wstar's Journal

wstar · 10-16-2011, 10:01 AM

Linking this here for visibility: done sorting out a good UpRev throttle map: Smooth Throttle for UpRev

Another random note: my PC680 battery is finally failing. It finally crossed some line, and now I really only get a few good starts over a few days before it really needs charging with a good charger to top it off again (and even the good starts are little iffy). It was a good long run, but it's time to replace it. A new battery and some new electrical hardware (for better connectivity than the hackish first job) are ordered to arrive early next week, will post part#'s and pics after the install.

wstar · 10-21-2011, 01:25 PM

Re-relocated my battery yesterday and today. I put most of the info back in the DIY battery relocate thread, over here: DIY: Battery Relo

wstar · 10-24-2011, 03:37 PM

Replaced (with OEM stuff) the factory front spoilers (all 3: the little ones in front of the wheels and the big one on the lower front edge of the bumper). They've gotten pretty torn up over the past couple of years, to the point where I think their aerodynamics are compromised.

I had been putting off replacing the main one because I didn't want to deal with the riveting. Turns out the new OEM replacements come with bolts instead (don't ask me why they ever put rivets on what's clearly a wear item). Just had to cut off the rivets on the old piece and then enlarge the holes in the bumper very slightly (1/4 inch drill bit).

Also, I installed Z-speed's aluminum under-tray. I had been wanting one forever, but I knew my old 1-inch oil pan spacer wouldn't fit under it. Figured I'd give it a shot with the new AM Performance oil pan.

The good results:

It fits the oil pan fine (the drain bolt just barely touches the undercover)
It looks like it would give better cooling to the pan (and seemed to during one test drive today vs normal behavior)
Probably better front underside aero, but who knows without testing
Seems stronger against possible underside damage.

The so-so results:

The Al is thick enough that this mod actually adds roughly 2.5 lbs to the front of the car vs the non-Nismo plastic undercover. All things considered I'm ok with that tradeoff, especially being so down low and spread out wide.
Z-speed and Z1 both warn about incompatibility with extended oil pans, but I found a new incompatibility: Hotchkis front sway bars. The Hotchkis bushings stick out about 1/8" (maybe less) more than the pan technically allows for, and then on top of that they have grease fitting nipples on the bottom that really get in the way. I worked around the grease fittings by cutting holes in the undertray with a 1-inch hole saw to let them peep through, and then the tray just barely stretches over the bushings themselves and bolts on securely. It's a little scary having those grease nipples sticking out, they're gonna get killed if I ever bottom out the front of the car. But on the other hand they're just grease fittings for swaybar bushings, it's not a catastrophic problem if that happens.
With the AM Performance oil pan Z-speed's little oil change door is useless, and one of the two bolts for it hits the pan to boot. I just removed the offending door bolt for now, and later I'm going to remove the other and weld the door shut so it can't rattle. I'm pretty used to removing the whole tray for oil changes anyways.

I expected all of these sorts of issues given how many unusual mods my car has, so the fact that it's on the car and usable was a good overall result for me, just things to keep in mind for others.

wstar · 10-24-2011, 03:49 PM

Undertray pics:

Front area:

Rear area (with the new grease fitting holes apparent, and you can kinda see where the bushing itself is a problem):

Attempted a shot of the oil pan clearance, came out kinda useless

ChrisSlicks · 10-24-2011, 04:02 PM

I had a similar problem with the Z-speed undertray and the Hotchkis bar. I removed the nipples due to the interference, but then I discovered as soon as you hit any hard transition the sway bar comes down and smacks the undertray. After a few good hits like that the undertray will be bent all out of shape. Might happen with a stock bar as well, can't say for sure. I have the AM Performance pan, which relocates the drain plug so I have the same issue with the trap door now.

wstar · 10-24-2011, 04:13 PM

Edit: where do the swaybars end up hitting the tray when mobile?

ChrisSlicks · 10-24-2011, 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wstar

Edit: where do the swaybars end up hitting the tray when mobile?

