Fitting SPA Oil/Water guage - Need some Help please

[mikesr]

Both the low pressure warning light and the oil pressure guage take off are in the V under the back of the coil pack mounting plate

Needs fuel rail off, coil packs out and mounting plate out and then they are both easy to get to.

[JensenA]

Cheers Mike - I was dreading having to take all that lot off!! Have you fitted a Spa guage? If you have, is it simply a case of out with the TVR sender, and the SPA one screws straight in?

[mikesr]

No I haven't fitted a Spa gauge. I have spent a fair amount of time with the coil packs out getting a new starter fitted and I nearly ripped both the wire and the hose out when I got them caught on the starter - hence knowing where they are.

Fitting a Spa is on the list of things to do once I've got to the end of the list of things that have to be done

I am planning on a front suspension repaint over the winter - to include removal of wishbones etc plus the water pipes and steering rack. The capillary will be out so I may just fit a Spa gauge anyway. Trouble is the manifolds need welding and will have to be removed to do it. Plus it needs new cats and the coolant hoses are looking pretty grim and the swan neck pipes look pretty rusty.... its gonna be a big bill for the parts.

I think the argument for the gauge goes something along the lines of 'well since I'm spending so much anyway, we won't really notice another couple of hundredish for a Spa gauge.....'

[JensenA]

I gave up on mine Mike - too much work and hassle !! The Temp sender fitting on the Spa Guage is different so it would need an new adapter made up, also the Oil fitting is different, although while I was 'messing' about, I did discover that SPA Oil sender can actually screw straight into the adapter that is on the back of the standard guage - that would save a lot of hassle.
So if your interested in a Brand new Spa oil/water guage at a good discount - let me know

[Mad Mark]

I'm in the process of changing mine.
I ripped my gauge out yesterday to swap it with another that I got hold of, only to realise that this too was broke.

I was thinking of fitting a Mocal one from Burton Power.

I'm not yet sure if the water is capillary or electrical.
My guess is it would be electrical.
Which leads me to my next question...
If I took the electrical feed from the ECU sensor, would the figures be halved between the gauge and ECU or would they still read the same value?

[GreenV8S]

Mad Mark said:

If I took the electrical feed from the ECU sensor, would the figures be halved between the gauge and ECU or would they still read the same value?

That would screw up both of them and (depending on the design of the ECU and gauge) could damage either of them.

[Mad Mark]

I did have my suspicions it would.
It wont be hard to fit a elec. temp sensor in place of the Capillary one.
Hopefully it'll be more accurate too. (Not that I think mine was out in the first place.)
Well it is now cos it reads '0'deg all the time!! LOL