Hi all (again! finished a night at work and don't want to sleep yet!)

Am about to decide on gauges and am considering the pros and cons of having an oil pressure gauge...

Cons first - I prefer the uncluttered, minimal look on the dashboard, less pipes / wires, less cash

Pros - I'll know what the oil pressure is!

I'm running a completely standard XE engine and the car is for fast touring not mad blatting or track days (though it may get treated for an outing occasionally)

What do people think - I'm wanting to do without a pressure gauge, am I being foolish??

Chris

i wasnt going to have one as i figure the original car didnt have one, then again engines cost money and i cant be arsed to replace it so i bought one from ebay for £10.

The primary 'oops I've got no oil pressure' warning is the oil light, and it's worth getting a pressure switch that triggers at a higher pressure to give earlier warning.

I find that I can't look at the pressure gauge very often while driving, but it's useful as a way of monitoring the engine in the quiet periods.

David

As with everything in life - there's a trade off

Ok, you'll get an uncluttered dashboard - but if you do suffer an oil pressure problem, the first you'll know about it is when the engine goes bang!

So - the true question is - do you like the uncluttered dash enough to potentially replace the engine?

In my mind the minimum requirements for a dash in addition to Speedo/Tach are:

1) Water Temp
2) Oil Pressure
3) Fuel
4) Oil Temp

That should give you enough information about the engine to have constant fun!

An engine is pretty hard to kill - if you keep it topped up with oil, have a good cooling system and feed it the right amount of fuel/air.

I think there are layouts that will allow for a nice look.

But your car, your choice

I really dont know. I have the same quandry over the water and oil temp.
Road cars have basic green-white-red water temp gauge and we all use these no probs. Oil pressure coutresy of a light and again no real issues.
My DD2 has everything digital and also alarms built in. They can scare the crap out of you and cause all sorts of uneasiness until you work out what the norms are and how to set the alarms up. You also quickly get into conversations about if the readings are accurate and best positions for the senders blah blah blah.

Personally i have them all, am getting used to them so i think they are a good idea now. If nothing else they work as a comparitor when i sense something is wrong.

I'm going with the minimal approach on my XE installation.

I am running an oil press light but it is on a higher than normal press sender which comes on at 45psi (iirc)

Simplest way is a combined oil pressure water temp gauge -- as used in MG Midgets a lot of old single seaters. Purely pressure driven with no electrical connections required apart from the light.

You don't need anything else apart from speedo and tacho.

[Edited on 8/5/06 by britishtrident]

............and not arguing, but do you REALLY need a tacho? Useful when racing a closed car with noisy straight cut gearbox where you can't hear the engine, but at the end of the day on a road car you can hear the engine and you have a rev limiter!

I'm just using a sequential shift light, in fact prob nothing at all pre-sva.

I might fit a rather tasty Elliot 100mm tacho post-sva but only cos I have it looking for a home!

PS I have a pressure gauge on a length of aeroquip with a 3/8 unf male threaded end and various adaptors which I use to check engines over before running them.

I use it at the beginning of the season on the grasser, then every few meetings just to check the pressure isn't changing significantly. The aeroquip is long enough for me to cable tie the gauge somewhere visible for a first run out in the 7.

I agree - when I'm going for it I don't look at the dials (Sorry officer - yes, I do look at the speedo frequently ) and rely on the warning lights to tell me if something's amiss.

In reality, I look at the speedo if I'm pootling along and trying to stay legal, and the petrol gauge when I suspect I may be running out. I glance at the water temp gauge occasionally, especially when there's a risk of overheating (e.g. I've just been caning it and now I'm stuck in traffic).

The tacho is rarely used, but I do have a rev limiter. My ears are a good-enough guide most of the time, but I'll probably fit a 3-light rev limiter some time soon.

cheers,
David

For me there is no question, Install an oil pressure guage and warning light. In my experience, oil pressure senders are much less reliable than engines, thus in most cases, when the light comes on, it is a sender fault rather than a loss of pressure. If you have a guage as well, you will know if you can drive on or not.

Could you run something such as the Digi dash, minimal clutter loads of info ?

LOL Nat (NSDEV) - I like the look of the needles flying around - hence the dial tastic dashboard I have

I know my road car has 'basic' stuff - but it wasn't built by me

A Diesel BMW shouldn't need dials - if it does I'm not doing 50mpg

Hmm good point about DigiDash! I'd give them a ring

[Edited on 8/5/06 by muzchap]

I have a tacho, oil pressure and water temp in my 'normal' car. But only because it is a race engined car with a straight cut box! I find the tacho comes in handy, and I hate driving without one. As said, oil pressure gauges are a double egded sword. It's nice to have another shiny thing on the dash, and it's not often you need to look at it. But then everytime you do look at it and it drops by a few psi whilst sat in traffic after a serious blat you think the world's about to end!

Here's a pic of Digi dash 1, the serial number on it was 0003, I got in early, is the oil warning big enough ? you can set it at whatever pressure you wish.
I liked it so much I have since dished two other dash's, one been stack and the other micrhon and now gone back too digi dash 2, the back up from them is great and the designer is a fellow RGB racer, easy too set up, easy too read and comes with all the sensors you need, sound like a salesman now......
Rescued attachment dash_1.jpg

Jon - that's ace!

hmm food for thought when the 'funds' allow the Digidash!

Link too Digi Dash
Rescued attachment DD2-LITE_Brief.jpg