If you have any problems with the leds appearing in a reflection when not in use....

I have been playing with painting pieces of foam (like sponge) flat black to create a semi light absorbing material. The flat black plastic semi reflects light if you shine an LED on it, the foam almost gets rid of any reflection. You could put some around it to reduce any glare if it shows up.

When you tested it in car, were the Shift lights focused almost as far out as the HUD display?

 

Yeah they looked pretty comparable to regular HUD image. I didn't see any reflection but we'll see. The reflector looking thing between what generates the HUD image and the mirror that puts it on the windshield looks like an auto dimming rear view mirror. I think that will help keep the glare down

I'll mess with it some more tomorrow

 

Quick video

 

Got projector installed.. post from another thread. Going to wire up power/tach signal sometime this week but didn't get around to it today.

 

The suspense is killing me LOL

BADASS DUDE!

 

This is going to be so badass if it actually works like it looks like it will... the only negative so far is my LED placement wasn't quite perfect and it's barely clipping the top of the MPH numbers... not a huge deal but would probably annoy some people. I think with some modifications to the plastic housing I could make it work and have everything show up. The plastic housing has a little "box" around what I'm calling the emitter (thing that actually produces the HUD image) so that anything above/below it doesn't make it to the windshield. I'm assuming it was to block out any reflections, etc. I'm sure it could be modified.

If weather holds out I may try to finish the wiring today/tomorrow. I just have to figure out where to put this controller.. I'm running out of room. Too many toys

 

Maybe easy access underneath the dash, on left side area? I put a few different control modules in that area in the past on C5s. Is it something you'd have to have access to all the time? Or a one and done deal? I use my KILL SWITCH everytime the car is parked, so no voltage to it until I flip switch and start up. Will these reset with power or/off or will they retain programming? Just curious. Liking what I am seeing so far man, coming out nicely.

 

It'll store the settings after they're set, so shouldn't need to get to it very often--I can probably stuff it in the area you mentioned. I have the alky control ***** and stuff over that way but I can probably stuff this box up behind the knee bolster thing. Won't be easy to get to but shouldn't really need to after it's set

 

Looking at this pic, It seems like the led ribbon cable is slightly above the opening in the box, clipping the HUD from displaying? Can you just move the leds down a tad and be good?

 

I think I just had it taped on in that picture to see how it worked--but yeah, I think if I lowered it down just a mm or two it would fix the cutting the edge off the MPH reading issue. I'm probably just going to run it as is for a while and see how I like it. If it's worth keeping then I'll take the time to pull it back apart and get the position just right

It's a tight fit to keep it visible and to not block the HUD image. I can't really see it in that picture but I remember in person the image is pretty well boxed in on all sides, so not a lot of room to put anything extra. I think I can change that with a little massaging of some plastic ribs given a 2nd shot at it.

 

Yeah, I totally cut the insides of mine out trying to get an LCD screen inside, and then rebuilt it back with a larger opening. both top and bottom. I picked up another HUD display in case it all goes wrong.

For what it is worth, I had the Iphone displaying on the windshield. So I know for a fact that the display can be bigger then the HUD unit, which looks like it is maybe 1.5" in size.

Only thing I wonder is if all the cutting I did will ruin the stock HUD display in sun light. I have a lot of mods going on right now so it will be a while before I get to power everything up.

 

Awesome--if you were able to open it up that much then I should be fine to try to get another 1/4" or so.. that should be all I need (probably less)

iPhone screen inside the HUD? Now that sounds pretty badass, lol

As far as yours reflecting, it probably depends where you put it. On mine there was what I'm calling a dimmer reflector in the middle. The light goes from what I call the emitter-->dimming reflector thing-->mirror/angle adjustment thing that moves the image around on the windshield.

The dimmer thing seems to do a good job of not letting things be visible on the windshield that shouldn't be visible. These LED's were pretty bright white/shiny and I can't see them at all except when they're on

 

The LCD does not work in sun light. It just does not have enough power. I have not had a cloudy day in a long time to see how it does in low light, but at night it works pretty decent.

On the C5 I had to rebuild that 45 degree mirror. It is tinted blue on the front, and yellow on the back and when I removed it, I can see through it. It was tinting everything blue. So I cut a regular mirror and then removed the backing to make a surface mirror so I would not have an ghost images.

I noticed the C6 seems to be tinted green? I thinks this is some sort of filter to get rid of all the excess light that would create a glowing effect around the display. I have seen a bonneville hud that had a very strong glow of red around it. I have one of those huds, and the mirror is actually a mirror and nothing like a C5/C6

The LCD is mounted in front of the VFD on the C5. I build a motor and gears to move it up and down to cover the VFD. That is why you see a huge hole in the bottom of the HUD a few pages back. I also dropped the bottom of the HUD, and I am building a fiberglass bottom to attach it to to make a bigger box. I also moved the HUD circuit board to the outside of the housing. This made me have to remove the defroster vent line that runs under it, which I will move to the outside as well.

If this all works out I will have to build a control panel for all this nonsense. The LCD I picked up is a el-cheapo with mirroring and flipping option so I can get it's orientation correct. It looks like I will need 6 buttons to control all of it. LOL

 

The closer this thing comes to completion, the more I want one. Never taken the dash apart on my C5 though. Might have to learn how with this shift light project you got going on.

 

I had to replace my hud years ago. It wasn't as bad as I expected.

 

Keep in mind I'm working on a C6, so C5's may be a bit different.. I've never had one of those apart. .

Though, knowing GM, it's possible they are very similar....

 

word.

 

It's in!


And it's bright as hell now that it has enough power.. and looks like no resistor required when using the tach signal from the instrument cluster. I used - and tach signal from the instrument cluster connector. + came from switched wire on alky control meth kit. Located it on kick panel with some velcro.. looks in the way in the picture but isn't, somehow..

So far I'm really happy with it. Going to take it for a test drive in a bit

 

Neato!

 

badass dude. VERY COOL.