ok im looking for some guages to add to the crx. really only gonna go with a oil pressure, water temp, and voltage. i really dont even know where to look to buy them. i cant seem to find what im looking for anywhere. i like the autometer guages, but it doesnt seem any of them light up. i want something that i can see at night. the guages also must be electric. how accurate are autometer? im all for accuracy, but i dont want to spend an assload on these guages either. i also want all the guages to match, and be the same color, preferably black.

so to recap:

want oil pressure guage
want water temp guage
want voltmeter guage
must be electrical
must all match
must light up for night
preferably black
where to get? suggestions?

next i know about installing them and not mounting the senders on the block. but where can i get lines from the block to the senders? i dont want to use nylon or copper tubes, id rather use a stainless braided line. in addition i know you remove the stock oil pressure thing on the back of the block to tap into the oil pressure, but where do i tap into the coolant for the water temp guage? somewhere on the head? also is it manditory to still utilize the stock oil pressure sender for the guage? what about water?

thanks

 

Well I suggest getting a 3 gauge package that comes with a mounting plate and senders. it'll save you money and the headache of having to match senders to the gauges. I have VDO's in my M3 but Autometers are fine and cheaper too. With the VDO oil pressure gauge it replaces the factory switch and splices into the stock wiring to turn on the low warning light in the dash when it gets below 7PSI. Water temp is redundant since u already have it in the cluster. I'd rather go oil temp with the sender in the oil pan or off of a custom oil distribution block. If you must go with the water gauge, I'm sure you can replace the factory sender or mount it next to it probably somewhere around the thermostat housing or other area of the head. Again you could use a distribution block here too. Autometer has a variety of gauges these days...I'm sure they have a set that is backlit.

 

http://www.summitracing.com

 

summit is ok, but they are expensive. and they arent descriptive enough for me to know if its what i want. they dont say if the guages light up. the only ones tha they directly say light up are the lunar series, but those are gay, i dont want indiglo type guages.

water temp isnt redundant. sure i have a guage in my dash, but it isnt accurate at all.

bump for answers to the rest of my questions.

 

I have Autometer's in mine. black face and they do light up. I think they are Sport comps. For the water temp I bought one of those inline pipes with a bung in it for the sender. You can install in either in the upper or lower hose depending where you want to read the coolant (before or after coolant goes in or out of block)

 

hey thanks for the reply. good to hear that the guages light up. i wish they would tell you that information, lol

about the inline pipe thing. i had though of that but i want a cleaner install than that. i want to hide everything as much as possible, but if you do see it i want it to be neat. cant i just tap directly into the head or blok somewhere?

 

i think im gonna ditch the voltage guage for now and go with oil temp. only thing im iffy on is exactly how to mount the sending unit. basically ive come up with 3 different ways. let me know your suggestions on which you think will be best. keep in mind i dont want to spend alot, but if i have NO other options then ill spend what i need to.

here they are.

#1- use 2 T's. one directly off the block and another on the firewall.


this will be the cheapest solution. only thing that concerns me is the T directly on the firewall. i know people take the T off the firewall because of the weight of the senders, but the temp senders weigh no more then the stock senders from what i can see so maybe it will be ok? also this doesnt have the sender directly in the block but i aslo think this will be still close enough to get an accurate temp reading. although actually in the block will always be better

#2- use a GE sandwhich adapter with temp sender in it


this will be a more costly solution, but could posibly be better since the block fitting has no extra weight (however so small) and puts the sender in direct contact with the oil

#3- use GE sandwhich adapter for the pressure reading, temp sender in block


another costly solution. but could also be better then #1 again because temp sender is directly in presence of oil in block and no added strain on the block.

--------------------

so let me know what you guys think. i would be perfectly happy going the route of #1 for cost reasons, but if you can come up with any definitive reasons why #1 would be bad or harmful then i could go either route 2 or 3. id also like some opinions on if it matters betweens the #2 and 3 setups.

and where can i buy the GE adapted sandwhich if i decide to go that route.

thanks

 

damn bro. still looking for gauges. summit has good prices on the gauges, when i got mine i had been looking at different companys that sell autometer and summit had the best prices.

I have no idea on the sandwich idea you have but it seems like a good idea

 

yea man, im getting them from summit, just havent ordered yet. and im glad i didnt since i wanna use an oil temp guage now instead of a volt guage

up for some suggestions

 

i wish that i would have gotten a oil temp gauge insted of my volt meter, but i am going to add a oil temp gauge along with a boost gauge, and a egt gauge.

 

bump

 

i would go with the golden eagle or even greddy sandwich.

i plan to do this when my lsvtec goes in (oil and water)

 

I basically have my set up like your diagram #1. On mine, i have a T fitting at the block where one end has a stainless hose that goes to the oil psi sender on the firewall, and the other side of the T has the OEM sender (for the idiot light on the gauge cluster). Hopefully my set up does not weigh enough to cause block damage in the future (if someone had bad experience with this similar set up, please enlighten me!). My oil temp sender is tapped directly into the oil pan about an inch above the drain plug. Bought all my auto meter ultra lite gauges from summit.

For my water temp sender, i used a t fitting inline with one of the small coolant hoses that goes to the IACV. Its all nice and hidden behind the block. Remember to ground the T fitting with a separate wire so the gauge will operate.

 

yea i was gonna tap the pan but i decided against that route for now. mainly cause i dont feel like getting someone to weld the bung into my pan. i may do it eventually, but not now.

im really tossed up between 1 and 3. 3 is a much cleaner install, but 1 is much cheaper... hmmm.....

 

This is hands down the best way to install an electrical oil pressure sender.

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1118171

 

i know it has to be mounted off the engine, thats not the question. if you read the post with all the pics you would see im in a debate on whaich way to assemble everything since ill be adding a oil temp sender to the system (just as a note, an oil temp sender is not big and heavy like the pressure sender. its smaller then the oil pressure switch). one method is clean, one method is cheap. and thats where im stuck.

 

Sorry I wasn't fully versed on the debate...

I would suggest having a bung welded just to the left of the oil drain plug and pull temp from there. This is the setup I have and it seems to work great.

my .02

 

On my old SOHC and my DOHC now, i never had a bung welded to the pan. I just drilled and tapped directly into the pan and threaded the sender in. I used some thread sealer and called it a day.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fourthgenhatchB17 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">On my old SOHC and my DOHC now, i never had a bung welded to the pan. I just drilled and tapped directly into the pan and threaded the sender in. I used some thread sealer and called it a day.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Well yeah...I guess you could do it that way. Obviously a bung is the "better" way...

 

yea i know in the pan will be better, but in the block should be just as good. i just dont feel like having someone weld the bung in the pan, im looking for a little less invasive, less permanent solution.