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Hi
I was hoping someone can share how they have rigged up an electric oil pressure guage and water temp guage? I think I’ll probably need a replacement oil sending unit etc. Are there any step by step instructions and alsp a parts source/list?
Also where is the best/easiest spot to read oil pressure from? I have seen setups where the sensor is sandwiched between the oil filter and housing. Is this what most people do?
Any guidance at all would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Don
don,
I would use this adaptor to get OP and temp.
http://www.factory3performance.com/shop/shopexd.asp?id=288
I used factory 3 plate for oil monitored and then a coolant line adapter from here to keep things simple. http://www.egauges.com/vdo_acce.asp?Subgroup=Hose_Adaptors&Manf=All
Got all my gauges form here as well. I went with Auto Meter.
Hi
This really looks like the easiest way to go. Do you feel you are getting accurate pressure readings from this location?
What is normal race pressure for an M20? I probably need a gauge that goes to 150 psi correct?
Is the sensor that is screwed into this plate 12mmX1.5?
Thanks
At one point I had 2 oil pressure sensors, 2 oil pressure switches, and 2 temp senders.
Here’s the link for the oil stuff http://www.Gress.org/Home/Cars/TrackTales/DIY/OilingSystem%20Improvements/OilingPlan.htm
I’ve since removed a little of that. Even for me, it was overkill.
For coolant I have a temp sensor and a pressure sensor.
Sometimes I struggle to get engines started, but I am the sensor master.
One of the coolest solutions I’ve seen is on Turnipseed’s car. Kishg’s link goes to a sandwich adapter. They’re charm is that it’s a very simple and elegant way to connect stuff to the oiling system. Sensors, switches and a sump can all be connected with a sandwich adapter.
The problem with a sandwich adapter is that it puts your oil filter farther under your exhaust manifold making it harder to get to.
If you are willing to spend some $$, the solution is on Turnipseed’s car. His shop did some custom work on the oil OEM oil filter adapter such that his oil filter hangs down vertically. This allows one to put in a sandwich adapter yet also easily get to the oil filter.
Easy place for water sensors is the thermostat housing. Many thermostats are already drilled for it. I think that it’s 14mm. It’s easy to find 14mm to 1/8NPT adapters for your sensor. An alternate location is where the throttle body coolant hose goes into the block. That too is 14mm.
My temp sensor is in the thermostat housing and my coolant pressure sensor is remoted from the block’s at the “alternate location” mentioned above. If I had it to do over again, I’d a put the coolant pressure sensor on the tstat housing.
Hi
These sandwich plates that Factory 3 sells. I see they are annodized, are they also annodized inside the threaded holes?
The reason I ask is because I have heard that they are and this interferes with the grounding of the sending unit.
I have also heard that they leak, i am assuming I can use the threaded NPT holes without teflon tape? Placing this on the threads of a sending unit can also mess with the resistance and give questionable readings.
Also in reference to using an after market OP warning light, one that turns on at a more sensible time like 15 PSI?
Will I need a switch for this that matches the warning light?
Will the extra terminal that is on allot of these VDO OP senders work for this?
Thanks Again for all this
Don
dstevenson wrote:
[quote]Hi
These sandwich plates that Factory 3 sells. I see they are annodized, are they also annodized inside the threaded holes?
The reason I ask is because I have heard that they are and this interferes with the grounding of the sending unit.
I have also heard that they leak, i am assuming I can use the threaded NPT holes without teflon tape? Placing this on the threads of a sending unit can also mess with the resistance and give questionable readings.
Also in reference to using an after market OP warning light, one that turns on at a more sensible time like 15 PSI?
Will I need a switch for this that matches the warning light?
Will the extra terminal that is on allot of these VDO OP senders work for this?
[/quote]
The Factory3 adapter is probably anodized in the holes, but I wouldn’t worry about it. If you don’t get a good ground thru it, just tighten the adapter a smidge more. Because NPT threads aren’t straight, they deform each other. So if the surfaces of the threads aren’t getting good conductivity between each other, a little more tightening will mean a little more deformation and they’ll conduct.
You have to use teflon tape with NPT threads. The only time you have to worry about a ground is when you “remote” a sensor with some hose. Otherwise they seem to ground fine, teflon tape and all.
Look around at egauges, Pegasus, Summit, Jegs, Speedway, and RacerPartsWholesale. You’ll find a variety of pressure switches. My oil switches are 20psi adjustable and my coolant switch is 4psi.
The extra terminal on VDO OP sensors is a pressure switch. I think it’s labeled W. Most or all of them are 7psi. I think that’s too low to be useful. On left turns my oil pressure will drop <30psi at the pump according to the data, but I don’t recall that it’s hit 25psi. Caveat: These aren’t exactly laboratory accurate. But the oil galley doesn’t see the pressure drop because of the accusump.
