intruments advice please
 

doh !! INSTRUMENTS advice please


Right, now that i,ve retrieved that costume & my eyes are no longer watering :D

help please.........

i,ve decided to use the standard 1.8cvh on original carb for the IVA, so i,m going to use the original sierra instrument binnicle too........... but.........

i,d like to install an Oil pressure gauge & Oil temp gauge as an addition to the "warning lights only" of the standard binnicle.......

i,ve seen 2 that i like on the bay ....item number 120528889283,
the pressure gauge says it comes with the "sender",

my question is this

are all oil pressure senders a "universal fitting" & so will it fit into my engine block?

or does anyone have info on gauges that they have used & know that they will fit to my engine?

i don,t want to order these to then find that they don,t fit.

By the way.........i,ll be installing a new dash with individual gauges around the same time my engine goes "pop";) :D

cheers
andy

Andy

It really depends on the thread of the sender. If you're lucky, it'll be the same as the the thread in your engine block, if not you can buy thread adapters from CBS and other places, or get someone local to turn one up for you. As far as I know, all aftermarket oil pressure sensors will come with a take-off for the low pressure warning light on your dash aswell, so you can still have both.

Hope that helps

Adrian

Save your pennies for the moment. Thats my advice.

But almost any guage will have a ford fitting kit with it or available. Mr Burton's catalouge is a good start.

TT

Adrian....

ok, thanks for that, makes me feel a little easier knowing that it wouldn,t be a total loss if the supplied sender wasn,t the same fitment of my block, cheers :cool:

Twinturbo...

"save my pennies", why? do you think its not worth the addition at this point?
I,ll be totally honest & say that once thru IVA the car will be driven hard ( on the track of course :D ) , tho i won,t be fussed if it goes bang, just means i,d bring my winter project forward ;)

plus, as Spud said to me earlier today, "getting hold of another dash panel won,t be a problem" :D
so i don,t need to worry about needing another dash panel.

cheers
andy

An "EXTRA BIG RED LIGHT" will be more usefull. You should be spending more time looking at the road than the guages ;) . Your most likly to get low oil preasure during hard cornering and your not going to be lookign at the guage, wherase a BIG light flickering will give you an idea if the pickup is being starved. If there's a sudden catostrophic failuer of oip preasure a guage is not going to help, and a general low preasure will show at Idle as a flickering lamp.

If you save your pennies now, you can go for a fully electronic dash with all the monitoring built in. Which will cost less than a whole array of guages and keep the weight down ( ok it's not much )

If you do go foe an oil guage you need to choose between electric or capiliary. Electric is less fraught with the danger of the capiliary tube breakign and can be easier to install, but the dials usualy have only a small pointer/ dial . Capiliary guagesr usualy have a full dial right round the guage.

TT

Thanks TT, you make some good points there , cheers:cool:

i,ve always wanted my Roadster to have a full array of individual gauges, so this will be the route i will take later in the year,
maybe its my age :o i like the full dash look, i,m not a fan of the modern all singing electronic dash single unit , used to have them on the bikes i used to race.

cheers for the input guys :cool:

thanks
andy

FWIW I totally agree with TT. Most grasstrack racers and short circuit oval banger racers simply fit an extra big RED light to the oil warning light 'cos you can't miss it when it comes on, its big, its red, its IN YER FACE! You will instantly take your foot off if that light comes on whereas you will probably not notice your oil pressure gauge showing 0 psi when you're mid corner with the tail hanging out.

D.

I know, it looks cool :) ... I have two boost guages to go on my twin turbo sierra , the fact that the boost is more or less balanced by a bypass port in the plenum is imaterial Two boosting needles looks cool :D :D .... But they did come in the car ;)


TT

to be honest Andy I would say don't bother for now. keep it as simple as possible get it through iva then play with it.

I'll be differen't ..... feeling rather naughty tonight :rolleyes:

I guess some of the younger generation don't see the appeal of " That classic look " ...... Well unless it adds a few more BHP :D

On a more serious note ...... Surely an oil gauge will give an earlier indication of failing oil pressure than a pressure switch ever could !!??
By the time you have a steady flickering light ....... Mains will probably be FUBAR'ed allong with the crank journals ;)

Us younger peeps come from an age where they learned how to build engines that last :D .

A good CVH will do 170K easily on the same bottom end. Twincs will go to 200+ easily ( need a head gasket or two ;) )


Concentrate on the IVA stuff and play afterwards ;)

TT

I will have an oil guage on my turbo sierra, but that realy does matter as with all the oil feeds to the turbos and the potential to write off 1K of Turbo's it's worth the investement... And it looks cool, and does not have to pass the IVA :D .

