Engine Vitals Senders!

[topcatcustom]

I have an offy 360 manifold, no temp sensor fitted currently but I need to get one so can someone tell me which it needs? I think I will also fit a new oil pressure sender for peace of mind, interim cover- is there a specific part number?

[JSF55]

If it's a smiths gauge, no idea about oil pressre one's tho
http://www.v8forum.co.uk/forum/viewtopi ... intermotor

[topcatcustom]

Intermotor part number 52730

Thankyou! I forgot about the 10v stuff though! I have some smiths gauges and just got to buy a new water temp and oil pressure- do I run a voltage dropper over all the gauges? The ones I have are classic stag ones I think.

[JSF55]

I think it was the fuel tank gauge that was also fed from it, depends on what your running for them ?

[DaveEFI]

Intermotor part number 52730

Thankyou! I forgot about the 10v stuff though! I have some smiths gauges and just got to buy a new water temp and oil pressure- do I run a voltage dropper over all the gauges? The ones I have are classic stag ones I think.

If the gauges are hot wire types, they usually have a voltage regulator. You can tell by rotating the gauge quickly in the hand - the needle won't move with a hot wire type but will with moving coil or moving iron. Most fairly recent ones are hot wire.
You might consider making up some adjustable voltage regs - they only need a few cheap components. With one per gauge you could adjust that gauge to read correctly at the 'important' part.

[topcatcustom]

Another quick question- as they are about the same price- what is more reliable- electrical or mechanical oil pressure and water temp gauges?

[Ian Anderson]

I'd say mechanical - better gauge sweep
But you'll need to run capillaries


Electornic is heaper

[kiwicar]

Hi Tom
Generally a mechanical oil pressure gauge is viewed as more reliable (accurate) but have the worry that if they fail you risk loosing your oil and the gauge and sender are a matched pair. An electrical water or oil temperature gauge is commonly thought to be better. However in both cases an electrical wersion offers more scope for a calibration circute to increase accuracy, rather than relying on the factory 7 second go/no-go test!
Best regards
Mike

[topcatcustom]

Cheers guys, due to neatness I am using the standard mx5 oil pressure gauge which DOES have a scale on it, however the water temp gauge doesn't- so I have installed a smiths water temp gauge and got a new sender, part no. 52730 which is standard on all old triumphs, rovers etc of the day I think.

Does anyone know the size of the threaded hole in the offenhauser manifold? I haven't tried it yet but the sender looks too small so will maybe need an adapter...

[topcatcustom]

Sender fits fine- I need to know though- do I have to use a voltage dropper with the smiths water temp gauge and how does it wire in to the sender (1 pin)?

[topcatcustom]

The water temp gauge is the same as this one
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Classic-Smiths-2- ... 3efe15c778

The needle does move as you rotate the gauge so not dampened, 12v or 10v?????

[JSF55]

Pretty sure thats a 10v one, get one of the electronic voltage regulators off ebay i'm not sure if the wiring matters? is it not marked on the back B + S 1 wire direct too sender is all you need

[topcatcustom]

After getting a 10v stabiliser I found that the Smiths gauge just wasn't accurate, so I bought a new durite gauge and sender, http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/DURITE-WATER-TEMP ... 335bfe3697

Do you think I should get something like this to stabilise the voltage to 12v or will it be ok on the car at alternator output voltage which is about 14.5v?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/5V-9V-12V-24V-Vol ... 27b0db607f

[JSF55]

It should be fine as it comes, we run these on our forklifts with no problem other than being the 24v ones

[kiwicar]

As long as both sender and gauge have good connections to earth and referance volts (supply) it doesn't actually matter what the referance is as they track each other.
Mike