I just wanted to share an easy mod I did on my car.
It's a HUD or Head's Up Display. The technology has been around for a long time on advance fighter aircraft and recently, the Boeing 787 is the first commercial aircraft to use it.
I have been lusting for it since BMW introduced it on their 5 series some years ago as an option.





On ignition, engine temp and voltage is displayed for the first 10 secs, then it switches automatically to RPM+Speed.

HUD Motorway Video

Here is a better YouTube video of someone who installed it on their Acura.

Quite easy to install. Basically it's a plug and play. Connection is via OBD2 which feeds live data to an LED unit that is reflected of a mirror film applied onto the windscreen. Displays RPM & Speed OR Water Temperature & Voltage. I have routed the thin cable via the fuse box door at the side to minimise intrusion. Most cars after 1996 use OBD2 so it should work for many other Volvo models too.

It is the nicest HUD unit I could find at the time. You can cleverly route the cable to the ODBD2 on the S80 (via A post, fusebox, dash) so most of the cable stays hidden.

The only minor cons are.
1. Instruction manual not written by someone with English as a first language, but it is enough to get you by.
2. There is a big ugly switch on the cable near the unit (instead of an on/off button on the unit itself). I intend to bypass the switch to get rid of it.

 

Looks fun. Can you gives us a shot of the unit in daylight? Who makes it?

 

Loved my OEM one in my 97 GTP.

 

The brand is ADD. You can buy them from Amazon but bought mine from ebay (only 360infinite-usa sells them at the moment) because the shipping worked out cheaper there for international shipping. You find find many others but I thought this one had the best display. You will want the OBD2 version and they also come in km/h or mp/h, so you want to buy the right one.

If you have a smart phone, you can even download an HUD app, but I found those suffer from ghosting/double image (if you don't use a special film) and rely on non-OBD GPS info which may be less accurate under tunnels or use up valuable data in some apps/countries.

In daylight visiblity is reduced.



Note. the big ugly switch. I intend to bypass the switch and wire it via the gap between windscreen and dashboard, beneath A post, open passnger fusebox at the side to thread it through.



It is quite faint when the sun is harsh and at certain angles, but no HUD will be good there either.

The unit sits on a silicon non slip rubber mat which I intend to cut out in the shape of the HUD unit. You can buy the rubber mat from here.
Magic Universal Washable Mount/Mat (Black) - Free Shipping - DealExtreme

I started experimenting with an alternate reflective film and here are the results.
the only viable alternative I found was from here, which I reduce the size by cutting
Ipad mirror screen protector
The results were surprisingly good. It was more reflective than the supplied film and was easier to apply but the downside was there was more distortion (you can see the wavyness through the plastic due to the thickness). Some may prefer the better reflectivity of the Ipad reflective film in exchange for the poorer distortion over a small area. I think I prefer the original film, but the alternative would be acceptable if a replacement film was no longer available.


The Ipad film has a mirror effect when viewed from outside but under certain angled has less of a tint.

 

looks nice mnn

 

no offense, but I think I'd save the time, money, and eye sore and just look down 6in to see what the actual gauges read. I'm a strong believer of KISS (keep it simple stupid) method.