TT

I'm with you guys... I will someday fit a row of individual round instruments for the classic look, but for starters I picked up a Sierra cluster with a tach for £5, as my donor had one without.

a good idea with the big red light is to have it wired to a higher pressure switching switch.
the normal ones switch at a very low pressure meaning by the time the lights in youve got real trouble
what you need is an early warning of low pressure not a light that says your engines dead
Ray:)

VW did this..

A low preasure...

and a

You stupid £$%£$^£^ Idot Buzzer :D

TT

To answer the original question, Ford block fittings are 1/4 NPT for the oil pressure switch. You'll need a 2 way adapter to take the 1/8 NPT that virtually all senders use. Something like this

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SIERRA-ESCORT-COSWORTH-TURBO-OIL-PRESSURE-GAUGE-ADAPTOR_W0QQitemZ400102311676

I'm planning to get a cheap electronic unit for first startup and testing to ensure that all is healthy. Afer that I will hopefully get around to wiring the sensor into maybe the megajolt or some some data acquisition kit.

cheers Deezee :cool:

yes, i,d looked into those adapters & now feel happier to order the gauge/s , :o decided to spend a little bit more & have a oil pressure & oil temp gauge alongside the sierra binnicle, then later in the year i,ll be having all individual gauges .

cheers for all the advice/info guys.

cheers
andy

I got mine from here

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260546911585#ht_720wt_ 939

Every penny counts!

Cheers

Rich

HA, if you plan to replace the gauges with 'Proper ones':D when the engine goes 'Pop' then why bother with any gauges now other than what comes with the stock binacle? If you can't see the failing oil pressure and resulting excessive oil temp:D :D then you'll be fitting the 'proper ones' soon enough;)
BV.

:D
I like your train of thought BV

just me wanting a little bit of warning on the impending doom of the "original" engine , i mean .... i don,t want it letting go mid corner on the track day when i,m stuffing it up the inside of spud at the corners do i ??:D

more like i,ll have a tow rope attached to the back of his car :o

cheers
andy

You will either have advanced warning or no warnign at all....

You just have to pay attention, unlike the Escort Driver at ford fair 2008, who had done three laps with the engine clattering like it was about to explode.

The rest of the pack were not happy when their expensive track session was cut short by an escort created oil and shrapnel slik... Nor were the next two sessions drivers who lost their slots too!!

Just always remember where the clutch pedal is..


TT

HA, Am I correct in thinking Spud has a zetec in his now? and you're still with the wheezy CVH:) If so then your rods are likely to make a bid for freedom anyway when you start chasing Spud:D and FWIW I've never had time to look at the gauges:eek:
I always thought connecting the oil pressure warning to the horn would work better:D

BV.

yes , Spud has the 2.0ltr zetec on bike carbs & megajolt, its a fantastic set up car, goes like slippery dog doo doo off a hot shovel :eek: :D

& handles like its on rails , :cool:

not that i have a competitive nature of course ;) (ex bike racer.....its just normal for me ....haha)

at least if i have some gauges it,ll give me something to look at when i,m parked up , lol.

cheers
andy

So the sooner you blow the CVH up then you'll be able to fit the 2.0 Zetec/ megajolt/bike carbs/ lairy cams...........:D :D :D

BV.

You should be chatting to all the girls that will be clamering to get to know the young man in the flash sports car...:p :p

TT

It's very pacifying to have the oil pressure gauge in, just to know that all is working well and no impending doom is about to hit the engine. Also on the track i find that your senses are so much sharper and even in your peripheral vision or a quick glance you can keep an eye on the pressure. Makes for nice peace of mind.

Although April 9th i maybe more intent in watching my wing mirrors as Handy and Marks cars disappear into the distance.....Cant wait....7 weeks and 3 days.....:D

You wont need mirrors to see the back of my car as i go past you :D :p

don,t forget i,ll be attaching a tow rope to spuds car

7 weeks and 3 days ....GULP :eek:

Tho, gots lots of bits n bobs in the post today...........and yes ........ i got 2 gauges i ordered yesterday that arrived today, great service, an oil pressure AND oil temp gauge :D
seats arrived today along with nice fuel filters, & a fuel tap too, so lots to get installed.
Hope to have engine running at the weekend, i know i,ve said that before but customer orders come first :)

It will be a great day at the track day, as hopefully there will be 3 Roadsters all the same colour fighting for the corners :D

cheers
andy
ps.... i won,t need to fit mirrors lol

I feel a challenge coming on....:p

You can guarantee one thing......The orange one will be victorious..........

:D just a shame im only gonna be cvh on bike carbs so there wont be any challenge for your car

Maybe there will between me and handyandy if he gets his finger out and gets it finished :p

Time is ticking so i need to get a move on too!