Lotek Triple A-pillar gauge holder (2g)

[redgsturbo]

This is a real sturdy and well color matched piece... looks great, however you must drill holes for the mounting screws, and i had to epoxy fill a 1/4 wide hole in order to have something for the screw to sit in. overall it is a great piece though and for the $30 odd dollars i bought it for straight from lotek you cant beat it.

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J. Hunter Allred
http://smilecwm.tripod.com/net6/scrambles.gif
'95 GS-T free mods, K&N, 3" HKS Superdragger, ACT2600, lightened flywheel, and otherthings that escape me at the moment. T-25 handicapped though. As you can see its a work in progress. Figure if i buy it i should buy it once :)

[PAUL 97GSX]

i also just purchased a triple gauge pillar from lo-tek. installation was not bad, its fit and finish and color are great. i highly recommend it. i was glad to see that it had screws to hold it on (but, you must drill holes for them though). i know that others have had trouble getting it mounted before the screws were implemented into the design. i had also taken off the stock A-pillar about a week ago to run a couple of the wires in antisipation and when reinstalling the stock piece it was difficult to match up to the clips and the top of it keeps poping back out about half an inch (remember that is the stock pillar though). it is more stiff than the stock piece (good or bad i know not). overall i'm very happy with it and the way it turned out! also, follow the directions it comes with, figure out where to drill the holes before you put the gauges in the pillar. later,
PAUL

[This message has been edited by PAUL 97GSX (edited October 16, 2000).]

[ohmygawd]

I've also installed the Lotek 2 gauge pod. Installation was a snap. If you have an older one before the screw was implemeted I could see how keeping it tight was a problem. Now with the screw just drill a small hole in the A Frame and it mounts solid. I read in VFAQ where it is recommended to add weatherstripping to the bottom to prevent rattles. Of course I was too lazy to do that, but, I've got no rattles. Color, fit and finish are excellent.

[WhoaTed]

What about Lo-Tek Customer Support??

I have e-mailed them twice with [pre-purchase] questions and have received *zero* response.

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http://www.turbologic.com/images/sig.jpg

[redgsturbo]

A very good point i neglected to bring up... Lotek customer support does not suck, its nonexistant, but i guess since they just make plastic trim they figure we dont need there help.

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J. Hunter Allred
http://smilecwm.tripod.com/net6/scrambles.gif
'95 GS-T free mods, K&N, 3" HKS Superdragger, ACT2600, lightened flywheel, and otherthings that escape me at the moment. T-25 handicapped though. As you can see its a work in progress. Figure if i buy it i should buy it once :)

[Pete 97 GS-T]

I don't have the Lotek, but I have the Autometer and to mount it to the pillar, all I did was drill a hole (3/4") in the stock a-pillar and route the wires through that. Then I superglued the Autometer 3 pod pillar to the stock one. It looks 100% stock. You can't see the stock pillar behind it. There are no screws or screw caps visible anywhere.

If you're worried about it not holding, you don't have to worry. Mine has stayed for 2 years now through -20°F winters and 100° summers here in New England. I know that people in VFAQ's say don't superglue, but it works the absolute best in my opinion.

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[FastMike]

I bought the Lotek Dual pillar, and it fit ok and the color matched ok. Then I bought the Autometer Triple pod, WOW what a difference. The Autometer fits 10x better than the Lotek and the color and texture match a lot better. The Autometer is made a little thicker and they give you screws to attatch it. The Autometer makes the pod look stock. :)

I say just get the Autometer, you'll won't be disappointed

[ericmixx]

not to hijack the thread, but i just got the 1g triple gauge pod.. i test fitted it last weekend, and realized it was going to be tougher than i thought..
The top mounting screw is in a place where, if you drill the hole, and screw the provided screws in, you drill right through the seat belt railing, and your seatbelt doesn't move at all when you close the door.. This might be solved with shorter (much shorter) screws... we'll see saturday..
Also.. the directions weren't clear as to whether or not your supposed to remove the original pillar, or cut it, or just drill right through it and mount directly to the existing piece.
And.. as far as routing the wires.. if you try to route them straight down to the bottom, you can't get the pod to be flush with the existing pillar. I take it that drilling a hole through the existing pillar like Pete 97 GST would be the best way?

[James92TSi]

You're right about using shorter screws, I had to do that on mine.

Bad thing is, the stock A-pillar is held in place by plastic clips (that don't seem to want to line up anymore) and velcro (yeah, right). So my a-pillar stays in place, but it's not perfectly flush because the clips won't go in all the way.

