Replacing the oil pressure gauge

[CycleSi]

I'd like to replace the notorious standard gauge with one of these Stack units:

http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/performance/gauges/s...

..... but what size do I need? It says the Stack one is 52mm.

Also, I believe I'm better off going for a mechanical gauge rather than electrical - what are your opinions on that?

Many thanks.

[DCL]

52mm will slot straight in. I fitted the Stack electronic one and it works well. Pros and cons on mechanical versus electric but if you use a remote kit most of the issues go away.

[CycleSi]

Not sure what you mean by a remote kit?

Why did you go for electrical over mechanical?

I thought the mechanical versions responded 'quicker' to changes in pressure?

Cheers.

[DCL]

something like this http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/motorsport/gauge-pip...

It essentially stops vibration and allows the sensor to be placed in a more protected position. For a mechanical gauge it's less of an issue but i have seen capillary tubes break.

[DCL]

The Stack electrical one uses stepper motor so it's response is near enough instant. Reason was it is just a more modern approach and cleaner installation.

[CycleSi]

Excellent - your reasoning behind fitting the electrical version makes sense now.

Having looked at my car in more detail tonight, it's obvious to me that the pressure sender unit could be very susceptible to damage where it is fitted in front of the oil filter and so close to the ground and/or flying debris.

Would you consider moving it to a remote (less vulnerable) position?

[130g]

I recently fitted the Stack one with a remote sender kit (all from sevenspeed), and it took all of 30 minutes
Personally I do not fancy the idea of having to route an oil pipe all the way from the engine to the dash, much easier to just route a wire. And the Stack senders are quality kit compared to the standard caterham junk.

[CycleSi]

What length LMA oil pressure remote hose would you recommend for a Caterham with a K-Series and an Apollo air/oil separator - the 0.5m or 1.0m?

Thanks again.

[DaveK-S1]

0.5m is fine, long enough to locate on a chassis rail with a bit of foam rubber and a tiewrap

[RobGT81]

Stack Mechanical gets my vote but anything is an improvement over the original sender!

You could always just remote fit the original sender rather than getting a new gauge, apparently that cures a lot of the sender issues.

[croftsj]

Surely it's where the sender actually is that's the issue? An electrical sender down at the bottom of the engine in the way of all the ste that flies under the car is the issue not the sender itself.

[one eyed mick]

By the time you have noticed serious loss on a gauge it's prob to late a nice obvious tight is better

[CycleSi]

I have now fitted the new Stack electrical gauge and it is excellent.

It also highlights how inaccurate the standard Caterham gauge is as oil pressure is now showing around 45 psi hot, as opposed to 30 psi on the old gauge.

One of the best upgrades I have done !

[Andy Bell]

Rather than replacing gauges has anyone ever tried using a small windows tablet/laptop (more my realm :>) and using the MBE CAN interface running a custom easimap screen? Or is the ECU limited on what it can actually return due to some of the less than stellar Caterham bits. As ever i perhaps have got things horribly wrong

[RobGT81]

You can pull a few things off the ECU using Torque on Android, nothing too exciting though unfortunately. I think coolant temperature might be available but no oil stuff.

[DCL]

On the Duratec cars oil pressure can be seen on easimap and is recorded in a histogram. I have connected a laptop and logged stuff but never thought of using it for an 'electronic dash'. I'm sure it could be done though.

[Andy Bell]

hmm sounds like my idea isn't so stupid and methinks i can add to my stuff to do over winter (which may also be the stuff I should do but don't get round to).