I don't like the feeble oil pressure light on my VMC Speedster. So, I'm entertaining the idea of installing a bourdon tube oil pressure gauge on the dash.
It seems to me that the required tubing should be run through the pan tunnel. Has anyone done this and if so, can you post some pointers on how you did it?
Thanks,
Jason
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This would be a mistake IMHO ! IF, at any time, that line or any connection should leak or break, whatever, you could loose your engine, worst case, or have one hell of a MESS under your dash (perhaps burn/boil you), or in your tunnel. Anywhere that line is routed. Don't do it !...............Bruce
why not add a VDO gauge and electical pressure sender. You can get a dual sender that feeds the gauge and the feeble light. That's a long distance for a mechanical gauge.
@WOLFGANG posted:why not add a VDO gauge and electical pressure sender. You can get a dual sender that feeds the gauge and the feeble light. That's a long distance for a mechanical gauge.
Yes, that 's great. But I cannot find a matching electric VDO that doesn't cost a zillion $$$, perhaps you have source?
Jason
Jason, here's the electric one I used: https://www.ebay.com/itm/114298028400
It's a VDO 350040. I added the same size VDO clock beside it so it wouldn't look lonely.
And a clock on board is important when you live in the land of perpetual Saturdays.
You know….. So you’ll know when to be home for dinner 🥘
^^^What the gentlemen preceding me said^^^ Find a suitable electric oil pressure gauge.
And you a funny man @Gordon Nichols!!
@Michael Pickett posted:Jason, here's the electric one I used: https://www.ebay.com/itm/114298028400
It's a VDO 350040. I added the same size VDO clock beside it so it wouldn't look lonely.
Thank you, but my gauges have white needles, not orange, and have green numerals instead of the white ones. In other words, your gauge would look out of place on my dashboard.
@ALB posted:^^^What the gentlemen preceding me said^^^ Find a suitable electric oil pressure gauge.
And you a funny man @Gordon Nichols!!
Finding a "suitable" electric gauge is the problem.
Jason
Well then, if you have a matching faced, non-electronic gauge that you like that has a pressure tube of adequate length from your rear engine and is accurate, then plumb it up. You will find absolutely no one on here who has a non-electronic oil pressure gauge.
Personally, I wouldn’t bother with trying to run the tube inside of the tunnel. It would be a LOT easier to run it under the carpet along the driver side sill, then up the kick panel and over to the gauge. Remember to run the tube off of the engine to the firewall close to the vertical centerline of the crankshaft because the engine rocks during acceleration and the oil feed tube will need a service loop to absorb that engine movement. My guess would be ten feet of tubing, engine to gauge, but that’s just a guess. All of the hazards mentioned by Aircooled Bruce still apply and should be taken seriously like kinks in the tube during installation/use, unknown accuracy due to the length of the fluid column, leaks onto the carpet, lack of oil pressure during leak, etc.
Personally, I would never do this, but you do you…..
It'd be easier and safer to find a comparable gauge to modify to look similar to your current gauges.
Running a long tube from the engine to the dash means that tube will be filled with a mixture of oil and air, which I think would cause lots of problems with measurement accuracy. You could solve that by bleeding all of the air out, but wow that would be tricky, and depending on where on the engine you are making the measurement, air may eventually enter the tube anyway.
OK......Here's an alternative that I think is better than all the suggestions. Could be wrong but here it is. In place of that "feeble" light you have just wire in a small solid state audible warning alarm. This way you will know audibly when low, or no, oil pressure exists because the audible alarm tells you exactly when to look at the light to confirm it.
No new wires need to be run. You can use the same switch on your engine already.
I had this on Rhonda and it worked really well. I had a mini switch on the bottom edge of the dash wired in so I could turn it off when I needed to have the Ignition sw. on for some reason like testing. I believe it had a diode involved so that it could be wired in parallel with the light or something like that. Someone on here helped me with that and I don't remember who. This was such a Simple modification ! Drilling the 3/16" hole for the mini switch was the hardest part I think..........Bruce
Great alternative, Bruce, @aircooled
Perhaps the solution is easier than we think. I'm not a fan of hacking up the dash for extra gauges, but I think extra gauges are absolutely needed.
If it were me, I'd just buy Mike's gauge and one of these:
on the kick panel by your left leg. Mount it where you can see it and then it won't need to match exactly.
I agree that the light is inadequate - knowing your actual oil pressure is better than a light. I'd not use a mechanical gauge, but lots of hotrodders have over the years and didn't spray their legs with hot oil or whatever.
@Stan Galat posted:Perhaps the solution is easier than we think. I'm not a fan of hacking up the dash for extra gauges, but I think extra gauges are absolutely needed.
If it were me, I'd just buy Mike's gauge and one of these:
on the kick panel by your left leg. Mount it where you can see it and then it won't need to match exactly.
