I've had this in my car for a while now and I wanted to share it. I recently upgraded my phone so I had a phone with no use for it. I've read about people getting the torque app for android along with a bluetooth dongle for the OBD II port on the car. This sounded pretty cool so I decided to try it out. I made a mount for my phone out of some sheet metal from Lowes. I used 3m double sided tape to secure it by the headliner on the windshield by the rear view mirror. I picked up a cheap bluetooth adapter online. After using it I'm pretty impressed. It displays some cool info!

To make it a little more convenient I wired in a charger for it to a switch in my center console. Now for the cool part! Using an app called Tasker for android, I set up a command for when I flip the switch in the center console and start charging the phone, it will automatically turn on and load the torque dashboard with all of the gauges. Then whenever I flip the switch off, Tasker will tell the phone to quit the torque app and turn the phone off. This is pretty cool because whenever I want to use the phone all I have to do is flip the switch on or off.










I've also installed gps software on the phone that runs off of preloaded maps. This means I have a full on gps with no phone plan required.






Those are two uses I've found for my phone to use in my car. Do you guys use your phone for anything in your car? Let's hear it!

 

I have a bluetooth dongle as well with the torque app and it does display some really good info. I had a windshield mount for my phone, but having to plug it in anytime i wanted to use it for any length of time got annoying so i dont use it anymore. Thats really cool with the switch. Nice work

 

i still want that torque app so bad is it worth it?

 

Pretty sweet, i got the same app use it all the time lol

 

I did the same thing but it got a little annoying lol I just use it for troubleshooting now

 

It's worth it. You can get the free version and the adapters are only like $15.

I solved that annoyance issue by using a spare phone and adding a switch. Not annoying at all. If I want to use it I throw the switch.. Otherwise I don't

 

That's interesting. Main thing I use my phone for in my car is via bluetooth to my head unit. Once my iPod dies I will not have any more use to buy another one. I may have to think about that when I buy my buddy's Camaro. It has an OBDII motor swapped in it already and it has the OBDII hookup under the dash.

 

I like it, great thought on how to put an old phone to good use! And I love the fact you don't have to worry about goofing with the power cord, it's plugged in and a flip of a switch on when you want it. Nice work, thanks for sharing it.

 

^ this. And to tps its well worth it. The app is only $4.99 i think and then another $15-20 for the adapter. So for that cost you have a full code scanner with the ability to read and clear check engine lights and display loads more data. I know i had made a post/topic when i got the setup and i stated everything it could do on the 5th gen, but i cant seem to find it

EDIT: Found it, heres a link to a couple pictures of the setup i had. Link --> https://montecarloforum.com/forum/ge...12/#post445426

And heres a link to the list of inforation you can get on the 97. Link --> https://montecarloforum.com/forum/ge...13/#post445841

 

That's a great idea Justin.
Thanks for shareing it!