[TeamLeePerformance]

So I was looking for a good reliable all in one gauge that I could mainly read ethanol percentage, boost, and afr with but I could also datalog the car when I was at the track with too. After a short post on one of the Facebook pages it seemed like the NGauge was just the way to go. Dalton at SMG Speed shot me a message and low and behold two days later I get a new NGauge and their AC Vent pod. The pod or gauge didn’t have any instructions but seemed pretty straight forward. If you’re like me though I am one of those that reads about it everyday while waiting for it to arrive so I know everything there is to know about the product and how to install it. I didn’t see much of anything on the forums or YouTube of how to install the pod. So here’s my best explanation of how to do it for those that are wanting one in their car installed in the drivers side ac vent.

Step 1. Pull the steering wheel lever and extend it all the way out and down to give room to pull the trim bezel off the dash to access behind the drivers AC vent.

Step 2. You can use a trim tool or just your hands to pull the trim bezel straight back to disengage the clips in the dash. You don’t need to remove it completely just enough to get access behind the ac vent.

Step 3. Now that the bezel is pulled off so you can see behind the vent there is 4 plastic “fingers” 🤷🏼*♂️ That the vent pops over to keep it in place. A trim tools comes in handy here but you could probably get to it with a flathead screwdriver. Just pop them in and pull the vent at the same time working you’re way around until the vent comes out.

Step 4. Now that you have the vent out you have to pull the chrome ring off in order to get the deflector out of the vent. Use a small flathead and start working your way around popping the clips up. Make sure you’re extra careful here because we all know GM plastic is garbage and won’t take much until it cracks. With a little patience it’s not bad at all.


Step 5. Now just pop your new SMG pod in and clip the chrome ring back on. You can’t get it wrong there’s little channels on the trim ring you have to line up.

Step 6. Now you just do reverse of what you just did and slide your vent back into the bezel until you hear it “click” behind the 4 plastic tangs and run your wire from the obdII port through the back of the vent and plug it into the gauge. (A wire coat hanger and a little electrical tape helps a bunch to run the wires through everything) Clip your bezel back to the dash and push the ngauge into the pod.

I did recommend to Jeremy at SMG that for the NGauge installed with their vent pod they need to send a little more double sided tape. The OD of the gauge is a little smaller than the hole they have molded into the pod. Not a big deal at all though just a little double sided tape on top and bottom and you’re solid. As for setting up your gauge I’ll let YouTube take over from there but it’s all pretty basic. Hope this helps someone out there for how to put the pod in the vent as this is my first DIY write up.

[Dagstar]

I've thought about getting one of these and mounting it in the same spot. Is it a complete replacement for HP Tuners or a supplemental device? Also, are you still able to get air from that vent? I see the holes but the gauge appears to completely block them.

[TeamLeePerformance]

Originally Posted by Dagstar

I've thought about getting one of these and mounting it in the same spot. Is it a complete replacement for HP Tuners or a supplemental device? Also, are you still able to get air from that vent? I see the holes but the gauge appears to completely block them.

There is still air that comes out but not very much. I just really didn’t want it in the windshield for some reason. With the NGauge for our cars you still can’t load tunes in yet. I’m hoping in the future they will come out with an update so you can swap through multiple tunes. The best thing about this one is you can datalog up to 23 different signals and you can monitor up to 6 gauges at a time on one screen.

[Dagstar]

Originally Posted by TeamLeePerformance

There is still air that comes out but not very much. I just really didn’t want it in the windshield for some reason. With the NGauge for our cars you still can’t load tunes in yet. I’m hoping in the future they will come out with an update so you can swap through multiple tunes. The best thing about this one is you can datalog up to 23 different signals and you can monitor up to 6 gauges at a time on one screen.

I hear ya. I still might go for it considering I do want to monitor as much as I can. I'm assuming it doesn't come with any sensors, wide band A/F being my #1. Listings don't mention any.

[TeamLeePerformance]

Originally Posted by Dagstar

I hear ya. I still might go for it considering I do want to monitor as much as I can. I'm assuming it doesn't come with any sensors, wide band A/F being my #1. Listings don't mention any.

It doesn’t not. Only thing in the box is the gauge a plastic mount SD card and the connection wire. I have a Bellanger AFR500 wideband already and it’s installed in the glove box with the analog output wires connected to the ngauge

[ZR1 DREAMING]

Nice clean install, have it on the to-do list.