Sony Civic Si

In Part 3 of the buildup of the Sony Civic Si, we'll focus is on a piece of the car that I am frequently asked about: the center gauge pod. With the plan for the car to build everything from scratch, a custom pod was designed to house the vehicle's four status gauges.

The gauge piece was initially drawn as a sketch and had several key design elements. First, it was going to have a painted finish on both the front and back that would be visible through the front windshield, where it was to be mounted. The finished back of the pod housing would add a cosmetic bodyline on the vehicle. From the front viewpoint, this new bodyline would give the car the look that it has a two-piece windshield, similar to the cockpit of a space shuttle. Second, the fiberglass shaping of the circular gauge openings had to match the look of the custom tweeter pods that I planned to build on the door panels. This would serve to tie the front interior panels' design elements together.

If you'll notice, the gauges are mounted as heads-up displays for both the driver and the passenger to view easily without having to look away from the road. The Faze gauges were chosen based on size, performance and lighting color (to match the vehicle's factory instrument gauges).

This pod panel had to be shaped as a 360-degree object, because it would be viewed from the hatch, side doors and front windshield of the car. It was also designed to incorporate the LED display of the Beltronics 360-degree laser/radar detection system. This LED display offers real-time monitoring of all of the vehicle's perimeters and speed sensors while driving.

Next month, we'll take a look at the creation of the rear hatch fiberglass-trim panels. In the meantime, please feel free to contact me at info@jasonsyner.com.

The factory headliner was removed and taped with 3M 233+ masking tape.	Heavy-duty aluminum foil was glued over the tape with 3M Super 77 spray adhesive.	Half-inch strips of wood were taped into place to keep the fiberglass from flowing back onto the headliner.
Wrinkles in the aluminum foil were smoothed with a new Bondo spreader and trim lines were traced with a Sharpie marker.	Preparation for the fiberglass mold includes two rollers, cut mat, paintbrushes, fiberglass resin and hardener.	Six layers of 1.5-ounce mat were applied to the foil within the Sharpie cut lines and rolled into place. All air bubbles were carefully removed.