I agree that the light is inadequate - knowing your actual oil pressure is better than a light. I'd not use a mechanical gauge, but lots of hotrodders have over the years and didn't spray their legs with hot oil or whatever.
Some did....'68 SuperBee. Quite a mess inside and a good scare during the event. My ( limited ) advice would be to fit a pressure gauge on the engine and let the electrics bring it forward to your view.
Thank you for all the excellent feedback and suggestions!
I'm now beginning to steer away from my Bourdon tube gauge idea and will try to find a matching or close matching electric gauge. If any one knows a good source of gauges, shout out.
Jason
@JasonC posted:Finding a "suitable" electric gauge is the problem.
Jason
@JasonC posted:Yes, that 's great. But I cannot find a matching electric VDO that doesn't cost a zillion $$$, perhaps you have source?
Jason
https://www.cip1.ca/c34-eop1-1552-37c/
https://www.cip1.ca/vdo-350-040/
What does it need to look like? And that took all of a minute and a half...
Ok- now I read this-
@JasonC posted:Thank you, but my gauges have white needles, not orange, and have green numerals instead of the white ones. In other words, your gauge would look out of place on my dashboard.
Now you want something that matches exactly but want it handed to you for cheap- you sound like too many people in this hobby, having lofty expectations of how something should be but recoiling at the reality of what stuff costs. If you put it under the dash in a separate panel it wouldn't be as noticeable. If that's not acceptable, take an existing gauge, send it to a speedo/gauge rebuilder and have it re-worked. Looks like exactly what you want is going to cost some $$$.
@David Stroud IM Roadster D posted:Some did....'68 SuperBee. Quite a mess inside and a good scare during the event.
You owed a Super Bee? That's excellent.
A buzzer with a shut off switch is pretty cool IMO Bruce. A guage is wonderful but you have to check it as well. 
Another option is a combo gauge that includes oil pressure.
Hmm, that sounds and looks like a really good alternative!
Have you sourced such a combination gauge and if so, where?
Jason
@JasonC posted:Hmm, that sounds and looks like a really good alternative!
Have you sourced such a combination gauge and if so, where?
Jason
I have the same thing, but a different configurations I had North Hollywood Gauges or Palo Alto Gauges (I can’t remember which, it was a while ago) redo my combi gauge to replace the useless fuel gauge with oil pressure. It’s the bee’s knees
… and not inexpensive.
Ray....That little switch was a DPDT so I wired the other side up to one of the idiot lights that wasn't being used in the dash instrument so it would turn on when the audible alarm was switched off. This told me to turn it on to activate the alarm again. Once I did everything looked normal at a glance....no warning lights on. I like having audible alarms. I'm not always monitoring my dash like I probably should and they remind me to when it's important. I had the Oil temp. and the Alt wired to trigger the alarm as well......Bruce
@aircooled posted:Ray....That little switch was a DPDT so I wired the other side up to one of the idiot lights that wasn't being used in the dash instrument so it would turn on when the audible alarm was switched off. This told me to turn it on to activate the alarm again. Once I did everything looked normal at a glance....no warning lights on. I like having audible alarms. I'm not always monitoring my dash like I probably should and they remind me to when it's important. I had the Oil temp. and the Alt wired to trigger the alarm as well......Bruce
Bruce great thinking, that is the way to go IMO, that way it takes minimal surveillance to know that your car is working and with security measures for slip ups :0)
Speaking of idiot lights the issue I think is that I don't have any left that I know and I nearly had to call 911 with my back to the floor stuck under the dash Thankfully I got out. In anycase I sometimes wish the back of the cash was KGhia like so we could get at stuff a lot easier.
Ray
@JasonC, if you look closely at the photo I posted, you will see the combo gauge with oil pressure on the right. Palo Alto Speedometer built it for me.
.
Some thoughts on gauges.
They're only useful if we read them. Some, you get into the habit of watching all the time because they're always changing — like the tach and temperature gauge.
Some tend to read the same most of the time (or under 'normal' cruise conditions, at least), so you tend to not watch them too closely. And I think oil pressure is more like that. I had a real oil pressure gauge in a first gen Miata, and after a while I tended to mostly ignore it. In 15 years, the car never lost oil pressure or even faltered in any way.
But oil pressure is also one of those things that you need to know about instantly when it does drop too low. So, I'm thinking a red idiot light that's never on except when there's a real trouble situation may be a better alert for most of us than a gauge we fall out of the habit of checking. (And the Speedy, like the Miata, has never lost oil pressure in all the years I've had it.)
A brighter oil light would certainly be an improvement. And, I'm liking Bruce's idea of an audible warning when the STP hits the fan. So maybe I'll put that on my list of things I really should do but probably won't because I usually find things that need doing that are easier to actually do.
