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We are always seeking new, innovative, high quality products to produce installation articles for.  This article is going to be a combination installation article because they go hand in hand.  A Speed of Sound LLC pillar pod and a pair of Cobalt gauge from Auto Meter.

What separates the Speed of Sound pillar from other available options is the complete replacement of the pillar.  You will receive a high quality OEM pillar with gauge pods attached to replace your stock pillar.  The bonus feature with the SOS pillar pods is the additional feature of a Raptor Shift Light mount.  This is an optional feature but makes the perfect location for the Raptor Shift Light to be mounted.  The shift light will appear to float between the two pods and looks very cool.

To start the installation, you will need to remove the stock pillar cover.   On the convertibles, there is a plastic retaining pin at the top, just to the left side of the anchor for the convertible top.  Pry this back out of it's hole being careful to not scratch any surfaces.  This can be done with a large flat blade screw driver or a panel removal tool.

With the retaining pin removed, the pillar can be pulled straight down from the top.  It is held in place by several alignment pins and spring retainers.  Don't manhandle it, massage it a little, flex it here, get your fingers or a small pry device as close to the spring clips and help it release.  Remove the pillar completely and store in a safe place.

Flipping hats to the gauges now, we chose to add some high quality gauges from Auto Meter, one of the leaders in gauges.  The have a endless supply of options from replacement gauges, full blown high tech competition gauges to replacement instrument clusters.  The Cobalt series gauges fit the bill for us and we will be adding a Boost (part #6159) and a Fuel Pressure gauge (part #6163)  to the SOS Pillar pod.  It won't hurt to test fit the SOS Pillar Pods at this time, they look fantastic and the quality is factory perfect.

The gauges come neatly packaged individually and have their own set of instructions.  We will start with the Fuel Pressure Gauge first.  Before we were able to do anything, we had to track down an adaptor that is not supplied with the gauge.  There is a fuel pressure switch that is supplied that will replace the fuel rail Shrader Valve, but it does not match the size.  An Auto Meter part #3280.  You should be able to find this at any Automotive Performance shop that handles Auto Meter products.  A small amount of thread sealant should be applied to the pressure switch and then add the adaptor.  It will be easier to mount these as an assembly.

Relieve the pressure from the fuel rail via a small blade screw driver.  Depress the Shrader valve with a rag rapped around it to contain any fuel that might escape while the pressure is being let off.  Make sure you are wearing your safety goggles, and cover the valve completely with the rag, you do not want to get any fuel into your eyes. 

Remove the existing Shrader valve, it will not be re-used.  Apply a small amount of thread sealant to the adapter and thread the assembly into the location where the Shrader valve used to be.  If you need to relieve pressure in the future, it can be accomplished by loosening off the complete assembly.  Apply loom to the wiring harness supplies (available at any automotive supply store) and tape with electricians tape.  Plug in the harness to the assembly and route over to the drivers side firewall location where we will drill a hole to eventually route the harness inside.

Drilling a 1 inch hole into the firewall in necessary for the boost and fuel pressure harness.  Locating this hole can be tricky and must be done carefully.  We chose an area just to the left of the clutch pedal and above the floor insulation.  Pull back the floor insulation and mark a location.  Check both inside and out to make sure you are not drilling through something critical.  Check again.  A grommet is supplied to protect the wires from being damaged by sharp edges.  The grommet must be cut to allow the wires to be centered in the grommet, then the grommet can be manipulated into the freshly drilled hole.  

You can now route the wiring harness for both the gauges up to the pillar location.  Remove trim that runs vertically between the door and dash, we will hide the wires in this location.  The white wire will supply power to the gauge lights.  Remove the bezel from the instrument cluster.  Follow the instruction from the MHT Bezel Installation if you are unfamiliar on how this is accomplished.  Fish the white wires through to the head light switch location for future tie-in to the existing dimmer supply wire.

Test to ensure, but we found that the first blue wire was a dimmer supplied hot wire for us to tie into.  It was easier to tie-in to this wire when we removed the light switch mounting bolts.  Twist both white wires together and use a wire tap to connect and draw power from the blue wire.

Both red wires from the wiring harness need to be tied into a switched fuse from the panel just to the left of the clutch pedal.  With a test light, locate a switched fuse of ample size to handle 2 more items.  We chose a 20 amp fuse on the left side of the fuse panel.  It is important to choose a fuse that has power through crank at start up or it may calibrate itself incorrectly.  It is important to ensure the fuse has a constant power supply, and the gauges will re-calibrate themselves correctly at each start up. Twist the ends together and fold over. Place the fold of wire over one of the spades of the fuse and replace the fuse into the panel.  Make sure no stray wires could contact the opposite side of the fuse.  It may take a little bit of pressure to get the fuse back in, but it should go as long as an excessive amount of wire is being pushed in.

The black wires are ground wires for both harness.  Twist the exposed ends together and crimp a wire connector to them.  Find a suitable location to mount the ground and scrape any paint away from the mating surface.  Tighten securely to ensure a good ground.

With power, ground and connection to a dimming device, you should be able to plug in the gauge harness and test for functionality.

We found a great, safe location behind the firewall cowl for the boost switch.  Locate and mark the locations of the screws to mount the switch and drill 2 small pilot holes.  Mount the switch securely.

Of course a boost gauge must be tied into a vacuum/boost line.  Cut the line in an appropriate location and install the supplied tee.  Using a pull tie to secure the ends of any fitting in a vacuum/boost line is always a good idea.  Attach one end of the supplied flexible tubing to the end of the tee, route it towards the boost switch mounted on the firewall and tie off.  Make sure there are no kinks and it is out of the way of getting nicked or cut.  Measure an appropriate length, cut the tube and install the supplied end to connect to the switch.

We are now ready to plug the gauges in and mount them into the SOS Pillar pods.  We wrapped the gauge with electrician tape, almost all the way around to provide a good secure hold in the SOS pillar pod.  Line them up and press them firmly into position, seating them with the gauge bezel mating up to the rim of the pod.

We are now ready to re-install the pillar back into place and replace the vertical trim between the door and the dash.  Make sure that you snap the spring retainer clips properly to hold the pillar in place.  Carefully align all the plastic alignment pins and you won't have any problems.  Don't forget to replace the plastic retainer pin near the clamp for the convertible top.

The only thing left to do before start up is to re-mount the Raptor shift light.  If you hadn't install one yet, there is a hole and grommet in the lower pod to hide the wiring for the shift light.  We chose not to re-wire the shift light at this time but mounting is identical otherwise.

Twist the small tab on the mount location side was and slide one end into the access hole for adjusting the shift light settings.  Tuck the front edge in first and then the back, sliding it backwards to hold it in place.  Twist the shift light back to a parallel plane with the pods and it will effectively be clamped in place.  Adjust slightly for best viewing angle and you are good to go.

Turn the ignition key on, and observe the gauges.  When you put the key in the ignition and flip to ACC, the gauges power up and self-calibrate and generate a zero reading based upon current atmospheric pressure (so that the gauge is accurate at whatever altitude the vehicle is started at, as opposed to a mechanical boost gauge which is really only TRULY accurate at the altitude at which it was originally assembled and calibrated).  The gauges should do a swing down to the stop peg and then come to rest.  You can start the car and check for fuel pressure response and boost measurement response.

A look at the final application demonstrates what a neat and tidy packages is supplied by Speed of Sound LLC mated up with a couple of high quality gauges from Auto Meter.