As the end link is pushed up when compressed, the center section of the sway bar is pushed down by a similar amount. Compress the front suspension unevenly such as entering a harsh driveway or a track transition and you will hear a loud "thunk" as the center of the sway hits the tray. Eventually the noise stops once the sway bar has bashed the undertray into the desired shape

wstar · 10-24-2011, 04:24 PM

Ah I might get saved on that a bit for now, being on the stock super-tall suspension still. Probably gets worse as you drop the car down

wstar · 10-26-2011, 06:45 PM

Just got through getting a tech inspection form filled out for my Driver's Edge class. Took the car down to Nevrslo to have them do it, since TDE requires an actual SAE mechanic to sign off.

They're like 5 minutes away from me and I had never been down to their shop. It's a small shop, but I was pretty impressed with them overall. They had at least two of their drift track cars on display, and a lot of quality parts on the shelf. It's just refreshing to walk into a shop where they can point at two obvious full-on track machines sitting fully assembled out on the floor and say "yeah we did all the fabrication and mechanic work on these, and we run them in real events". The cars also happened to be a 350Z and heavily modded S14 or 240 (whichever it was it was hard to tell at this point, to me anyways. It also had an LS1 engine swapped into it), so they know Nissan stuff.

They're definitely my new favorite option for when it comes time to put a cage in this car, etc.

wstar · 11-02-2011, 09:58 AM

Been trying to get my oil pressure gauge installed in time for the Driver's Edge class this weekend. I've done all the electronics and interior stuff days ago, but I've been holding off on my oil change and sensor install pending parts. I ordered two sets of pipe fitting parts from two different vendors, one that assumes the car's threads are NPT and one that assumes they're BSPT, so that I can sort it out during the oil change and I've definitely got whatever I need to finish the job.

The NPT hardware is here, but the BSPT still isn't, and now things are getting down to the wire. The BSPT hardware came from McMaster Carr, and UPS was supposed to deliver it two days ago on Monday, but they seem to have failed at that completely (it seems to be indefinitely "on the truck for delivery"). I have to drive down to the class late Friday afternoon.

The good news though, is apparently McMaster Carr has some of the best customer service I've ever seen on the phone. This is my first order with them ever, and it's a whole $16 order. One 5 minute phone call explaining about the UPS delay (and I didn't even get into how urgent this was for me personally) and they said they'd get in touch with UPS from their side, sort out what's happening, and if necessary re-ship new parts to me overnight to get them here tomorrow (Thursday) for sure. They re-iterated that one way or another, there's no way they wouldn't get this fixed and have the parts in my hands Thursday. Awesome stuff, I'm going to order everything I can through these guys in the future

haitech · 11-02-2011, 03:26 PM

Sorry to hear when things don't go your way and there are obstacles.

But get some pics up for your updates! haha

wstar · 11-02-2011, 07:09 PM

Soon as I get the sensor installed (hopefully tomorrow) I'll post pics/vid and details on the oil pressure gauge I picked and how it's all wired up (with an audio alarm on low pressure to boot!).

wstar · 11-03-2011, 11:02 PM

Oil Pressure Gauge install is done. I'm not going to do a full DIY, instead I'll link you to spearfish25's for a lot of the install details (and link this back to there as well): DIY: Oil Pressure Gauge.

First, I'll cover the sensor install stuff, I'll put the actual dash gauge stuff in the next post. My sensor (like almost all aftermarket sensors) is 1/8 NPT threaded. There have been conflicting reports on whether our car's stock oil pressure switch is 1/8 NPT or 1/8 BSPT. BSPT is more normal for Nissan and Japanese mfgs in general, but at least one other forum member checked his threads thoroughly and found NPT apparently. I ordered hardware for both scenarios, which also gave me known-good male and female examples of both thread types to compare with each other and the stock sensor. My car ended up being BSPT, but it could well be that this varies by mfg date or some other variable. In both cases I ordered a setup based on a 3-port all female Tee-shaped adapter, so that I could play with different installation orientations and find what worked best for me.

This was my NPT parts list from Aircraft Spruce, which I didn't end up using. It's a 3-way all-female 1/8 NPT tee, and one male:male hex nipple for attaching it to the engine block.

