After seeing several posts about gauge installations and seeing the cool pics of some nifty gauges, I decided to install both an oil pressure and an oil temp gauge in my 2006 Elise last weekend. Due mainly to the fact that I seem to get different measurements each time I pull the oil dipstick, I am paranoid about my oil pressure. Since I don't track my car, I'll admit this is irrational. I figured that if I was going to go through the trouble of installing a pressure gauge, I might as well install a temp gauge as well.
Being a mechanical novice, I went the easy (and probably less than ideal route) and bought an oil filter sandwich adapter from GlowShift. I liked the Ultra-Lite gauges from AutoMeter and both the sandwich plate and the gauges had 1/8 NPT (unlike the Greddy adapter, which I have heard is not NPT).
Installing the sandwich plate was relatively simple. Just screw off the oil filter and place the sandwich plate over the existing oil cooler plate and tighten. No leaks yet.
The gauges were a b*tch as far as running the wires from the senders to the BWR gauge bracket in the front. Ended up removing the seats, seatbelts, rear speakers, carpeting, sound insulation and center console (partially). I enlarged a hole in an existing grommet in the rear bulkhead and used split tubing and plastic ties to run the wires from the engine compartment and under the center console.
I powered the gauges using a fuse tap from Bussman that I picked up from Advance Auto. Tapped into the 20A fuse for the A/C compressor under the passenger side dash. The A/C still works fine, although I can count on one hand how many times I've used it in 2 years.
Both gauges have peak recall and warning lights. I set the temp warning light at 180F to signal when its "safe" to hit the 2nd cam.
With shipping, I spent about $400 on the gauges, $25 on the adapter plate, about $20 on odds and ends (solder, friction tape, fuse tap, etc). It took about 16 hours. It would probably take less than that for someone with more experience and with a helper.
I'll post pics later once I clean up some of the wiring and wipe all of my sweat and blood off the seats and dash.
Being a mechanical novice, I went the easy (and probably less than ideal route) and bought an oil filter sandwich adapter from GlowShift. I liked the Ultra-Lite gauges from AutoMeter and both the sandwich plate and the gauges had 1/8 NPT (unlike the Greddy adapter, which I have heard is not NPT).
Installing the sandwich plate was relatively simple. Just screw off the oil filter and place the sandwich plate over the existing oil cooler plate and tighten. No leaks yet.
The gauges were a b*tch as far as running the wires from the senders to the BWR gauge bracket in the front. Ended up removing the seats, seatbelts, rear speakers, carpeting, sound insulation and center console (partially). I enlarged a hole in an existing grommet in the rear bulkhead and used split tubing and plastic ties to run the wires from the engine compartment and under the center console.
I powered the gauges using a fuse tap from Bussman that I picked up from Advance Auto. Tapped into the 20A fuse for the A/C compressor under the passenger side dash. The A/C still works fine, although I can count on one hand how many times I've used it in 2 years.
Both gauges have peak recall and warning lights. I set the temp warning light at 180F to signal when its "safe" to hit the 2nd cam.
With shipping, I spent about $400 on the gauges, $25 on the adapter plate, about $20 on odds and ends (solder, friction tape, fuse tap, etc). It took about 16 hours. It would probably take less than that for someone with more experience and with a helper.
I'll post pics later once I clean up some of the wiring and wipe all of my sweat and blood off the seats and dash.