This blog will document my research into- and work toward- an electronic multi-function gauge for the Porsche 968, (and any other vehicle that is pre-OBD-II).  The interior of the 968 is particularly spartan in terms of room for adding things - witness the many failed attempts at the perfect cup holder. I'll add the components I am researching currently in this and subsequent posts.

I am currently leveraging the ideas of several people who kindly posted their ideas on the web, although they unfortunately did not post the real guts of their solutions. Credit where due to winmutt on superturbodiesel.com, and his thread.

After much research into Raspberry Pi, Netduino, Beaglebone and others (including a trip to NYC Maker Faire to see them all in action) I have decided my first foray will incorporate an Arduino microcontroller (Uno R3 specifically) to read the voltages from any sending units and to allow a platform for incorporating accelerometers, GPS sensors, wireless radios (Bluetooth, WiFi), USB and ethernet communications, and a wide variety of input devices (joysticks, keyboards, etc.)

Output will initially be driven to a 4D Systems 1.5" OLED capable of displaying text, graphics and video. I'm hopeful there is a place to mount this or a similar display unit flush behind the existing gauges (similar to in-dash displays in many modern cars), perhaps at the bottom of the tachometer. Being an OLED display, it requires no backlight and is extremely thin. I still need to do measurements and find out what kind of room is back there, and hopefully there aren't any warning lights embedded there either.