For routing the wires/boost hose, I drilled through the stock pillar inside each gauge cup, and ran all the wires etc behind the stock pillar. There is a hole behind the stock pillar that can be used to drop things through to the bottom of the dash.

HTH

[egorka]

I have an Autometer pillar and used Velcro initially.. The velcro adhesive melted in the hot weather....

So I used Loctite clay- its used for sticking up posters on walls..

Ball it up and throw it in back- works great!!!!! And only $1.99- and no holes..

Some others have used "Shoe Goo" with much success too...

Eric

[black93TSi]

we get screwed up in here in canada, none of the pods fit properly on the pillar because theyre all designed for the american cars with the auto-belt it seems. it took me like 2 hours of cutting and bending (with a stupid little heat attachment on my butane soldering iron). i finally got it on, but it looks like ass :(

dont suppose anyone actually makes pods for the canadian spec cars?

[CyByte]

I have the lotec 3 gauge pod holder for my 1st gen.

bottom line i kindof hate it and wish they made a one piece A pillar like the 2g's can get :(


as was posted the first time i put the screw in my seat belt didn't work :eek: had to back it out.

it rattles and the color does match pretty good though. i have the bottom screw in as well and it works. but the rattling and the space from looking in outside the car you can tell its just either tapped or screwd in. mine was warped on the outside.

i emailed them about the screws they mailed to me, informing them htey are to long and could possibly damage the power seat belts in the 1g cars. there response was this.

"we must have sent you the wrong screws"


that was it. NOTHING ELSE! I would not recommend this company based soly on that rude response. That is no way to run a respectable company.



just my .02

[RedTurboEclipse]

I ordered a 2g black triple 52 mm gauge pod a-pillar replacement from Lotek about 2 weeks ago. However, they keep telling me, its on back order cause of some plastic shortage.

They told me it was going to be shipped next week, they told me this last week. I emailed them not that long ago this week and they told me the same thing. grrr. I've been trying to get a triple a-pillar replacement for 3-4 months. First I got screwed by jcwhiteney/carparts, and now this long wait. Does anybody have gaugepods in STOCK nowadays?

Well, whenever I get the product, I'll write up a review along with pics.

[markGSX]

Originally posted by James92TSi

Bad thing is, the stock A-pillar is held in place by plastic clips (that don't seem to want to line up anymore) and velcro (yeah, right). So my a-pillar stays in place, but it's not perfectly flush because the clips won't go in all the way.

I know exactly what you mean. I hate those white clips. I was pounding on the a-pillar and cursing for an hour to get it into position. I ended up breaking 2 of the white clips and just throwing them in the garbage. Not to mention, the lo-tek pillar extends fully down to where the dash speaker is and it's a total pain in the ass to get it to fit properly.

Oh well, after all the cursing and banging it actually looks pretty good after I got done installing it.

[RedTurboEclipse]

EVERYONE post pics of their pillar pods installed!! :D

[Ronin17]

I got the 2g dual pillar and installation was easy. I believe the customer support is great over at lotek. I shot a email to them to see what diameter the 2g dual pods were (they don't specify 2"1/16 or 60mm) and i got a email the same day with the answer. No rattles, no mounting problems, just a great product that i would recommend to everyone.

[ericmixx]

i just realized i replied to something dated october of 2000... hehe.. (can't say i didn't search!)

Anyhow..
I'm going to tackle the installation this weekend.. i'll post pics of the install and do a writeup.. maybe send it over to tom @ vfaq because it seems that the directions aren't clear and there's not really any place that has a good writeup on how to do the install..
Wish me luck

[CyByte]

i didn't take the A pillar off before i drilled.

i just took the cordless drill out to the car and drilled away on her right while it was on the car :)

[DRagtop]

I installed the LoTek dual gauge for my Spyder today, and I'm semi happy with it so far. I had this in a while ago, but I refused to drill, so I tried the double sided tape thing, which fails miserably after a while. It kept falling off, and I put the stock piece back. I finally dug out the drill, and made 1 hole into the apillar metal, and used the supplied screw. It's a bitch to make the hole, but start off with a thin drill bit, then keep increasing size until the right fit. Now it's really on there good, finally.

