The two most common causes of sudden engine failure syndrome are, in order, coolant pressure loss and oil pressure loss. One of the reasons they happen so often is that folks aren’t serious enough about pressure warning lights. Lots of folks fail to set up any kind of coolant pressure warning, and they also assume that their oil pressure gauge will give them warning re. oil pressure problems.
The reason you need a coolant pressure switch is there’s a lot of ways for your coolant system to spring a leak. Your coolant temp sensor won’t warn you about a leak because the temp sensor is at the top of the system and the coolant just drops away from it.
A 20psi oil pressure switch, and the easy way to do that is to use a high end digital dash programmable alert, or use a high end gauge’s output to illum a separate light, will tell you of impending problems. If your 20psi light illums and you’re at more than 2k rpm, you’ve got a problem. This is a helova lot more useful then the OEM 7psi switch because the 20psi switch will tell you about the problem before you end up with a hole in your block.
A common problem tho is that people install little sissy warning lights. Your warning lights need to be big, bright, and right in your face. The little programmable light on your fancy digital dash isn’t nearly big enough. In the middle of the huge fun of a race, a little blinking light on your dash or center stack isn’t going to get noticed.
I decided the other day to put in coolant and oil pressure warning lights into the Agurkis car. They are 3/4" LEDs and installed on top of the dash and therefore right in my face. For coolant pressure I grabbed a 4psi sensor and installed it in the thermostat housing with a 14mm to 1/8NPT adapter. The oil pressure light is connected to the programmable output of a Stack gauge.
Link to LEDs. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MEG40NI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
