Club 80-90 Forums

With my 2.1 build coming along I've thought about monitoring such things as oil pressure and temp to make sure I did it right . 

For the folk who do have gauges, did you splash and go VDO or are they cheaper good quality brands?
Was thinking of putting the temp gauge either in the sump plug or get the relief cap replacement that allows you to fit a temp sensor there.

As for pressure sender, the VDO units are expensive for what they are, There any other "quality" brands out there?


 

You mention oil pressure and oil temp. If the temp is going up, then the oil pressure is going down, so do you need both?

I decided against both oil gauges and just went with oil temp. So I could have a rev counter instead on my early bus.

VDO rev counters are expensive and the aftermarket ones are fine apart from the backlight being red, could be cool - but quite bright in comparison, but an inline resistor can sort the brightness out. I’ve never had any reliability issues with my Rev counter. Oil temp VDO are half the price of rev. counters so go for it. They are a close enough match, you won’t notice after a couple of weeks.



https://youtube.com/shorts/SBuQVVy3OGM

If I didn't have a rev counter I'd have considered getting one. In terms of oil pressure I'd just like to know the engine it healthy after the rebuild and to also keep an eye on it as well as having the DOPS system.

They’ll be times when you wish you didn’t have the gauges because they are basically ‘worry gauges’ in all honesty. Your engine will be fine. Nice upgrade though. Oh, the bezel on non VDO gauges goes a bit bronze in colour after a few years from the sunlight, but again; you’ll be past the need for perfection by then and won’t notice too much.

Yeah I thought that but once I get used to knowing what the norm is I don't think I'd bother too much. I do like the idea of seeing a more accurate reading of whats going on in the engine rather than an LED and a buzzer.

I assume the dashpod is the one from Brickwerks.

I have cheapo gauges in our van ( EJ20 Subaru)
Water temp, oil pressure and temperature.
When out on a run just a cursory glance from time to time puts my mind at ease .
When up to temp and running they all tend to point to 12 o clock . Nice and simple.

Not so much on my van, but on previous cars,

I rarely find problems with oil pressure gauges.
I tend to find that it is the senders that become unreliable as they get older.

On one car, I had to change the sender three times in about ten years.
On occasions, I have found manufacturers' own senders can be faulty from new.

Well I guess pretty much every part degrades over time. I don't think I want to skimp on a sender so I'll probably get a vdo one. Brickwerks seems cheapest but out of stock.