gauges

[e30loverSC]

I want the 3 gauge pod that sits right above the ashtray. I want Oil pressure, temp, and water temp. I need wiring and everything needed to run these. Any suggestions? ANyone selling? Kits? let me know THanks

[PeaveyBassist]

Why get water temp when you have a water temp in the gauge cluster. And if you have an e30 m3, you have oil temp as well...

Wiring isnt difficult. Take power from the stereo (for key on power) or the cig lighter. Ground to the dash somewhere or the trans tunnel. Then just send signal wire to the temp/pressure sender. Fairly simple if you have some experience wiring things up.

[e30loverSC]

True I guess.. BUt is the stock gauge (temp) accurate? No i dont have e30 m3 i wish. Future car. But for now i have my bad as 325is =) Going through and redoing it now

[PeaveyBassist]

stock gauge is good enough, you just dont get a real number for water temp. I would get battery voltage, oil pressure, oil temp. I personally have vacuum, oil pressure, oil temp (in that order from left to right). I'm planning on getting battery voltage and fuel pressure as well. I just use the stock water temp gauge.

[e30loverSC]

how do you have all these mounted? And yea i would like vacuum as well. What kind of gauges did you get and senders?

[PeaveyBassist]

They are mounted in the center vent spot. Removed the vents and mounted a flat piece of ABS plastic for them. They look pretty factory. Gauges are VDO Vision/Cockpit.

[e30loverSC]

oh ok nice. well i ahve ac and stuff dont want to give that up. But i might get the kit from parker performance. but where can i find a vacuum gauge? Where did you buy yours

[PeaveyBassist]

Jegs.com It goes from 30-0. You'll only see around 25 Hg at the most. Like high rpm then off the throttle. Super cold idle on my car runs about 15Hg, and once the water temp gets up it will go to around 17Hg at idle. Then once oil temp comes up to about 160-170ish I will maybe have 18Hg at idle. Oil pressure at idle is around 60psi when super cold. Once water temp comes up, and oil temp up to about 150ish degrees, oil pressure at idle will be around 10psi at 6-700 rpm. About 30psi at 2k rpm, and up from there.

[e30loverSC]

Do i have to get the vision gagues? And what about senders and fittings?

[PeaveyBassist]

You can use whatever you want. I like the Vision gauges. They have flat bezels and the lighting is from the middle, behind the the needle. The needle is kind of lit up and it is a little easier to read. Parker Performance has the adapter for the pressure sender. Get a pressure sender with a 7psi warning contact too. That way you can still have the oil pressure warning light.

[PeaveyBassist]

Remove oil pressure switch. (pass side of block above drain plug, below oil filter) It will have a connector with one wire on it. Install this...

http://www.parkerperformance.com/store_product.php?item=M000131

Install this pressure sender. Cut the connector off the stock pressure switch. Put ring terminal on the end of the stock wire and install on warning contact of sender. You might need to add a little bit of wire to reach as well. Obviously you will need to get the 80psi VDO gauges for this to work properly.

http://www.parkerperformance.com/store_product.php?item=360-006

Remove oil drain plug. Install this in it's place.

http://www.parkerperformance.com/store_product.php?item=323-092

When you install the gauges in the car, run the sending unit wires through the big grommet behind the ecu/glovebox on the firewall. I ran the wires in wire loom and zip tied to the A/C line that runs down the pass side fender well and down to the A/C compressor. From there they split. One to the pressure sender below the oil filter and one down to the drain plug for temperature.

[e30loverSC]

thanks man! BIG BIG HELP!

[PeaveyBassist]

If you need anything else just let me know. The vacuum gauge, I put a tee into the line for the fuel pressure regulator. Then run the line in through the same grommet to the gauge wherever you put it.

[e30loverSC]

ok and ill buy the gauges from jegs.. cheaper.. then the adapter... then the sending unit from whichever ones cheaper. 100 psi oil pressusre gague and sender?

[PeaveyBassist]

You can use whichever pressure/sender combo you want as long as they are the same. Honestly, the only time you'll ever see anything above 55-60psi is when the motor is real cold. I got the 80psi one so its a little easier to see the pressure. On a 100psi gauge with the same sweep, 25-30 could look the same where on the 80psi gauge you could see the difference between 25 and 30psi. If I was going to do it again, I would get a gauge with a full sweep around the entire face.