Oil Temp and Pressure Senders

The Oily Bits S2 Specific Topics
1

Has anyone here successfully installed oil temp and pressure gauges in an S2 Exige? I am in the process of doing this and finding the best location for the senders and resolving all the issues with different sized threads etc is proving a bit of a challenge. Have gleaned some useful info from our friends over the water on elises.com, but advice from anyone here who has actually done this in an S2 would be gratefully received.

Mark

2

Not done anything about it but as i dont have anything other than the standard wate/oil heat exchanger i was thinking of fitting a combined electric oil temp/preesure guage in one of the centre air vents.
Would be interesting what you find out, maybe a toyota board might be better with matching the right size / threads etc? But presume youve already tried this? What info do you need and i can have a nosey
Gav

3

Yeah, tried some Toyota forums which have been some help. This thread over on elisetalk explains some of the issues Oil Temp Sender | The Lotus Cars Community . Can’t find the right adaptor (1/8th ntp female to 1/8th bspt male) anywhere. Never knew there were so many different thread standards . I have already done the fiddly bit which was installing all the wiring and making a harness for the gauges - just need to get the senders sorted. All a bit of a palava, but I am quite enjoying it . Will let you know how I get on.

Mark

4

Mark, excuse my ignorance but is it the same as:_

Adapter Bushing - 1/8 NPT female x 1/8-28BSP male

Gav

5

if so i did a quick google and got four pages, one was a subaru disscussions page and…

http://www.egauges.com/vdo_acce.asp?Subgroup=BSP_Adapter_Bushings&Cart=

They seem to recon it is the same.
Gav

6

Gav,

Thanks - yes that is (I think!) what I need. Looks like I may have to order the fittings from the States, which does seem barking for something which only costs 3 or 4 quid .

Mark

7

Does seem daft doesnt it! What gauges and mounts are you going for?

Gav

8

Does seem daft doesnt it! What gauges and mounts are you going for?

Gav

Got the gauges here http://www.greengauges.com/ , the mount here Used cars for sale - PistonHeads UK , and assorted wiring, connectors, cable ties etc from Halfords. The gauge mount looks good, but is not deep enough to cover all the spagetti behind the gauges:

[image]http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y92/ryallm/gauges/DSC02131.jpg[/image]

So, in true Blue Peter fashion I made my own cover to go behind the bracket. It is made from a curved sheet of plastic cut from, wait for it, an old flowerpot, covered with black leather cloth:
[image]http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y92/ryallm/gauges/DSC02132.jpg[/image]

I think the end result looks pretty good :
[image]http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y92/ryallm/gauges/DSC02133.jpg[/image]
[image]http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y92/ryallm/gauges/DSC02134.jpg[/image]

The voltmeter which you see at the moment will be replaced by an oil pressure gauge when I resolve the sender issues. I took the power feed etc off the radio harness, which is a convenient place as it has an ignition-switched +ve feed, -ve earth, and a +ve feed for illumination when the lights are on.

Mark

9

It looks excellent!

But the problem is that the gauges in that position cannot be read while driving…

10

Mark,
You can get an 1/8BSP male x 1/8NPT female adapter from www.thinkauto.com who are based at Isleworth, London tel:0208 5681172. Had a look in their catalogue and the part no. is MFS10-3-3 on page 38, �6.55 plus VAT & postage.

I only have the donut oil cooler on my car, the same as you I think, but am in the process of getting all the bits together at the moment to install a Mocal Laminova oil/water oil cooler, Accusump, oil temp & pressure gauges and sandwich plate.
I have been scratching my head wondering how best to mount the gauges , now I know…thankyou.

Regards,

David.

11

splitpin, mark has the twin oil coolers, i have the standard crappy thing, i was thinking along the same lines as you so let me know how you get on. If you look on the above link to elisetalk and take a nosey round some have blanked off one air vent and mounted them there, i was hoping to get a combined oil pressure and temp so i only loose one vent.
Gav

12

Mark,
You can get an 1/8BSP male x 1/8NPT female adapter from > www.thinkauto.com > who are based at Isleworth, London tel:0208 5681172. Had a look in their catalogue and the part no. is MFS10-3-3 on page 38, �6.55 plus VAT & postage.

I only have the donut oil cooler on my car, the same as you I think, but am in the process of getting all the bits together at the moment to install a Mocal Laminova oil/water oil cooler, Accusump, oil temp & pressure gauges and sandwich plate.
I have been scratching my head wondering how best to mount the gauges , now I know…thankyou.

Regards,

David.

David,

Thanks very much for the info - I will give Thinkauto a bell on Monday. Take it your car is an early base or touring spec without a single front oil cooler? My car actually has the twin front coolers (following a bit of tinkering a couple of weeks back to fit a second one), but I am planning on using this additional sandwich plate to mount the senders: http://funkystyling.co.uk/item_detail.php?prodID=3347

I would be very interested to see how you fit the Accusump - you must post up some pics after you do the job.

Just been out in the car and pleased to say Uldis ain’t right - reading the gauges while driving is no problem at all

Mark

13

I am planning on using this additional sandwich plate to mount the senders: > http://funkystyling.co.uk/item_detail.php?prodID=3347

I like the look of that one
[image]http://funkystyling.co.uk/images/products/greddy63_small.jpg[/image]
billet aluminium is so much better that the stuff used by Mocal. I have had several porous sandwich plates from them.

14

Steve,
Have recently purchased an S2 Exige Lotus thermostatic sandwich plate from Bell & Colvill, which turns out to be a Mocal product ref: 41/05.
It was a snip at only…�173.13 plus VAT!!!
What a rip off, it had better not leak!

Regards,

David.

1 Like
15

Ouch - I should have clarified that it was several years ago - more than 5 - but the Mocal products I have looked at online/in catalogues all appear to be of the same manufacture - although I note they do do a billet aluminium bits for some Jap engines.

The remote filter heads looked perfect but when the engine was run at idle oil would “weep” through the top of the head.

Just had a quick look on the MOCAL website but can’t find the part no. you refer to.

16

Just been out in the car and pleased to say Uldis ain’t right - reading the gauges while driving is no problem at all

Mark

Must be your driving position/size. In my case I just couldn’t see them iin the middle at all. Blocked by my left arm. Incidentally know another (6 footer) that has them in that position and he can’t either.
Still, he likes them there, looks cool

I’m kind of above average size by the way, maybe that matters.

17

the installation looks excellent mate… have you thought about illumination?

18

the installation looks excellent mate… have you thought about illumination?

It is all wired up for illuminaton using the +ve dash light feed from the radio harness - I even have orange filters on the bulbs so it matches the main dash