I've had my boost gauge for a while now, but I recently switched head units. I had a JVC El Kameleon which had bluetooth, but the microphone was built into the unit itself. It worked ok, but the faceplate had problems staying on for a while until the unit itself would no longer turn on at all. I decided that I never used the DVD player, and I'd try to find something cheaper that still had all the functionality I need.

I installed an Alpine CDE-103BT, which has bluetooth, front USB and aux inputs, and a nice iPhone interface that actually charges the phone. This was important to me because I use my phone regularly to listen to music and podcasts in the car. With the previous unit, I had to use the phone's headphone jack for the stereo input and use a separate charging cable from the cigarette lighter.

I was very happy with the new unit and the install was a breeze. The bluetooth worked better than with the JVC. The only snag was that this unit had an external microphone which had to be mounted somewhere. It came with a plastic mount that I initially stuck in the auto meter gauge pod, but it looked like garbage. So here is what I have settled on.

I removed the bolt and the round piece that came with the mounting bracket, and replaced it with a longer regular bolt facing upwards. The end of the bolt would serve as the mount for the microphone. I put a bit of electrical tape around the end of the bolt, stuck the mic on, and I think it actually came out somewhat stealth looking for what it actually is.