Oil Pressure Gauge sender fitment

Submitted: Friday, Apr 16, 2004 at 16:19

ThreadID: 12107 Views:2117 Replies:5 FollowUps:7

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Roachie

G'day all,
For those of you who have been following my saga of trying to fit a Oil Pressure gauge to my 4.2GU....here is the latest.
To re-cap: the VDO sender unit has a male 1/8" NPT thread. The engine block has a 1/8" BSP port just ahead of the left engine mount. As Ed.C said...."they are NOT the same" and the sender unit would not screw into the block. Ed's ascertion that Pirtek would be able to supply me with a suitable adaptor proved to be incorrect according to the 3 Pirtek shops I rang in Adelaide. However, after must mucking about, I went to a local shop here and bought 2 brass fittings....1 was a 1/8" BSP male/male; the other a 1/8" female/female. The male fitting was secured to the female fitting. The sender unit was "force threaded" onto the other end of the female unit. Then the whole lot was threaded onto the block.
It works well, but I am a bit suss about the strength of the brass fittings when the weight of the sender unit and vibration factors are taken into account.

So I reckon I'll be making up a bracket so that I can support the sender off the engine so that there is less stress placed on the brass units. Anybody got any thoughts about whether that would be necessary?

Thanks,

Roachie

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Reply By: Member -Bob & Lex (Sydney) - Friday, Apr 16, 2004 at 16:28

Friday, Apr 16, 2004 at 16:28

The sender would'nt be that heavy to be a problem I should think

AnswerID: 54552

Follow Up By: Roachie - Friday, Apr 16, 2004 at 16:38

Friday, Apr 16, 2004 at 16:38

Bob,

You're probably right, but I'm the sort of bloke who likes to be doubly sure, especially when the price of a failure would be the loss of all my engine oil!!!
As it is, I reckon I'll probably chuck an appropriate size EZYOUT and the standard bung in my "Bits Box" just in case the male brass fitting snaps off at the edge of the block....nasty!!
The other thing I should do is get a proper adaptor made up out of steel by a machiner....any suggestions??

Roachie

FollowupID: 316181

Follow Up By: Member -Bob & Lex (Sydney) - Friday, Apr 16, 2004 at 17:46

Friday, Apr 16, 2004 at 17:46

It should'nt be hard to make all you need is the appropriate dies for each end of a peice of 1/8 pipe. also a new sender if you stuffed the thread on the sender

FollowupID: 316199

Follow Up By: Roachie - Friday, Apr 16, 2004 at 17:52

Friday, Apr 16, 2004 at 17:52

Bob,
You're right and I've just finished talking to a local bloke who reckons he can knock one up for me. I don't think I would have damaged the thread on the sender as it is made of steel which would mean the brass unit I screwed it onto would be the thread which would be stuffed. I sure hope so anyway, cos the sender unit was about 90 clams.
Roachie

FollowupID: 316202

Reply By: cokeaddict - Friday, Apr 16, 2004 at 16:45

Friday, Apr 16, 2004 at 16:45

It all sounds very sexy to me ......males into females and all.

Almost got me going i can tell you.

You wont have a problem with the brass fittings. Dont try to make up anything to replace them. They are made of brass for one important reason...HEAT!

AnswerID: 54557

Follow Up By: Roachie - Friday, Apr 16, 2004 at 17:21

Friday, Apr 16, 2004 at 17:21

Angelo,
It's not the heat I'm worried about, but the lack of inherent strength in brass and it's tendancy to simply break given the amount of vibration it will be subjected to on roads like those on Cape York etc.
Roachie

FollowupID: 316194

Follow Up By: Roachie - Friday, Apr 16, 2004 at 17:24

Friday, Apr 16, 2004 at 17:24

BTW Angelo,
Was it you who was doing some in depth experiments (on overheating the GQ) up and down the large hill north of Wollongong (name??) some months ago? If so, how's it all going?
Thanks,
Roachie

FollowupID: 316196

Follow Up By: cokeaddict - Friday, Apr 16, 2004 at 18:29

Friday, Apr 16, 2004 at 18:29

Yeh ok fair call their Roachie. Aploigies mate. I agree with what you said about vibrations.

And yes it was me with the experiments.
Good news is I'm all done with them for now. Great news too ...they worked well.
The place i went several times to test her out is called Bulli Pass.
Cut it short....she travels around half way now (under full loads with trailer) compared to anything over 3/4 before. Most of the mods worked well, some made it worse, so got rid of them ones quick smart. Even daily driving now is notacibly cooler, she runs between the bottom line and just under 1/4, where as before it would run between 1/4 and 1/2.

I am very happy with her now, I feel very confident now with temperature on the GQ.
Most of the things i did were common sence things. Just needed time and excused not to come in for dinner when called....lol

FollowupID: 316208

Reply By: Member - Ed. C.- Friday, Apr 16, 2004 at 20:48

Friday, Apr 16, 2004 at 20:48

G'day Roachie,
Sorry if I gave ya a "bum steer" re that adaptor...
Guess I kinda "made an assumption" based on the fact that the (Pirtek) outlet near me has quite a comprehensive range of fittings in NPT, BSP, & Metric threads...
(though I hadn't actually checked on availability of that particular part)...

What you've done is pretty much par for the course, though personally, I would've run a NPT tap into the end of the female fitting before screwing in the sender... (This works very well, basically a new thread)...

Not to worry, what you've done there will hold just fine (plenty of thread sealant ?? .. no leaks ??), provided it's a once-only "fit & forget" application...

If it's any comfort to you, I've been hangin' bits-n-pieces (adaptors, sender units,
T-pieces, etc.) off the side of engine blocks for close to 40 yrs. (showin' my age now, huh ?), and I've never yet had one of these brass fittings fail...
I think you'll find that brass is fairly malleable, and has a bit of "give", so I wouldn't be too worried about the (rather negligible) weight of the sender, especially being so close to engine mount, which should soak up most of the vibration...

Regards, Ed. C.

Confucius say.....
"He who lie underneath automobile with tool in hand,
....Not necessarily mechanic!!"

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AnswerID: 54605

Reply By: Eric Experience. - Friday, Apr 16, 2004 at 23:28

Friday, Apr 16, 2004 at 23:28

Roachie.
If you machinest friend has a npt tap why not get him to tap out the block that would be the most reliable solution.If you are woried about swarf getting into the oil get him to put some sticky oil like chain saw bar oil on the tap.Then touch the starter to blow out the thread. Eric.

AnswerID: 54645

Reply By: Simon C - Saturday, Apr 17, 2004 at 08:59

Saturday, Apr 17, 2004 at 08:59

Another option would be to remote mount the oil pressure sender, and get Pirtek to make up a small hose with your BSP/NPT threads on each end as required. No chances of brass fittings breaking due to vibration etc. Also no changing threads in the block if you want to keep the block "STD" as such. And a 2000/3000 psi hyd line will have very little chace of failing at 50-100 psi oil pressure.

AnswerID: 54662