Code:

1		0	AN911-1D AN FITTINGS AN911-1D NIPPLE	1.540	1.54
1		0	AN917-1D AN FITTINGS AN917-1D TEE	7.250	7.25

This was my BSPT parts list from McMaster-Carr, which I did end up using:

Code:

4978K121 - BSPT Thread Low-Pressure Bronze Pipe Fitting, 1/8" Pipe Size, Tee
4860K631 - British Standard Threaded Brass Pipe Fitting, Nickel-Plated, BSPT Thread, 1/8" X 1/8" Hex Nipple
4860K141 - British Standard Threaded Brass Pipe Fitting, BSPT Male X NPT Female, 1/8" Adapter

The double-male hex nipple goes between the engine block and the tee, the stock pressure switch goes into another tee port directly, and the aftermarket sensor uses the NPT -> BSPT adapter to plug into the tee.

For sealing the threads, on the advice I found via googling, I went with Permatex #2. You want to put a nice layer of this stuff over every Male threaded end in the assembly, but leave the first 1-2 threads clean (so that as you screw the threads in, while excess permatex tends to squeeze back out on the outside, it's not contaminating the inside where the oil flow will be).

This is the various BSPT fittings, the stock sensor, and the OEM sensor loosely threaded together in the final configuration I decided to use, and a tube of the sealant:

The orientation I chose has the stock sensor sticking out in its normal orientation (but further due to the tee), and the aftermarket pointing fairly close to straight down. It was the longer and heavier of the two, so I wanted to reduce its leverage on the whole assembly as much as possible. The bottom (wire outlet) of the sensor comes out about 1/2" above the level of my AM Performance oil pan, so that combined with the Z-speed solid aluminum undertray should sufficiently prevent any hits on the dangling sensor. The stock sensor reaches out close to in-line with the swaybar (as with spearfish's, but not quite as far out), but it's even higher up than my oil cooler lines which were placed to clear swaybar movement range, so it's all good.

After basic assembly, I had to cut one factory wire tie on the oil switch's wiring to get the wire to route correctly, and then I put some 1/4" split plastic tubing over the new sensor's wires and tied it up along the same rough path, and then sealed everything over with a bit of electrical tape to keep moisture at bay.

Pics of the sensors installed, in various stages of completion and from various angles:

From straight underneath, looking up at the OEM pressure switch into the Tee:

Same, zoomed out and showing the aftermarket sensor as well:

Angled view of roughly the same stuff:

Different underside view angle:

View from the front:

Cable protection / electrical tape stuff:

wstar · 11-04-2011, 12:12 AM

Part 2: The Gauge Itself.

I decided on a pretty awesome looking (feature-wise) gauge from Spek-Pro: ProParts - Gauge Controllers, Mounting Pods. That listing shows it as 0-150 PSI, but the current model they're shipping is actually a 0-120 PSI gauge face with a 0-150 PSI pressure sensor. It's a little pricey at $255, but IMHO worth it. The basic rundown on the features of this gauge:

52mm (2-1/16"), digital internals with analog-style display
LED Backlight: several different colors for the main backlight, red needle.
3 Buttons along the bottom of the faceplate for programming menus: you can pick the backlight color, set the brightness, recall the last peak value, calibrate the gauge to zero sensor pressure (w/ engine off), and set high- and low- pressure alarm pressures.
Regardless of your chosen backlight color, when the pressure is low or high enough to trip one of your alarm settings, the gauge backlight switches to flashing red.
There's an alarm wire output that you can hook up, which will ground a small 12V load to do whatever you want it to do.

Full details on the features, wiring, and programming are in this rather poorly put together but informative instruction manual: http://www.propartsllc.com/pdfs/Pressure.pdf

I didn't use the dimmer wire (supposed to dim the gauge with the headlights/dimmer for your dash). I tried hooking it up to the dimmer+ and dimmer- lines used by the factory radio harness, but had no luck making it work, so I left it disconnected. It could be that I just didn't do something right at the time though. The brightness is easy enough to adjust from the gauge's buttons in any case.

