Hi All

Dunno if anyone is interested but I thought I'd give a couple of the OBD2 after market HUD's a go seeing as a retro fit of the original is alot of work and only if you have the correct aged car with the right spec in the first place.

Here goes a simple install easy enough for most to do if you want an HUD.

Range Rover Sport L494 Fitting an aftermarket HUD

Some models of the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport have and HUD (Heads Up Display) module fitted so that it would display information on reflected onto the windscreen (windshield if you are over the pond).

The system that is factory fitted is not something that is easy to retro fit as it requires quite a few parts, new dash, the unit itself, wiring looms etc… and a lot of hard work to remove the dash and then probably needing to have it enabled using the Gap IID tool or maybe if you don’t have a tame indie garage with JLR’s SDD software. You just know that taking the whole dash out is going to leave some squeak or rattle behind when you are finished too!

There are quite a few ODBII/OBD2 plug in devices that are pretty cheap and perform a similar function, (the OEM is a laser system that displays current speed, Traffic singe recognition (if you have it fitted) and turn signals from the Satnav if its active, cruise control status and set speed and gear position.

Most of the info it displays seems a bit pointless apart from the current speed (the satnav signals and speed limit would be nice but after market models don’t offer this yet as they are generic).

So I thought I would try out a few and see what they were like, I tried one that I go on Ebay for about £10 and it worked well and did display a lot of info but most of it I didn’t need so it was a bit garish if I’m honest and not in keeping with the car (would look more in place in a 90’s Toyota Supra) it was mainly due to the colours being yellow and red etc… and I couldn’t work out how to turn halve of them off, also the unit itself whilst slim, was quite wide so was quite visible.
This was the one I tried first out of curiosity more than anything!
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Auto-HUD-Head-U...2749.l2649

I found a much simpler smaller version that only has some basic functions like speed, rpm, voltage, distance and stuff but I really only wanted to display the speed and in a white colour to be in keeping with the rest of the interior lighting. The one I bought does have a light sensor to maintain brightness during the day and night, it also has a fatigue reminder that can be set if you want. I just wanted something really for the speed and to be as discreet as possible.

I bought it from AliExpress but I'm pretty sure they are on Ebay and others, I paid $11.88 for it and it got delivered pretty quick too, the unit itself is pretty small 90mm * 54mm* 12mm and comes with a flat OBD2 cable and the other end for the unit is standard USB Mini Type B. Once it’s set up it has an auto off feature so when the engine is off it turns off so won’t drain the battery (it has a setting for ASS so it won’t go off each time the ASS kicks in).
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000990873...4c4dEYknhU

Fitting instructions are pretty simple so most of this is really straight forward it just popping off a panel to hid the cable really.

Tools required
Interior Panel Pry tools (a wide screw driver would do but pry tools are better as they are plastic and don’t scratch)
Micro fibre cloth (to wipe finger prints off the windscreen and panels)
Work Light (although if its outside probably ok)
Cup of Tea!

Fitting

So, to start with buy one of the OBD2 HUD’s of your choice
Get the light on so you can see what you are doing if you need it
1. Open up the car and plug it in and just stick it on the dash somewhere and go through its set up, the instructions are printed in such a small font its best to take a picture of them with you phone so you can view and expand them to read them, my eyes are fine but the font is just so small!
There will be a setting to change it from KMPH to MPH if you are in the UK, and then one to set the speed display to match the car speed, mine was 2 MPH out so bumped it up and it display correctly now.
To change the settings on them check the instructions but the 2 I have are the same so I’m guessing the tech is pretty much the same for all of them! There is a little switch on the side that toggles up and down and also pushes in, so to change the display you use the up and down toggles and to program it you use the up down and push to select/ok. To get into the program menu you press and hold the switch for 5 Seconds to enter and the same to exit, once you are in the program menu you use the up down to select the function then press to select then up down to make the changes then press to ok which then takes you back out to the main menu again. It sounds worse than it is really.

Once you have it set where you want and are happy with it work out where you want to position it on the dash.
I placed mine as close to the windscreen as I could toward the righthand side so the cable has less of run.


