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I would like to purchase these two items to finally hook up an oil pressure and water temp gauge. I just wanted to make sure they will both work on the M20 with the early cooling system:
I am pretty certain the oil one will work, but I wanted to make sure the water temp one will work as I have not messed with my throttle body cooling hoses yet.
Site doesn’t say much about the adapters. The oil one needs to be 12mm. The coolant one, if they are talking about the barb on the block and that’s not clear, is tougher. A 12mm port is not a good place to sense temp because most temp sensors use a “probe” that won’t fit thru a 12mm adapter. There’s a couple solutions to this if someone is really determined to make 12mm work, but the easier solution is to get temp at the tstat housing where you can use a 14mm adapter.
Some tstat housings have 2 unused 14mm ports on them. All tstat housings have the 14mm port for the OEM dash temp sensor. If, for some reason you want to retain the OEM dash temp gauge, then you’ll want one of those tstat housings that have the unused ports. I have some of those in my attic that I beadblasted clean a couple yrs ago when I was bored and looking for a project.
I just noticed that the web site says the the oil adapter retains the stock port. That means that there is a 12mm port that you can’t see in the pic. That’s not ideal because now you’re going to have to plug that port with a 12mm bolt. That’s kinda kludgy. The more elegant solution would be to get a 18" piece of 4AN SS hose and a 4AN to 12mm adapter. That will fasten to the block and allow you to run the hose to the fender. Then put in a 3 port manifold, prob all 1/8NPT. You’ll need another 4AN to 1/8NPT adapter to connect SS to manifold.
That gives you a place to connect an OP sensor and an adjustable OP switch. Perfect.
I plan to retain the oem oil pressure sensor and use a mechanical gauge so the oil pressure adapter should just allow me to hook up the oil line. I read on an old e30tech page that the water temp adatper should work for the M20. I was really just interested to see if anyone has tried it and if anyone knows if the M20 has this coolant barb that can be replaced. I really want to get these in place and working prior to my engine swap.
The website doesn’t mention the thread size of the adapter so there’s not enough info there to make the call.
I don’t think your OP idea is ideal. With the adapter and OEM OP switch as you described it’s going to be stick out of the block like a sore thumb. That will make it vulnerable to getting hit by track debris. It would be better to just pull your OEM OP switch from the OP port and thread it insted into the other side of the block at the coolant barb port and make it an coolant pressure switch. Then put a SS hose into the OEM OP port, remote it up to the fender and put your manifold there where it’s safe. Since a SS hose is flexible, it can take a hit w/o getting knocked loose on the block.
I am in the process of doing something very similar (see http://www.spece30.com/forum/41-electrical-gauges-and-sensors/66248-where-to-get-distribution-block-and-braided-hose). I’ve been screwing around with adapters and coupling for the last few days, and aside from the fact that they are a pain in the arse to find around Athens, I’ve decided to modify my original approach.
If you what to keep the original OP switch, the use the TRM block, but at the end of a SS braided hose. You will need a 4-AN to M12 male-male adapter for the part that goes into the block where the OP switch used to be and a 4-AN to M12 male-female adapter to connect the TRM distribution block to the hose. You can then put the original OP switch in the M12 port on the TRM and the OP sensor in the 1/8" NPT port. If you don’t want to keep the OP switch then just ditch the TRM block and put a 4-AN to 1/8" NPT male-female adapter on the hose (I had to use a 4-AN to 1/8" male-male and a 1/8" female-female coupler because I couldn’t get right part).
Ranger is dead right about the temp sensor. There is no room in the TRM block for a temp sensor. I’m going to have my mechanic put a port in the pan or one of the oil cooler lines. For water temp, I put a M14 plug with a 1/8" port into the thermostat body.
Hope this helps,
Andy
Where are you guys hooking up water temp? I’m deleting the stock gauge cluster…does the ECU need the water temp sensing? I see two ports, one on top of one another, on the back of the TS housing.
This is for a Chump car, not a SE30. It’s an 85 325.
Thanks!
Yes, the DME needs the water temp, that’s the blue connector, and it’s an important DME input. The brown one goes to the gauge and you don’t need that.
[quote=“Car54” post=67111]Hey Ranger!
Is that sender compatible with a VDO electrical gauge?
Thanks![/quote]
The blue one, no. The brown one, I don’t know. Be advised that VDO gauges come in two flavors “VDO Range” and “US Range”.
Since most gauges come with a sender I’d just put the sender into the tstat housing using a 14mm to 1/8NPT adapter.
I’d recommend getting a high end gauge like Stack or the similar ones that Autometer is making now that they own Stack. The high end gauges change colors at programmable thresholds, are more accurate because they don’t depend on chassis ground, and have a analog out to connect to a datalogger.
Thanks guys.
We’ve tapped the lower port on the right side of the block for oil pressure. Is there a block you guys recommend for tapping temperature too? Is this a desirable place to tap it? Hoping to remote the senders up to the inner engine compartment.
The easy place to get OP is the OEM port by the oil filter. Temp is harder tho. I’ve tried to get oil temp a number of different ways and in the end it came down to 2 solutions that gave accurate #'s…either you put one in your oil cooler plumbing right in the flow, or you put a bung in the oil pan low on the right side. The latter is the easy solution.
The easy oil temp solution is the sandwich adapter but I was never able to make that work. With some cleverness you can put a temp sensor in the oil pan plug, but that ends up sticking down below the oil pan a little and is therefore vulnerable to being whacked off. Easy and accurate, but, well, being whacked off is between you and your HS girlfriend.
The more elegant solution would be to get a 18" piece of 4AN SS hose and a 4AN to 12mm adapter. That will fasten to the block and allow you to run the hose to the fender. Then put in a 3 port manifold, prob all 1/8NPT. You’ll need another 4AN to 1/8NPT adapter to connect SS to manifold.
that’s 12mm X ? 1,1.5 ? Thanks
[quote=“Grsmith” post=71020]
that’s 12mm X ? 1,1.5 ? Thanks[/quote]
I dunno, some things you have to figure out for yourself. It’s the standard BMW 12mm thread pitch. Can’t be too hard to figure out. Grab a 19mm wrench and pull a caliper bolt out. Measure the pitch. It’s certainly not 1mm. I’d guess 12 x 1.5mm.
-S
[quote=“Ranger” post=71021][quote=“Grsmith” post=71020]
that’s 12mm X ? 1,1.5 ? Thanks[/quote]
I dunno, some things you have to figure out for yourself. It’s the standard BMW 12mm thread pitch. Can’t be too hard to figure out. Grab a 19mm wrench and pull a caliper bolt out. Measure the pitch. It’s certainly not 1mm. I’d guess 12 x 1.5mm.
-S[/quote]
You guessed right