Oil sender adapter plate for M20

[bmwpower]

I was thinking of getting one of these:

http://www.factory3performance.com/shop/shopexd.asp?id=288

Any good? Price seems reasonable. Any experience or other recommendations?

[kishg]

yup. trg makes good stuff and chuck (factory3) is a spec e30 sponsor to boot!!

[BlackSpeed66]

I have one on my car. Nice product but on mine the anodizing messes with the grounding of the senders - even after I sanded some of the surfaces bare. I've got a "temporary" ground setup until I change my oil again and can disassemble everything for a more permanent solution. The adapter has 3 ports - I've got a temp. sender and a pressure sender and I think I'm going stick a bolt with wire connected to it in the third port the complete the ground.

Mine also leaks a little bit but I may not have tightened it enough.

[jlevie]

That's a nice part, but for a touch less you can get an adapter that mounts where the stock pressure switch is from BavAuto. That is what I used.

[bmwpower]

That's a nice part, but for a touch less you can get an adapter that mounts where the stock pressure switch is from BavAuto. That is what I used.

I just looked at that one. It looks nice and simple. Can you retain the factory sensor with that setup?

I have one on my car. Nice product but on mine the anodizing messes with the grounding of the senders - even after I sanded some of the surfaces bare. I've got a "temporary" ground setup until I change my oil again and can disassemble everything for a more permanent solution. The adapter has 3 ports - I've got a temp. sender and a pressure sender and I think I'm going stick a bolt with wire connected to it in the third port the complete the ground.

Mine also leaks a little bit but I may not have tightened it enough.

That stinks. I would hate to have oil leaks and bad grounds.

[jlevie]

I suppose you could. You'd need to run a line from the adapter to a tee one side of which was threaded for the OE switch or use a 7psi switch that has 1/8NPT threads. I didn't care for the idea of hanging the pressure sender off the adapter. So I have it mounted on the rear side of the motor mount strut and used copper tubing from the adapter to the sensor. That makes it a bit easier to get to the filter, as a bonus.

[Knockenwelle]

I found a M12x1.25, 20mm long, 10.9 bolt. Then I stuck in in a collet lathe and drilled a hole through it and tapped the head side for 1/8 NPT. Screwed it into the block, used some brass fittings and a tee from Ace, and a pressure switch for a Chevy truck (3-5 psi). My oil pressure line is on the other leg of the tee. It cost me about $10 total, and works fine. Ony downside is that I have no provision for oil temp, but there's always the pan...

[jlevie]

Oil temp on an M20 is pretty much of a non-issue unless there are serious engine problems. Having a gauge may be "cute", but it really isn't needed.

[325is///M-tech]

I used this one from VAC motorsports and it works fantastic.

http://store.nexternal.com/shared/StoreFront/default.asp?CS=vacmotors&StoreType=BtoC&Count1=728054225&Count2=645194649&CategoryID=92&Target=products.asp

plugs in where the stock sending unit goes.

[Jordan325iC]

Oil temp on an M20 is pretty much of a non-issue unless there are serious engine problems. Having a gauge may be "cute", but it really isn't needed.

For us turbo guys, it is actually very helpful to know when the oil is fully warmed up before we rag on it and when the oil is fully cooled before shutdown.

[bmwpower]

I used this one from VAC motorsports and it works fantastic.

http://store.nexternal.com/shared/StoreFront/default.asp?CS=vacmotors&StoreType=BtoC&Count1=728054225&Count2=645194649&CategoryID=92&Target=products.asp

plugs in where the stock sending unit goes.

Holy shit, you flipped the oil filter adapter around. Didn't even think of doing that!

Gonna check that VAC part out.

[DCColegrove]

Holy shit, you flipped the oil filter adapter around. Didn't even think of doing that!

Gonna check that VAC part out.

Did the same thing on my '90... Gets the oil cooler lines away from the headers and makes it so you can get the filter out...

[Mtriple]

I used this one from VAC motorsports and it works fantastic.

http://store.nexternal.com/shared/StoreFront/default.asp?CS=vacmotors&StoreType=BtoC&Count1=728054225&Count2=645194649&CategoryID=92&Target=products.asp

plugs in where the stock sending unit goes.

Well done and clean install! I have been trying to decide how I want to do this cleanly and you just figured it out for me. Thank you for posting this!

For us turbo guys, it is actually very helpful to know when the oil is fully warmed up before we rag on it and when the oil is fully cooled before shutdown.

agreed.

[bmwpower]

Any idea how to get the hollow bolt out of the housing?
I didn't want to force it.

[Elephant]

I would not be hanging that heavy oil pressure sender off of an aluminum block...you're just asking for trouble. Remote mount is good of course the but one purpose is to specifically avoid something like this. Not good practice.

What we've done us use the temp sender location on the bottom along with the VDO distribution block for temp. For pressure we simply drilled and tapped the bolt that holds the filter head onto the block. Cheap, easy, very effective.

Cheers.