Oil Temperature...

[Bassfiend229hp]

Anyone know what typical engine oil temperatures are on a Rover V8?

A couple of years ago I bought an oil temperature gauge for the dash that I've been working on setting up and it covers 90-170 degrees C which seems very hot ... I've been told today that normally engine oil runs at 90-ish and so it would appear that a normal water temperature gauge would be more appropriate, is that a fair summation?

I can get Smiths to do me a custom gauge background for about £85 - even with a custom scale and operating range if appropriate - so it's not too horrendous to get a water temperature gauge with an "OIL" legend rather than "WATER"...

[Bassfiend229hp]

This is the one I bought...



... I hadn't even thought about the actual range when I bought it - I just ordered up the gauges that I liked - but the range on that doesn't even coincide with the range of any of the other Smiths oil temperature gauges! All the others do a sensible 60-140 (ish). From what I understand, if that gauge actually moves at all then it's running too hot!

I just can't understand why the oil temperature gauge has that high a scale range on it - seems nuts!

Phil

Edited by Bassfiend229hp on Friday 5th February 07:42

[Bassfiend229hp]

Seems it was a special scale that was put out in error - being replaced by a normal 50-150 degree scale gauge. CAI were really helpful!

Phil

[Bassfiend229hp]

• chuckle* Ordered up a custom AFR gauge while I was at it too - 10-20 AFR on a 270 degree sweep in the same "Flight" style...

[Bassfiend229hp]

ClassiChimi said:

can't wait to see this Phil, are you cutting out more holes in the dash and if so where's your preferred position/s

Don't you need sandwich plates etc to mount the oil temp sender etc?

That's where I am so far - Oil Temp gauge changed now and one hole remaining for AFR gauge ... I was going to pop in the AEM one that I currently have but I thought that given what I've spent so far (the dash bits were bought ages ago so not included in this spend) I thought it was daft to try to save £100 and end up with a non-matching AFR gauge ... I'll just T it off the existing gauges 0-5v output that feeds the ECU and hide the 'old' AEM gauge behind the dash somewhere out of sight...

Phil

[Bassfiend229hp]

ClassiChimi said:

Well that's about as good a dash you'll ever likely see, I'm all for the classic look, I've got a spare dash metal back plate,,,keep thinking of getting some black leather padded then mount the clocks so it squeezes the padding and looks old race car,,, aeroplane sort of thing.
Looks like your doing a really exciting job on your car Phil, I'm licking my lips at the possibilities,,

Thanks Alun ... I started putting that together back in 2013 before all the crap started with my back and even just doing that has probably run me about £1,500 so far ...

Using an "old" dash as a starting point, covering it and then cutting new holes isn't really a good option - the only place that helps is where the heater controls are as they're a crapbag to get right. That one is actually cut from a sheet of real carbon fibre (no stick on plastic here) ... I didn't do it in carbon fibre because I like the look of it - I did it in carbon fibre because it's stiff and yet still flexible. my "plan" is that I'll try using the dash as it stands and see how I like it looks wise but I suspect that I may well end up pulling it back out and having it veneered as I really don't know whether I'll be able to love that look in what is an otherwise classic styled interior.

The speedo, tacho, water temp and oil pressure have been positioned to be visible *INSIDE* the steering wheel (I did loads of paper mockups wedged into the dash opening to try to get it right) - it wasn't possible to get them completely unobscured by the rim of the wheel so the water temp and oil pressure are positioned so that without moving your head you can see the portion of the gauge that you need to (i.e. you can see the higher end of the water temp gauge and the lower end of the oil pressure gauge) just by glancing down but with only a slight head movement you can see the whole of each gauge.

I'll admit that my interest in getting it finished did die when I had all the hassles with my back but now I'm rebuilding the engine and renewing so much of the drivetrain then it seemed like a good time to start with a new odometer at zero.

[Bassfiend229hp]

QBee said:

Bassfiend229hp said:

Phil said a load of stuff I didn't really understand...