I did make use of the alarm wire though. I went down to a local electronics shop and picked up a small 12V Piezo Buzzer rated for 75dB. You could search somewhere like Mouser to buy something similar online, e.g. this 95 dB one, they have a pretty wide selection of them there. My 75dB is loud enough to really be annoying, but I haven't yet had the chance to see if it's loud enough for windows down on the track with a helmet on. If not I'll upgrade it later. In any case, any reasonable piezo buzzer is well under the 1.5 Amp limit for the gauge's alarm wire, so you don't even need to use a relay or anything. Keep in mind the gauge's alarm "output" is a switched ground: you hook your buzzer's negative terminal to the gauge output, and your buzzer's positive terminal to an ignition-switched +12V source.

The problem with wiring up that alarm and setting an appropriate low pressure point on the gauge though, is that anytime I'd want the ignition on and the engine not running, the alarm would be sounding off the whole time due to the gauge being powered up and reading 0 PSI. I thought about putting a killswitch on the alarm itself, but then I figured I'd flip it off and forget that I did so, which ruins the whole point. So instead I wired up a lighted on/off switch for the whole gauge itself. This allows me to shut off the gauge+alarm if I'm going to have the ignition on and engine off for a while, and it's really obvious if I leave it that way when I start driving because the whole gauge is powered off (duh, turn the switch on).

As far as mounting for all of this goes (the gauge, the switch, the alarm buzzer), for now my center dash config is still a lid-less cubby and 2 empty DIN-sized pockets where the radio used to be. Later I'll probably upgrade to the "standard" of just a flat faceplate over this area to mount hardware on, but for now I mounted the gauge inside the cubby, and the switch and alarm hidden in the back of one of the DIN pockets.

This pic is the DIN pocket w/ the switch+alarm, obviously:

And this horrible shaky video is me playing with the gauge while the car is half-warmed-up. The brightness setting is just too high for the camera, hence the blurry look of the lit-up parts of the face. I roll through the basic settings menus (peak display, high alarm setting, low alarm setting, backlight color, brightness). On the way through, I set the low alarm high enough to make it trip at my current pressure just so you can hear it go off and see it flash, and then set it back to zero after.

Warning: partway through this video, I trip the alarm, and you're going to get really annoyed at the buzzing sound long before I get back through the menu system to set the low pressure alarm back to zero. Have your mute button handy:

ChrisSlicks · 11-04-2011, 06:22 AM

Nicely done! And thanks for confirming the thread type.

10-16-2011, 10:01 AM	#421 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	Linking this here for visibility: done sorting out a good UpRev throttle map: Smooth Throttle for UpRev Another random note: my PC680 battery is finally failing. It finally crossed some line, and now I really only get a few good starts over a few days before it really needs charging with a good charger to top it off again (and even the good starts are little iffy). It was a good long run, but it's time to replace it. A new battery and some new electrical hardware (for better connectivity than the hackish first job) are ordered to arrive early next week, will post part#'s and pics after the install. __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

10-21-2011, 01:25 PM	#422 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	Re-relocated my battery yesterday and today. I put most of the info back in the DIY battery relocate thread, over here: DIY: Battery Relo __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

