Best yet!

Does anything need to be done ECM-wise for the "dead end" now present at the gauges?

not sure what you mean by dead end. the defi bf runs off its own controller..
so you have:
--the 3 (more ore less) gauges daisy chained to each other,
--1 defi BF controller
--the wiring and sensors that came with the gauges.

I did make some videos (hell they SUCK BAD w the commentary, but still good info and visuals of the progress)

heres a vid with a basic summary of some of the gauge work.. find my older vids and you should see a lot of the work and results.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUKDwphHklQ

hope that helps..

Apparently it’s a lot easier than people think.

1. Pop off shift boot holder (matte chrome part) and undo screws
2. Remove screws holding middle dash with screen/storage
3. Within where the storage was, there should be a screw, once removed you can pull each pod out

There are more screws deep inside the dash that you can't reach without removing the whole dash

hey my good sir the link doesnt work but that looks insane how are you getting the gauges out in the first pic

yeah, the gauges are basically 1 long bar that spans the length of the 3 gauge holes.. with circular protrusions ( the gauges) its 1 big plastic piece that needs to be cut into pieces and removed.

then you can dremel away enough space to tightly fit and epoxy the new gauges to the dash itself.

look for girald_s channel in youtube ive got some crappy videos on how i did the job...

the gauge wiring is enough to power the new gauges .. its fairly straight forward once you get the courage to destroy the oem :)

I'm also one of the people who decided to rip it out. I literally shredded it with some pliers


https://i.imgur.com/DYxyJnel.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/6lN40Bjl.jpg