My (secondary) digital dash

So this could probably go in several forums, but I'll toss it here since the Hemi swap is what ultimately drove me to it. For the quick version of the background story, I swapped a 5.7 Hemi a few years back in my 67 Dart. Originally went with a carb (didn't get computer and harness with engine, so it was the cheaper route) but have since swapped to a Megasquirt 2 Extra when I found one for a good deal.

I've debated the idea of some kind of car computer on and off for many months, but never would pull the trigger either way. Originally I wanted a Windows based computer to have the full TunerStudio functionality of tuning and monitoring, but it was going to be a few hundred bucks in the end and ultimately I don't drive the car enough to justify that cost. They had monitoring and logging software for Android at the time as well (ShadowLogger and ShadowDash more recently), but they lacked tuning support which, while I wouldn't use all the time, would be nice for any on-the-fly fix I might need. More recently MSDroid stepped up which allows monitoring and tuning on an Android system, so I looked into radios with flip out screens that ran Android, but most emulated it and didn't talk over Bluetooth very well, not to mention I didn't want to hack up my dash to fit a double DIN as flip out screens are getting harder and harder to find.

I then found my answer in the form of budget tablets. A coworker got a Dragon Touch brand 10 inch tablet to use as a depth/fish finder for his boat. I had just recently seem them as well, but didn't want something that big. Saw they had a few 7" models which were perfect for what I need. Got one with WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS that runs Android and mounted it under my dash to use as a secondary gauge cluster. Made a quick hinge style mount on my 3D printer and took it out for a test drive the other day. Screen is super bright, even on lower settings and has a nice large viewing angle, so it's easy to read from the driving position. I need to work up some more permanent power cable options and maybe some audio output as well to work as a media library, but so far I'm really happy with it. An intrepid person might even consider replacing a dash with one, though the power cycle control might take some tweaking to get it to come on, stay on, and go off when required. The model I got was the Dragon Touch M7 off of Amazon. For only $50-60 I figured it was worth the gamble. You can modify the gauges displayed and even add your own backgrounds, but I haven't gone too far with it yet. The gauge options are a little limited right now, but it sounds like that will be expanding soon.