10-24-2011, 03:37 PM	#423 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	Replaced (with OEM stuff) the factory front spoilers (all 3: the little ones in front of the wheels and the big one on the lower front edge of the bumper). They've gotten pretty torn up over the past couple of years, to the point where I think their aerodynamics are compromised. I had been putting off replacing the main one because I didn't want to deal with the riveting. Turns out the new OEM replacements come with bolts instead (don't ask me why they ever put rivets on what's clearly a wear item). Just had to cut off the rivets on the old piece and then enlarge the holes in the bumper very slightly (1/4 inch drill bit). Also, I installed Z-speed's aluminum under-tray. I had been wanting one forever, but I knew my old 1-inch oil pan spacer wouldn't fit under it. Figured I'd give it a shot with the new AM Performance oil pan. The good results: It fits the oil pan fine (the drain bolt just barely touches the undercover) It looks like it would give better cooling to the pan (and seemed to during one test drive today vs normal behavior) Probably better front underside aero, but who knows without testing Seems stronger against possible underside damage. The so-so results: The Al is thick enough that this mod actually adds roughly 2.5 lbs to the front of the car vs the non-Nismo plastic undercover. All things considered I'm ok with that tradeoff, especially being so down low and spread out wide. Z-speed and Z1 both warn about incompatibility with extended oil pans, but I found a new incompatibility: Hotchkis front sway bars. The Hotchkis bushings stick out about 1/8" (maybe less) more than the pan technically allows for, and then on top of that they have grease fitting nipples on the bottom that really get in the way. I worked around the grease fittings by cutting holes in the undertray with a 1-inch hole saw to let them peep through, and then the tray just barely stretches over the bushings themselves and bolts on securely. It's a little scary having those grease nipples sticking out, they're gonna get killed if I ever bottom out the front of the car. But on the other hand they're just grease fittings for swaybar bushings, it's not a catastrophic problem if that happens. With the AM Performance oil pan Z-speed's little oil change door is useless, and one of the two bolts for it hits the pan to boot. I just removed the offending door bolt for now, and later I'm going to remove the other and weld the door shut so it can't rattle. I'm pretty used to removing the whole tray for oil changes anyways. I expected all of these sorts of issues given how many unusual mods my car has, so the fact that it's on the car and usable was a good overall result for me, just things to keep in mind for others. __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details Last edited by wstar; 10-24-2011 at 04:00 PM.

10-24-2011, 03:49 PM	#424 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	Undertray pics: Front area: Rear area (with the new grease fitting holes apparent, and you can kinda see where the bushing itself is a problem): Attempted a shot of the oil pan clearance, came out kinda useless __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

10-24-2011, 04:02 PM	#425 (permalink)
ChrisSlicks A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: North East Posts: 6,203 Drives: 09 370Z Sport M6 Rep Power: 653	I had a similar problem with the Z-speed undertray and the Hotchkis bar. I removed the nipples due to the interference, but then I discovered as soon as you hit any hard transition the sway bar comes down and smacks the undertray. After a few good hits like that the undertray will be bent all out of shape. Might happen with a stock bar as well, can't say for sure. I have the AM Performance pan, which relocates the drain plug so I have the same issue with the trap door now. __________________ Hotchkis ARB \| Stillen CAI \| Art Pipes \| Berk CBE \| Stillen AP Racing Brakes \| AE Performance Oil Cooler \| BC Racing ER Coilovers \| Doran Control Arms

10-24-2011, 04:13 PM	#426 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	Edit: where do the swaybars end up hitting the tray when mobile? __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details Last edited by wstar; 10-24-2011 at 04:16 PM.

10-24-2011, 04:24 PM	#428 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	Ah I might get saved on that a bit for now, being on the stock super-tall suspension still. Probably gets worse as you drop the car down __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

10-26-2011, 06:45 PM	#429 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	Just got through getting a tech inspection form filled out for my Driver's Edge class. Took the car down to Nevrslo to have them do it, since TDE requires an actual SAE mechanic to sign off. They're like 5 minutes away from me and I had never been down to their shop. It's a small shop, but I was pretty impressed with them overall. They had at least two of their drift track cars on display, and a lot of quality parts on the shelf. It's just refreshing to walk into a shop where they can point at two obvious full-on track machines sitting fully assembled out on the floor and say "yeah we did all the fabrication and mechanic work on these, and we run them in real events". The cars also happened to be a 350Z and heavily modded S14 or 240 (whichever it was it was hard to tell at this point, to me anyways. It also had an LS1 engine swapped into it), so they know Nissan stuff. They're definitely my new favorite option for when it comes time to put a cage in this car, etc. __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details Last edited by wstar; 10-26-2011 at 07:12 PM.