I had grounding issues on the VDO sender in my E30 M3. S14s vibrate a lot and have been known to ruin senders and even crack the sending unit adapters if mounted directly to the oil filter housing. At the very least the latter can cause a mess and at worst a catastrophic loss of oil. For that reason many guys, me included, remote locate the sender using steel braided hose. My sender is mounted inside a rubber insulated clamp. I grounded it by placing a wire between the clamp and the body of the sender and attached the other end to ground. Easy fix.
For the light, I just wired the VDO warning light terminal directly to the original wire leading to the warning light in the cluster. I removed the original oil pressure light switch altogether as that is where I tapped the braided hose to the VDO sender.
AndrewK wrote:
Sender was OEM or aftermarket? OEM senders use a crush washer to seal, not NPT threads and teflon tape. Some folks will make the mistake of putting teflon tape on the OEM sender, and then have ground problems. Not suggesting that you did it that way, it’s just a general point.
Ranger wrote:
Aftermarket VDO sender.
My long-winded point was that you can easily ensure a good ground by contacting a grounded wire to the body of the VDO sender.
If you are worried about grounding issues go with two wire Auto Meter sending units. Ground is built in.
mahoneyj wrote:
Be careful when matching sensors and gauges. There’s basically two systems…VDO and US. VDO makes both, but most everyone else just uses the US system. It’s easy to goof with VDO guages since they make both. As long as you are careful you can do alot of mix and matching.
I run the Factory3 Sandwich plate for direct temperature, remote pressure, and warning.
Grounding issue with sandwich adapters is not due to the NPT ports. As previously mentioned taper pipe threads become interference fits as you tighten them. This easily cuts through teflon tape and anodization.
The real problem is the through hole connection. The sandwich adapter body is isolated with a gasket. The only possible connection comes from contact of the threaded adapter and the plate. Both of which are anodized. Adding to this problem is the clamping force of the filter itself. Although minor, it both pushes on the sandwich plate through its gasket, and pulls the threaded adapter away from the sandwich plate. This leads to intermittent grounding. One oil change it’s fine, next, not so much. Therefore I also run a separate ground to the remote sensors.
FYI RE: Factory3 sandwich plate. Instructions say discard the 3/4" threaded adapter and use the metric one. Well, an E30’s filter IS a 3/4" thread. Go figure.
Hope that helps.
-Mike
In reference to Ranger’s post?
If you are willing to spend some $$, the solution is on >Turnipseed’s car. His shop did some custom work on the oil OEM >oil filter adapter such that his oil filter hangs down >vertically. This allows one to put in a sandwich adapter yet >also easily get to the oil filter.
A cheaper and easier trick is to unbolt the oil filter and lines and rotate it 180 towards the front of the motor, rebolt.
This makes it much more accessable and also gets it out of the heat a little more.
This was the only way I could get my headers on this car.
When I add this factory3 sandwitch/OP adapter bloc, it will push this whole assembly quite close to the impulse sensor for the Crank. I’ll probably need to remove this sensor to change the oil filter. Not to bad…
Hi Mike
So I just assembled all my stuff for the op gauge and 15psi warning light install. As you mentioned in your post, the factory3 piece (including threads are annodized). This will interfere with grounding. I was just looking up how to remove annodizing, and if you soak a part in question in a plastic baggie filled with “Easy Off” oven cleaner, will take it off.
I think the trick is to not leave the part in long enough for this solution to start attacking the metal below.
I’ll probably try this on the threaded piece that comes with the Factory3 piece that is not for a bmw. If this works I’ll also shoot some of this stiff info the threaded NPT holes in the plate. 20 to 30 minutes and rinse with water.
What do you think?
Also people keep talking about running extra ground wires to these senders? How are they doing it, there are no extra terminals on my senders and I don’t think it would be safe to rough up the sender and solder a wire to it (they have diaphrams inside them).
What do they do, put a loop connector over the NPT threads and screw in the sender so the ground is captive between the sender and the block?
Thanks
Don
I had a problem with my oil pressure sender at VIR this weekend. I installed the sandwich plate from factory 3 last week and it worked fine prior to getting to the track, but the guage quit working after the first practice. We determined it was a ground issue, and just wrapped safety wire around the exposed threads of the sending unit and grounded to the body and it worked fine for the rest of the weekend.
Ed
I wouldn’t mess with the anodizing. Run a separate ground instead.
I run my pressure sender remotely through a SS braided line. I used a band clamp to connect the ground to one of the fittings in the mix.
What the sandwich plate really needs is a small hole drilled and tapped into the side of it (not in any oil passage of course). You could then attach a remote ground with a small screw.
mmarv wrote:
[quote]I wouldn’t mess with the anodizing. Run a separate ground instead.
I run my pressure sender remotely through a SS braided line. I used a band clamp to connect the ground to one of the fittings in the mix.
What the sandwich plate really needs is a small hole drilled and tapped into the side of it (not in any oil passage of course). You could then attach a remote ground with a small screw.[/quote]
+1 all