The only issues I have with this unit

a) You can actually see inside the apillar from the outside if you look up close (wires and back of gauges), but it's not too obvious unless you really pay attention. You might be able to prevent this, if you actually drill a hole between the two cups (where there is already a hole in the piece from the lotek "factory"). However, getting the drill at the right angle that far down on the pillar, was pretty much impossible (unless you have some kind of nano drill ;)

b) It's too visible, I like a stealthy look. It looks nice, but this is a personal preference. I might just replace and go with the autometer gauge bezel instead.

Here's a picture of the final product :
LoTek dual gauge -- spyder gst. (http://members.bellatlantic.net/~kjell/Eclipse/102-0292_IMG.JPG)

[ericmixx]

i got mine in this weekend.. i didn't get a chance to take pictures of every step.. but what i can tell you.. is that i was drilling a 3/4" hole for the top gauge, and the drill bit caught on the bend and cracked the bezel in two... :eek: so i threw that other peice out, and the pod fits amazingly well with it off.. i think it was designed to by cut...
here are some pics.......
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid34/p3ba0f7512e62afe0ef274d28290f5440/fd321938.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid34/pdce3a188a1dbe570c703fd8aa5fb58a5/fd321906.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid34/pa21f03bfc799803fcf1cb0a47503d245/fd321944.jpg

for some reason the needles look yellow in that second pic.. :confused:

anyhow.. the installation after that crack went smooth. all the wires fit perfectly......

[James92TSi]

Here's some crappy old pics of my gauges... VDO boost and EGT, and intellitronix digital fuel pressure... lotek grey 1G triple pod.
http://members.aol.com/hockey6688/gauges.jpg
http://members.aol.com/hockey6688/gauges2.jpg

[Turb0EcliPse97]

I installed the Lo-Tek dual guage pod, and it looks great. Looks like stock, the only problem i had was with finding a way to mount it, no adhesives were working for me and the screw holes didnt match up, so at the top of the pillar, i just drilled a hole and screwed it in there. Hasn't given me any problems yet. But the piece is great, and I reccommend it to anybody who is looking for something to put their guages into.

[boost inside]

I installed the 2 pod lo-tek a pilllar. The color was ok and the fit was okay too. The top didnt seem to come up all the way like the stocker did, no big deal but i noticed that. Besides that the pod looks great, I have 2 Greedy 60mm gauges in there. Since they ship for 52mm just sand it down a little until your 60mm fits, perfect fit too.

[broadypunk]

i got the 3gauge full A pillar from lotek b/c nobody else makes it...looks great. very sturdy. drilling the bottom hole was not all that bad with the right drill bit. fits awesome, although i had to put a piece of plastic at the bottom in between the dash and the actual pod so that it pushed against the pillar. there was a small opening, but once i shoved that piece in there, it was fine....you can't even see it. very stiff, unlike the autometer dual gauge pod i had. thumbs up

[black93TSi]

i ordered mine a month ago and it's yet to arrive, how long did you guys' take to ship?

[broadypunk]

the spyder A pillars were on backorder for a long time...i just ordered mine when they were in stock...got it in like 3 days. my cousin had to wait more than a month for his 1g full pillar...they were on back order.

[Bugzy]

I don't like how the autometer dual gauge pods fit at all....I installed one on my spyder and it totally looked like crap well.... at least to me it did. I took that shit back, read some posts and bought the 3gauge full A pillar I haven't gotten it yet but hopefully it'll look at lot better.

[broadypunk]

Originally posted by Bugzy
I don't like how the autometer dual gauge pods fit at all....I installed one on my spyder and it totally looked like crap well.... at least to me it did. I took that shit back, read some posts and bought the 3gauge full A pillar I haven't gotten it yet but hopefully it'll look at lot better.

it will look a lot better

[SeatownGST]

Yes, it's all good with the Lotek Triple 60mm.

Here's a pic I took basically after I drilled in the last screw :

http://65.102.145.29/eclipse/old/Image01.jpg

[evoir]

I have the Lotek Spyder I have both screws in.
I ended up using different screws the ones that came with it didnt fit for some reason.

http://members.cox.net/exoir/pictures/guages.jpg

[Bugzy]

see.....now thats how I want mine to look...that looks good.....can't wait to through mine on when I get it :D

[eagletalonawd]

I have to give LoTek some props.

My old 2 pod that I got from them along time ago (probably late1999) was kind of thin and came with no way to mount it at all. I ended up just using screws. I decided to sell it and I just ordered the 3 pod 2g replacement pillar. It took a little over a week to get (last one took over a month) and it is heavier, comes with screws and caps for the screws. I am very pleased and would definately buy from them again. :)

[eagletalonawd]

sorry, double post.. :o