11-02-2011, 09:58 AM	#430 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	Been trying to get my oil pressure gauge installed in time for the Driver's Edge class this weekend. I've done all the electronics and interior stuff days ago, but I've been holding off on my oil change and sensor install pending parts. I ordered two sets of pipe fitting parts from two different vendors, one that assumes the car's threads are NPT and one that assumes they're BSPT, so that I can sort it out during the oil change and I've definitely got whatever I need to finish the job. The NPT hardware is here, but the BSPT still isn't, and now things are getting down to the wire. The BSPT hardware came from McMaster Carr, and UPS was supposed to deliver it two days ago on Monday, but they seem to have failed at that completely (it seems to be indefinitely "on the truck for delivery"). I have to drive down to the class late Friday afternoon. The good news though, is apparently McMaster Carr has some of the best customer service I've ever seen on the phone. This is my first order with them ever, and it's a whole $16 order. One 5 minute phone call explaining about the UPS delay (and I didn't even get into how urgent this was for me personally) and they said they'd get in touch with UPS from their side, sort out what's happening, and if necessary re-ship new parts to me overnight to get them here tomorrow (Thursday) for sure. They re-iterated that one way or another, there's no way they wouldn't get this fixed and have the parts in my hands Thursday. Awesome stuff, I'm going to order everything I can through these guys in the future __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

11-02-2011, 03:26 PM	#431 (permalink)
haitech Track Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Austin/Dallas Posts: 922 Drives: 11' 370z Magnetic M6 Rep Power: 15	Sorry to hear when things don't go your way and there are obstacles. But get some pics up for your updates! haha

11-02-2011, 07:09 PM	#432 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	Soon as I get the sensor installed (hopefully tomorrow) I'll post pics/vid and details on the oil pressure gauge I picked and how it's all wired up (with an audio alarm on low pressure to boot!). __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

11-03-2011, 11:02 PM	#433 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	Oil Pressure Gauge install is done. I'm not going to do a full DIY, instead I'll link you to spearfish25's for a lot of the install details (and link this back to there as well): DIY: Oil Pressure Gauge. First, I'll cover the sensor install stuff, I'll put the actual dash gauge stuff in the next post. My sensor (like almost all aftermarket sensors) is 1/8 NPT threaded. There have been conflicting reports on whether our car's stock oil pressure switch is 1/8 NPT or 1/8 BSPT. BSPT is more normal for Nissan and Japanese mfgs in general, but at least one other forum member checked his threads thoroughly and found NPT apparently. I ordered hardware for both scenarios, which also gave me known-good male and female examples of both thread types to compare with each other and the stock sensor. My car ended up being BSPT, but it could well be that this varies by mfg date or some other variable. In both cases I ordered a setup based on a 3-port all female Tee-shaped adapter, so that I could play with different installation orientations and find what worked best for me. This was my NPT parts list from Aircraft Spruce, which I didn't end up using. It's a 3-way all-female 1/8 NPT tee, and one male:male hex nipple for attaching it to the engine block. Code: 1 0 AN911-1D AN FITTINGS AN911-1D NIPPLE 1.540 1.54 1 0 AN917-1D AN FITTINGS AN917-1D TEE 7.250 7.25 This was my BSPT parts list from McMaster-Carr, which I did end up using: Code: 4978K121 - BSPT Thread Low-Pressure Bronze Pipe Fitting, 1/8" Pipe Size, Tee 4860K631 - British Standard Threaded Brass Pipe Fitting, Nickel-Plated, BSPT Thread, 1/8" X 1/8" Hex Nipple 4860K141 - British Standard Threaded Brass Pipe Fitting, BSPT Male X NPT Female, 1/8" Adapter The double-male hex nipple goes between the engine block and the tee, the stock pressure switch goes into another tee port directly, and the aftermarket sensor uses the NPT -> BSPT adapter to plug into the tee. For sealing the threads, on the advice I found via googling, I went with Permatex #2. You want to put a nice layer of this stuff over every Male threaded end in the assembly, but leave the first 1-2 threads clean (so that as you screw the threads in, while excess permatex tends to squeeze back out on the outside, it's not contaminating the inside where the oil flow will be). This is the various BSPT fittings, the stock sensor, and the OEM sensor loosely threaded together in the final configuration I decided to use, and a tube of the sealant: The orientation I chose has the stock sensor sticking out in its normal orientation (but further due to the tee), and the aftermarket pointing fairly close to straight down. It was the longer and heavier of the two, so I wanted to reduce its leverage on the whole assembly as much as possible. The bottom (wire outlet) of the sensor comes out about 1/2" above the level of my AM Performance oil pan, so that combined with the Z-speed solid aluminum undertray should sufficiently prevent any hits on the dangling sensor. The stock sensor reaches out close to in-line with the swaybar (as with spearfish's, but not quite as far out), but it's even higher up than my oil cooler lines which were placed to clear swaybar movement range, so it's all good. After basic assembly, I had to cut one factory wire tie on the oil switch's wiring to get the wire to route correctly, and then I put some 1/4" split plastic tubing over the new sensor's wires and tied it up along the same rough path, and then sealed everything over with a bit of electrical tape to keep moisture at bay. Pics of the sensors installed, in various stages of completion and from various angles: From straight underneath, looking up at the OEM pressure switch into the Tee: Same, zoomed out and showing the aftermarket sensor as well: Angled view of roughly the same stuff: Different underside view angle: View from the front: Cable protection / electrical tape stuff: Felix 808 likes this. __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details Last edited by wstar; 11-03-2011 at 11:06 PM.