For instance, I should go through readjusting my steering box and tie rods so that the steering wheel is straight when the car is steering straight down the road. But the weather is usually too nice or too bad to waste a day monkeying with that.
.
@Michael McKelvey posted:@JasonC, if you look closely at the photo I posted, you will see the combo gauge with oil pressure on the right. Palo Alto Speedometer built it for me.
Thank you Michael. So did you give Palo Alto a core to build upon, or did they supply the complete gauge?
Jason
@JasonC, it has been a while since this was done as part of them refacing my 914 gauges. If I recall correctly, they supplied everything for the new combo gauge and I sold my old one. There are also 3-gauge combos. Mine has fuel, temp, voltage, and oil pressure. They calibrated the fuel gauge to my Karmann Ghia sender.
PA Gauges (or North Hollywood Gauges) will work with you either way. It is, of course, more expensive if they supply the base gauge. If you provide a cell phone photo (of decent quality) to them of what you're trying to match they'll take it from there. Both of those places are very good. So is Nisonger, for that matter, but Nisonger does mostly Smith gauges.
Ray....Seems like there were 4 warning lights in the instrument cluster and only two were used for the Alt and Oil so the others were available The audible alarm I used was really loud so you could hear it above the wind and traffic noise. Scary loud actually ! Even though it was under the dash. About the size of a pocket watch....Bruce
Ray.........Radio Shack ? Wow.....Gone a long time now ! Was my goto for electrics and haven't found a store around here since that was like Radio Shack. They started out as Allied Radio out of Chicago when I was a kid. Bought my first Philmore Chrystal set with a single carbon pile earphone from them. Later it was an Ocean Spanner shortwave radio. It was sold in their line of Knight Kits which you assembled the radio with the parts supplied and instructions for assembly. Next was a Dwell-Tach for my car. Ha Ha So, yeah, I guess I do miss radio Shack !...............Bruce
Radio Shack....Most of you guys are younger, but does anyone remember Ed Heath ? He started building airplanes but eventually developed Heathkit....a sort of kit building electronics range of things. This was back in the days of when people could actually build things themselves....not so much like the reality of today's world in general.
I still build stuff. As kids, when my Brother and I got bored my Dad would give us a saw, hammer and nails or whatever and get us to make something. I can still remember my Brother telling me to pass him the " blue handled screwdriver".
As young teenagers we bought a Harley Davidson Hummer....125cc of raw two stroke power for $50. We drove it around the house so many times my Mom told my Dad to get out and tell us to stop for fear of pissing of the neighbours. He came out and ten minutes later my Mom had to come out and tell him to stop. Over the winter after doing homework in the evening, my Brother and I would run the bugger up and down the sidewalk through the snow just for laughs. One night.....whizzzz. Engine stopped and we had no compression. Saturday's teardown revealed that the piston had lost the top 1/4" around the outer edge about 1/5 the way around the rim of the top edge down to the first ring. We took it to a local welder ( Corriveau Welding on Donald Street, Ray ) and he filled it in . We put the piston in the vice and filed out the ring groove as best we could, reassembled everything, got it running and sold it next Spring for $50. It's just how we rolled and not much has changed. I got my first BSA later that year.
Gordon will now .....well go ahead Gordon....:-)
My first stereo was a Heathkit...... With tubes no less ! That "Brilliant" transistor sound didn't exist yet ! Heathkit had better assembly instructions than Knightkit.
David.....I'd bet that most people on here grew up making things. It's genetic !
Bruce
I bought a Heathkit short wave radio one summer when I was in Junior High School and thoroughly enjoyed putting it together. The components in their kits were the best you could find anywhere.
Jason
@Gordon Nichols posted:You will find absolutely no one on here who has a non-electronic oil pressure gauge.
Personally, I would never do this, but you do you…..
FWIW: I did it. My MGTD replica has a proper Smith's dual gauge reading water temperature and oil pressure. I installed these in 2014 when I put the Subaru engine in it, and they have both worked perfectly ever since.
I did this for vanity, and because there was no immediately compatible electronic sender/gauge system available. The copper tubing for the oil pressure gauge was easy to source and of course I did not run that in the tunnel, instead putting it with the fuel lines and +cable from the battery outside the tunnel along the base of the passenger side. Clips hold everything in place neatly under carpet padding and carpet.
The real difficulty I had was the ether gas filled bulb and springwire for the temp sensor. The gauge was made for a front engine car, the sender bulb and line could not be changed or cut or extended without destroying it. My solution was to plumb it to the heater hoses with a bizarre home made adaptor system. I coiled the (very fragile) spring line up under the dash and Bob was my uncle.
Both gauges appear to be very accurate.
Matching one another is another story.
