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| Mechanical Oil Pressure Gauge |
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Alright, so this walkthrough was written specifically regarding the assembly of AutoMeter Mechanical Oil Pressure Gauges, but I bet this is how most other brands' gauges are put together, too. Anyway, on to the good sheeeeit. First thing you have to do is figure out how to put all the pieces together. Basically, you have two compression fittings, one 1/8" NPT to 1/4" NPT adapter, and one nylon tube to deal with. A compression fitting works by compressing a metal doughnut thing around a tube, crushing the tube a little bit so it can't come out, and then sealing the metal doughnut, with the tube running through it, in between two pieces that are screwed together. So, the first thing you have to find is the piece that looks like the thing I'm holding in my fingers in the picture to the right. It has a large hole on one side that screws into the brass thing on the back of the gauge, and a smaller male fitting on the other side. It will have a smaller piece, pictured below, screwed onto the smaller, male side. Unscrew that piece and you'll find the doughnut thing. Screw the big fitting onto the gauge, but not super tight. This is just a dry run.
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Now, first feed the small metal fitting you took off the big metal fitting backwards onto the end of the nylon line, so that the threaded hole faces the nearest end of the line. Then, feed the doughtnut onto the line. Make sure you have about a half an inch of nylon sticking out through the doughnut and stick the end of the line into the large fitting that's screwed onto the gauge. Screw the smaller fitting onto the larger fitting, but don't tighten down. Now you should have something looking like this. The line can probably rotate and pull out, even, but when you tighten it down good and tight, that shit ain't going nowhere. Anyway, now you see how the compression fittings go together. One goes on each end of the nylon line. One fitting screws into the back of the gauge, as you just did, and the other screws into an adapter that will first be itself screwed into a hole in the oil galley. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. On to mounting the bitch.
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My switch and gauge mounting skills are horrible. Not like "bad"...horrible. My fucking A/F ratio gauge and S-AFC are literally superglued to my dash so they'll stay in place. It's terrible. But even worse was when I discovered that I'd run out of easy places to mount my shit. So now what? Drill through interior body panels? I'd rather not. So, out went the cup holders. They just come out if you pull up on the hard enough, but there's a light in them that you need to pull and wiggle out of the bottom of it before you take it completely out. You'll see the light. It's easy to get out. Once that's out, you have to make a mounting surface that is the same shape as the hole you just made. To make such a piece, first make a tracing of the upside down cup holders in cardboard and cut it out. You should have something looking like what you see to the right. Now, decide what you want to make your mounting surface out of. I used plexiglass-ish stuff, but you can use normal, flexible plastic, metal, wood, whatever. Cut out the same shape as the cardboard mock-up in the material you want. Be aware the contours are a bit weird, as in three dimentional, but you're on your own there. I don't care enough to fix it right now to fit perfectly. Once you have your piece of whatever, cut or drill out a hole for the gauge to sit in. Trace the outline of the gauges face while it's upside down to get an idea of how big a hole to make. It'll need to be just slightly larger, but it's easier to start like that. Once the hole is made and the gauge fits in, time to go out to the car.
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To power the light that will light up the gauge at night when you turn on the parking or headlights, you can use the wires from the little light that lit up the cup holders. Cut those wires and splice them to the black and white ones coming out of the back of the gauge. The white gauge wire goes to the brown car wire, and the black gauge wire goes to the green car wire. Test it by turning on the parking lights. The gauge should light up pretty nicely. When that's done, it's time to run the line. Take all the pieces of metal off the line and unscrew everything. Then, after putting a couple drops of Red Loctite onto the threads of the brass thing on the back of the gauge, screw the large metal fitting back on and tighten it down pretty hard. Let it sit for a couple minutes. Meanwhile, open the hood and punch a hole in the big grommet thing that goes through the firewall and stick the nylon tube through it. This operation was also performed, using wire, during the installation of the Manual Fan Switch, so check it out if you're confused. Once it's run through the cabin over to where the gauge is mounted, screw the whole compression fitting back together as you did during the dry run, except this time, use two wrenches to counter torque against each other and screw the small and large parts of the fitting together very tightly, so the tube is slightly compressed. Sweet. That end of the operation is finished. Now for the good shit.
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To connect the other end, you have to jack up the front end of the car and put it on jackstands. Now, sqirm, headfirst, under the car from the very front. Go back until the downpipe is right above your face, the oil pan is directly to your right, and when you look up, you can see the bottom of the intake manifold runners, as shown in the picture to the right. You need to disconnect the sensor from the stock oil pressure sender, circled in the picture. After it's disconnected, unscrew the sender using a 24mm wrench. It's not on too tight. Oh yeah, do this shit when the car is relatively cold. Some of the shit up there, along with the exhaust tubing can be REAAAAAAALLLLLLLYYYYY fucking hot. I MELTED skin on my finger a while ago touching the header when it was hot. Watch the fuck out. Anyway, when you unscrew the sender, no major oil will drip out, so don't worry. But just in case of a drip or two, move your head out of the way. Note, don't pull out the sensor to your left. I did, by accident, and got some tranny fluid in the face when I was putting it back in. Whoops. That sucked ass. To get everything fit together right, first screw the 1/8" NPT to 1/4" NPT adapter into the hole left by the oil sender. Use loctite on the threads to keep it in there good. Then, screw the larger part of the second compression fitting into the hole in the adapter. Again, use loctite on the threads to keep it together. Finally, feed the smaller part of the compression fitting, as well as the doughnut thing, onto the end of the nylon tubing, and screw it all together, making sure that the compression fitting is screwed down securely, so that the tube can't get out. Make sure the nylon tubing isn't touching or too near any hot parts of the engine. An easy route get the tube to follow is right by the fuel lines. Run it down close to them and you'll be fine.
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Everything should be good to go, so get in the car and start it up. The gauge should have a reading as soon as the car starts. Make sure that no oil is leaking from anywhere and that the gauge has a steady reading, and you're done. My superghettoass mounting job is shown to the right, along with the new manual fan switch, next to the gauge. And make sure your shit is to spec, too, while you're at it. At idle, after the engine has reached normal operating temperature, the gauge should read at least 13 psi. At 2000 RPM, after it's all warmed up, it should read at least 36 psi. Finally, when the engine is cold and under 2500 RPM, make sure the reading isn't over 80 psi. Have fun and keep an eye on that oil, kiddies. That shit is important!!!
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