Mako Motorsport Nissan Skyline R32 Cluster Dash Mount

Back in ancient times, it used to be cool to have 47 gauges all over the dashboard, pillar, center console of your car. You could “monitor” all of those items to help ensure your car was running correctly. However in real life, most had no data logging, no recall features. The only way you would know that there might be an issue, is if you were looking straight at it. There are some gauge systems, like DEFI that have recording and playback, but they really aren’t that common, and honestly get fairly expensive. In the motorsport world, cars went to a single dash display. That single display could have multiple pages, and have set points to throw warnings at the driver. They could also have data logging, so after your race, your track time, your dyno pull, you could go back with a laptop, and look at the data. Data is king. Data is king.

I have run a number of dashes in cars over the years. The R34 came with a Pi dash, and it was pretty basic. In World Challenge GT, we had to run one of a few setups, and we chose Motec – ADL2. Back in 2005 that setup was $6600 for the dash, and by the time we added all the features and sensors we wanted, the cost was closer to $12k. In the racing world, that all is how it is. Now that setup used a beacon, and g sensors in order to draw a track map. Not even GPS. The nice part about Motec, is that for pro racing, they normally have trackside support. Which in the case of our ADL2, was required, because the thing would only pick up the beacon every 3rd or 4th lap. Calls to Australia, re-wiring, and lots of things were required to get it to be mostly functional. My favorite easy to use dashes that I have come across, come from AIM. They were intuitive to setup, the prices are good. They don’t charge you $500 to look at anything. Mako Motorsport is just one company that makes replacement, bolt in single dash mounts. It is a clean way to install an aftermarket cluster, without cutting up your expensive OEM gauge cluster.

MXG 1.2 Strada is a 7″ color display

Mako Motorsport cluster mounts enable you to effortlessly install the aftermarket dash display of your choice.
Our mount kits are a direct bolt-in replacement for the original vehicle cluster and are designed to follow the dimensions and contours of the original unit resulting in a flawless installation finish.
All mount kits are produced in ABS material using fused deposition modelling technology resulting in components with:
Excellent thermal performance in both high temperature and sub-zero environments
Durability and strength with high impact resistance
Minimal weight
Each mount includes the appropriate mounting hardware and necessary provisions for wiring harness plugs, mounting studs and bolt holes for your selected display. Standard and recessed mount options are available for all displays, space permitting.
Note that any of the larger mounts that have the shroud removed on the top or bottom to accommodate a larger display are not guaranteed to fit seemlessly into your car. Often they will require the dash surround trim to be trimmed or removed to be able to see indicator lights or the entire screen. Please contact us if you have any questions.
If further customisation is required please view our customised cluster builder to truly make the mount your own.
Additional options include:
Integrated LED lights such as indicators, high/low beam, fuel warning, parking brake and ABS
Provisions for aftermarket 52mm and 60mm gauges

We labeled the switch for the Motec dash, appropriately

Motec data of laptimes R34 GT-R

Pi Dash in the R34 GT-R Super Taikyu car, as it came from Japan

If you are going to have 3 gauges

I took a Racepak dash, and made it possible to move car to car for some Toyota projects we were working on. The Racepak dash is pretty basic. I don’t really like their software. It works, but I would chose something else if its my own money.