheel look, that you appear to have replaced your Greimann gauge cluster with the nav system. I'm curious as to why. To me, choosing between the two would be difficult, as both upgrades are very sharp. Do you miss the extra gauges? Since I track my car a few times a year, I would find an oil temp gauge useful, but as the possessor of what has to be the worst sense of direction of any human or beast that has ever walked the earth, I'm sure I would get a lot of use out of the nav system as well. Thanks.

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[flash]

this is what keeps me from running that unit in the 968 - i also have the gauge cluster there, and without a place for those gauges to go, i'm stuck - i have them in the denali and the bmw, and love them, but just can't get along without the gauges



choices

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[Cloud9...68]

[quote name='flash' post='45213' date='Jan 2 2008, 07:03 PM']this is what keeps me from running that unit in the 968 - i also have the gauge cluster there, and without a place for those gauges to go, i'm stuck - i have them in the denali and the bmw, and love them, but just can't get along without the gauges



choices[/quote]

Yeah, that's pretty much what I figured. Which gauges do you have? I currently have a Sirius radio that the previous owner installed in that spot, and like you, I can't stand the idea of paying for radio, so it's been uselessly sitting in there since I bought the car nearly four years ago. Someday I'll get around to doing something about this, but you're right, the choice between the extra gauges and a nice nav system is a tough one...

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[flash]

oil temp, vacuum and clock



i caved in and i recently added the xm option to the denali - for that car, it made great sense, and i am VERY pleased with it - made the cross country run much better - not going to do it for the local cars though

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[Cloud9...68]

Getting back the the airbag deactivation topic, I followed the procedure yesterday, and it's working flawlessly - no warning lights of any kind. Thanks for the advice. One thing I wasn't aware of is that there are two harness plugs (any idea why? Is the passenger side airbag a two stage unit? I thought it was the old-fashioned single-stage), so I'm sure glad I ordered the 10-pack of 3 ohm resistors from the site SILVY968 (Brian) recommended, rather than driving to the nether regions of Austin to buy a single one! The hardest part of the whole job was removing and replacing the vent tube, but even that wasn't a big deal.

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[SILVY968]

[quote name='Cloud9...68' post='45211' date='Jan 2 2008, 04:48 PM']Brian,



I just noticed, as I was showing my 10-year-old how cool your nav system and steering wheel look, that you appear to have replaced your Greimann gauge cluster with the nav system. I'm curious as to why. To me, choosing between the two would be difficult, as both upgrades are very sharp. Do you miss the extra gauges? Since I track my car a few times a year, I would find an oil temp gauge useful, but as the possessor of what has to be the worst sense of direction of any human or beast that has ever walked the earth, I'm sure I would get a lot of use out of the nav system as well. Thanks.[/quote]



I do not miss the extra gauges. The OEM gauges give me enough info with a DD. The NAV system is WAY cooler. I get NAV, a digital clock, Direct IPOD control and charge, AM/FM, hands-free, bluetooth to my cell phone. The amp in the NAV is so much better, with added EQ controls, that the OEM speaker system has improved to the point that it sounds like I replaced the speakers. In addition the ability to load a custom screen is a visual that I find very appealing.



The look and functionality update the 968 to todays auto interior standards and I would never go back.



Brian

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[flash]

no way i could lose the oil temp - the clock and vacuum sure - i'm working on it - not sure if i'll come up with anything though that does not involve an entirely new cluster



hmmm.............

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[Anchorman]

Brian, what are you doing (or, maybe more accurately, NOT doing) with the Grieman gauge cluster? I have wanted to make that addition, but got into it too late.

Jim

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[flash]

ooh - remove the guages, scan it, and send the file to me - i can have aluminum ones knocked off, with any finish we want

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[Anchorman]

That could be a deal.

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[SILVY968]

[quote name='Anchorman' post='45712' date='Jan 15 2008, 07:03 AM']Brian, what are you doing (or, maybe more accurately, NOT doing) with the Grieman gauge cluster? I have wanted to make that addition, but got into it too late.

Jim[/quote]



Offered on this site and ebay and sold...sorry, but it is a 968 on the east coast.

Brian





[quote name='flash' post='45713' date='Jan 15 2008, 07:09 AM']ooh - remove the guages, scan it, and send the file to me - i can have aluminum ones knocked off, with any finish we want[/quote]



Too late. Maybe Dave would give up the template???



Brian

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[Cloud9...68]

This probably falls within the realm of science fiction, but I wonder if it would be possible to get the best of both worlds (at least utilizatation of the oil temp gauge and nav system) by figuring out a way to input the signal from the oil temp sending unit to the Nav system. I imagine the gauge is analog and the nav system is purely digital, so you'd have to use a digital temperature sending unit, but I wonder if it would be possible to send this signal to the nav system. This of course would depend on the availability of the accomodation of external signal sources to the nav system.



If this were possible, the most challenging part would then probably be figuring out how to do the display. Maybe somebody with the know-how could figure out a way to put something together. I guess there's a whole forum for these nav systems, so maybe somebody has already done something similar. My brother is an electronics engineer with a good understanding of this kind of stuff, so maybe I'll give him a call, unless someone promptly informs me why this is an unworkable idea, thus saving myself the intra-family ridicule <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/biggrin.gif" class="smilie" alt="" />

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[flash]

the real problem that i see is that while cute and nifty and all that, accessing the "gauges" on the nav is not simple - it's accessed through multiple steps in the menu, and it precludes use of the map, and takes up the entire screen

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[Cloud9...68]

So someone has already done something like this? I agree, accessing information normally viewed on a guage would be useless if it were buried inside a tedious string of commands within a menu on the nav system. But on the other hand, the oil temperature isn't something you'd typically need to monitor on a continual basis, right?

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[SILVY968]

[quote name='Cloud9...68' post='45840' date='Jan 16 2008, 04:59 PM']So someone has already done something like this? I agree, accessing information normally viewed on a guage would be useless if it were buried inside a tedious string of commands within a menu on the nav system. But on the other hand, the oil temperature isn't something you'd typically need to monitor on a regular basis, right?[/quote]



The AVIC-D3 comes with a "MAP" screen that shown instruments.

You get speed, compass direction and time. The screen is reached in the following steps:

1- press MAP on the side control (always available as it is not a touch screen control);

2- touch the picture of the instruments on the screen.

Sure would be interesting if you could swap, let's say, direction for oil temp or boost.

Here is a shot of the stock screen.



Brian



   

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[flash]

i have used the g-meter and slope guage on my nav

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[Cloud9...68]

Yes, that's exactly what I have in mind. Maybe somebody on the AVIC forum would know if it's possible to bring in a singal from an external sensor, and have it display on this screen as an alternative to one of the three current virtual gauges. Sounds like it would be pretty difficult, but you never know. The way people have been able to hack into engine controllers and the like, I suppose anything's possible.

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[SILVY968]

[quote name='Cloud9...68' post='45856' date='Jan 16 2008, 08:27 PM']Yes, that's exactly what I have in mind. Maybe somebody on the AVIC forum would know if it's possible to bring in a singal from an external sensor, and have it display on this screen as an alternative to one of the three current virtual gauges. Sounds like it would be pretty difficult, but you never know. The way people have been able to hack into engine controllers and the like, I suppose anything's possible.[/quote]



worth a try.

www.avic411.com

I'll try to get some time and check as well.

Gotta go to NAMM and blow out my ears.



Brian

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