Sorry the image has the reflection of my garage in it but this is looking in the windscreen from the front driver’s side
The unit is supplied with a little sticky pad to hold it in place (I haven’t committed that just yet)

2. So next bit is hiding the cable so this is where you need the pry tools.
Grab the door trim seal around the dash area and pry it off (it will come off with a bit of a pull so don’t really need the tool for it)
Don’t pull it all off you only need to loosen it enough to be able to get at the dashboard side panel.



3. Next part you need the pry tools, there is the end panel on the side of the dashboard it’s the sliver part at the top and just black plastic at the bottom, this is all one piece, no screw its just clipped into place.

The front edge has push in clips and the edge that is closest to the dash and A pillar has one top and one bottom slot retainers (they are like a couple of lugs that the panel slots into to secure it)
So, you get the pry tool in between the soft leathery stuff under the dash and the plastic panel and gently pry it outward towards the door, it will pop then gently ease off the lower section but leaving it still in place, you will then need to pull it forward to release it from the slots mentioned earlier.
Basically, pop it out with the tool to the right first then ease it towards you, it will then just need a jiggle to get it out from being the door seal that it tucked behind the lower part of trim.

4. Place it somewhere safe, now is the cable part Unplug the cable from the OBD2 port (and leave disconnected to avoid pulling on the port)
Take the cable and then tuck it in the void where the bottom arrow is on the image, there are a couple of holes sunder the bottom of the dash board that you can fee the connector out of.



The yellow circles are the retainer lug holes and the poorly drawn yellow rectangles are the push fit holes for the panel

5. Now tuck the cable in behind the lugs of plastic (the retaining lugs) it will just tuck in behind them easily.

6. The next part you need to have decided where you want to locate the device on the dash so that you know how much cable you need, as the next part will pinche the cable behind the panels so they won’t be that easy to move without doing this again.
7. You will need 2 pry tools one crowbar type and one to push the cable into the crevice. The crowbar type is to help separate the A Pillar trim base away from the edge of the dash trim on the top side so that you can poke the flat cable into the gap so it can’t be seen.
8. Here you can see I’ve tucked the cable all along that edge (the red line) and you can still see the cable marked in yellow



9. Now you just tuck the cable further down that part of the dash once you are happy where the device will sit (It won’t be visible from the outside (apart from the bit of cable left that has to plug into the device, and its also out of sight being tucked down there)
10. Get the microfibre cloth and give the window a bit of a clean and you will have got hand marks and stuff trying to feed the cable).
11. The devices come with an antiglare sticker for the screen to stop it reflecting (I think in the OEM version you have to have a different windscreen if you wanted the HUD which cost quite a bit hence many don’t have it, I thin that changes on the later models) I haven’t fitted this yet as I don’t think the display reflects or (doubles badly enough to warrant it)

12. Now before you put the panel and trim back you want to go under the dash and feed the cable round to the OBD2 port, you can use the pry tools to push the cable in between the trim at the bottom too, this will also help retain it if you need to take it out to use the port for diagnostics (I did think about getting a splitter cable for it)



13. The red parts are the cable in behind the dash now, I left it loose in case I need to alter it, you can see on the right-hand side it can be fed into the gap between the trim and then brought round the front to be plugged in, the reason I left it loose was so that I could get the cable flat and round the right way and then plugged it in before I tucked the cable into the trim.
14. It will then look like this



15. Now the rest is just putting the trim back and then securing the device to the dash. Job is done and you now have an HUD that is pretty discreet.
The end result look like this I just need to fix mine to the dash to straighten it up a little bit but once you are sat in there it doesn’t actually look slanted as in the picture. Also, you can’t really see the device as I took the picture from an angel so you could see where it was.



It's not really a fitting guide but as there isnt really much to it but might help someone, as you can tell lockdown is slowly driving me mad!

Its quite handy for me as I have the steering wheel set quite low so having the speed on the screen is handy if you have just noticed a camera ahead as you can still keep your eyes on the road a little better, its obviously does nto have as much infor as the factory fit one but then its about 2 percent of the cost aswell! Im sure someone in the east will create one like this in the furture that does offer the other info that the factory unit offers, if the data can be gained from the OBD2 or by some other means. If a jobs worth doing, get a someone who knows what they are doing to do it!

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