Phil

Does your car have a steering wheel and three pedals, or a joystick and rudder pedals, Phil?

You don't like it Anthony?

I have to admit I did wonder whether I'd overdone it with the gauges but it was a curiosity exercise as much as anything else and (hopefully) I can always get another dash cut with less gauge positions in it if I want to so I went for it with the things that I was interested in seeing (and if I do throw on a supercharger later then the clock will come out and a boost gauge go in in its place)...

I'm actually contemplating moving a couple of the minor ones to a new stereo panel that doesn't have a stereo in it - I found an in car amplifier that simply has a bluetooth connection to it that looks quite interesting and would mean ho need for a head unit.

Edited by Bassfiend229hp on Sunday 7th February 10:50

[Bassfiend229hp]

ClassiChimi said:

Engine speed in any given gear is the easiest way to tell your speed, infact forget the speed and just go by what revs your pulling and avoid thinking of the actual speed,, 4000 revs in 5th seems more acceptable than 142 mph,,

Shall I try using that with the next policeman who pulls me over for speeding?

ClassiChimi said:

1500 smacker roonies Phil, my back starts aching at the thought of the work I'll need to do to pay for such a mod,,,
That's gone straight back to the bottom of me list

Let's see if I can get to something a bit more accurate - quoted prices are approximate

http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/motorsport/speedomet... - £196

http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/motorsport/tachomete... - £169

http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/motorsport/gauges-au... - £99

http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/motorsport/gauges-au... - £69

http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/motorsport/gauges-au... - £69

http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/motorsport/gauges-au... - £69

http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/motorsport/gauges-au... - £69

http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/motorsport/gauges-au... - £69

Custom AFR gauge direct from CAI - £100

(After all, I could hardly have this...



...poking out like a cock in a convent in my new dash.)

http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/motorsport/gauge-sen... - £35

http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/motorsport/gauge-sen... - £13

http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/motorsport/gauge-sen... - £13

http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/motorsport/gauge-sen... - £86

http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/motorsport/gauge-sen... - £51

http://www.carbuildersolutions.com/uk/warning-ligh... - 7 x £10

http://www.carbuildersolutions.com/uk/electrical-b... - 5 x £22

http://www.carbuildersolutions.com/uk/dimbright-wi... - 5 x £3.60

So that's £1,305 just in gauges, warning lights, switches and senders ... add to that the cost of getting the carbon fibre dash laid out and cut out and replacement heater indicator LEDS (after all, since when was "green" cold? Blue is cold!) then £1,500 isn't a bad guesstimate...

(...and now I'm very very scared as I thought that was a high guesstimate with plenty of slack - I had been telling myself all day that it couldn't be anywhere close to that!!!)

FECK!!!!

Phil

Edited by Bassfiend229hp on Sunday 7th February 23:54

[Bassfiend229hp]

ClassiChimi said:

Have you fitted all the senders and wiring and everything's hooked up Phil,, new Petrol sender,, there's some work involved in that little lot. Should be well worth it though

They're all in the process of going in at the moment ... the warning lights are currently in the "old" dash (I drilled out the old warning light positions to open them up and added new holes to move the warning lights from the radio panel up to the dash) so they will need to be transferred over too.

One thing that I *MUST* remember to do is dim down the main beam warning LED - it's incredibly bright at night!

Phil

[Bassfiend229hp]

MPoxon said:

Also considering an AFR Gauge which they can do in the same style:

That's a very odd AFR gauge ... going down to an AFR of 7:1 and being labelled as "%"...

CAI are doing me one that covers the range of 10:1 to 20:1 which is the range covered by my AEM AFR controller.

Phil

[Bassfiend229hp]

MPoxon said:

Also Phil came up with a very interesting idea which I also did some research into myself a while back. Getting rid of the stereo headunit and having a bluetooth amp to connect your smartphone to thus freeing up the DIN slot for more gauges. Might be worth looking into Anthony if you are looking for extra gauges.

This is the one I saw...

http://www.carbuildersolutions.com/uk/bluetooth-75...

Phil