Hey Everybody- I just wanted to talk a bit about the heads-up display and see if anyone else is having the problems I am experiencing. First, I have spent nearly 2 weeks designing an enclosure and I finally came up with one which looks very much OEM, it’s more of a platform rather then an enclosure. I will post pictures as soon as I can.
Mounting the control unit was a little more of an issue then I thought. I will be tracking my car at least 2 or 3 more times this year. With that said I didn’t want to use double sided tape or Velcro to mount the unit. I needed it to be solid and not have any possibility of falling onto my feet while driving hard. With that said I was able to use strapping iron and attach the unit to a blank threaded screw hole along side my evaporator assembly. Unfortunately, I can’t get to the unit to adjust the dimmer or peak mode unless I get out of the car and reach under the dash. If I decide to keep the heads-up installed I may relocate the unit.
Well, like I said, if I decide to keep the heads-up. The reason for that statement is after all the hard work of making this thing look perfect I am a little disappointed in the performance.
First off, the reflective rectangle which has to go on the windshield stinks (I’ll try to keep this PG) Yeah, it’s not that big, however, when you look at it from outside the car it looks like I have a 3 x 3 piece of Reynolds Wrap tin foil stuck to my window!! Ditch the film, now the display doubles!
Next, if you are using manual dimming, which I think all of us are (so far) and you set it to max brightness. Doing this makes the display ungodly distracting at night, it reflects all over the place. The green blob of light bounces off the windshield and illuminates my instrument cluster hood, this in turn lights the windshield up. So I have a very bright display surrounded by radiant green light coming off my cluster hood. If I back the dimmer down it looks great, but during the day it’s invisible. In other words, the only way you can see it during the day is on “max bright”. To tell you the truth, even when it’s on max bright it’s difficult to see during the day. OK, I know I can use the auto dimmer, but that thing sticks out of a weird plug on the bottom of the display. So if you made a trick custom cover, now you have to figure out a way to get that dimmer sensor out of the bottom and still look good.
One last thing that we all probably over-looked, when we are driving we are looking far down the road, not directly in front of the car. If you want to look at the head-up display you must shift your eyes and drastically refocus, especially since the display is small. I’m finding it’s actually easier to look at the very big and clear factory gauges rather than trying to find the small heads-up display. I mean sure, if you making a custom ride and are looking for a trick set-up this thing is cool. For me however, I’m trying to keep this car very light and track worthy (no deep dish chrome wheels fro me). I thought this would help me on the track, now I’m thinking probably not.
I guess in closing, my biggest concerns are:
I have to take off the film, it looks horrible
I can’t see the display during the day unless it’s on max bright
If the display is on max bright during the night it becomes very distracting
The dimmer sensor looks like it was designed after the fact
Please give me some feedback guys.....tell me what you think
Thanks
-John
Mounting the control unit was a little more of an issue then I thought. I will be tracking my car at least 2 or 3 more times this year. With that said I didn’t want to use double sided tape or Velcro to mount the unit. I needed it to be solid and not have any possibility of falling onto my feet while driving hard. With that said I was able to use strapping iron and attach the unit to a blank threaded screw hole along side my evaporator assembly. Unfortunately, I can’t get to the unit to adjust the dimmer or peak mode unless I get out of the car and reach under the dash. If I decide to keep the heads-up installed I may relocate the unit.
Well, like I said, if I decide to keep the heads-up. The reason for that statement is after all the hard work of making this thing look perfect I am a little disappointed in the performance.
First off, the reflective rectangle which has to go on the windshield stinks (I’ll try to keep this PG) Yeah, it’s not that big, however, when you look at it from outside the car it looks like I have a 3 x 3 piece of Reynolds Wrap tin foil stuck to my window!! Ditch the film, now the display doubles!
Next, if you are using manual dimming, which I think all of us are (so far) and you set it to max brightness. Doing this makes the display ungodly distracting at night, it reflects all over the place. The green blob of light bounces off the windshield and illuminates my instrument cluster hood, this in turn lights the windshield up. So I have a very bright display surrounded by radiant green light coming off my cluster hood. If I back the dimmer down it looks great, but during the day it’s invisible. In other words, the only way you can see it during the day is on “max bright”. To tell you the truth, even when it’s on max bright it’s difficult to see during the day. OK, I know I can use the auto dimmer, but that thing sticks out of a weird plug on the bottom of the display. So if you made a trick custom cover, now you have to figure out a way to get that dimmer sensor out of the bottom and still look good.
One last thing that we all probably over-looked, when we are driving we are looking far down the road, not directly in front of the car. If you want to look at the head-up display you must shift your eyes and drastically refocus, especially since the display is small. I’m finding it’s actually easier to look at the very big and clear factory gauges rather than trying to find the small heads-up display. I mean sure, if you making a custom ride and are looking for a trick set-up this thing is cool. For me however, I’m trying to keep this car very light and track worthy (no deep dish chrome wheels fro me). I thought this would help me on the track, now I’m thinking probably not.
I guess in closing, my biggest concerns are:
I have to take off the film, it looks horrible
I can’t see the display during the day unless it’s on max bright
If the display is on max bright during the night it becomes very distracting
The dimmer sensor looks like it was designed after the fact
Please give me some feedback guys.....tell me what you think
Thanks
-John
If you can, please circle it. 