11-04-2011, 12:12 AM	#434 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	Part 2: The Gauge Itself. I decided on a pretty awesome looking (feature-wise) gauge from Spek-Pro: ProParts - Gauge Controllers, Mounting Pods. That listing shows it as 0-150 PSI, but the current model they're shipping is actually a 0-120 PSI gauge face with a 0-150 PSI pressure sensor. It's a little pricey at $255, but IMHO worth it. The basic rundown on the features of this gauge: 52mm (2-1/16"), digital internals with analog-style display LED Backlight: several different colors for the main backlight, red needle. 3 Buttons along the bottom of the faceplate for programming menus: you can pick the backlight color, set the brightness, recall the last peak value, calibrate the gauge to zero sensor pressure (w/ engine off), and set high- and low- pressure alarm pressures. Regardless of your chosen backlight color, when the pressure is low or high enough to trip one of your alarm settings, the gauge backlight switches to flashing red. There's an alarm wire output that you can hook up, which will ground a small 12V load to do whatever you want it to do. Full details on the features, wiring, and programming are in this rather poorly put together but informative instruction manual: http://www.propartsllc.com/pdfs/Pressure.pdf I didn't use the dimmer wire (supposed to dim the gauge with the headlights/dimmer for your dash). I tried hooking it up to the dimmer+ and dimmer- lines used by the factory radio harness, but had no luck making it work, so I left it disconnected. It could be that I just didn't do something right at the time though. The brightness is easy enough to adjust from the gauge's buttons in any case. I did make use of the alarm wire though. I went down to a local electronics shop and picked up a small 12V Piezo Buzzer rated for 75dB. You could search somewhere like Mouser to buy something similar online, e.g. this 95 dB one, they have a pretty wide selection of them there. My 75dB is loud enough to really be annoying, but I haven't yet had the chance to see if it's loud enough for windows down on the track with a helmet on. If not I'll upgrade it later. In any case, any reasonable piezo buzzer is well under the 1.5 Amp limit for the gauge's alarm wire, so you don't even need to use a relay or anything. Keep in mind the gauge's alarm "output" is a switched ground: you hook your buzzer's negative terminal to the gauge output, and your buzzer's positive terminal to an ignition-switched +12V source. The problem with wiring up that alarm and setting an appropriate low pressure point on the gauge though, is that anytime I'd want the ignition on and the engine not running, the alarm would be sounding off the whole time due to the gauge being powered up and reading 0 PSI. I thought about putting a killswitch on the alarm itself, but then I figured I'd flip it off and forget that I did so, which ruins the whole point. So instead I wired up a lighted on/off switch for the whole gauge itself. This allows me to shut off the gauge+alarm if I'm going to have the ignition on and engine off for a while, and it's really obvious if I leave it that way when I start driving because the whole gauge is powered off (duh, turn the switch on). As far as mounting for all of this goes (the gauge, the switch, the alarm buzzer), for now my center dash config is still a lid-less cubby and 2 empty DIN-sized pockets where the radio used to be. Later I'll probably upgrade to the "standard" of just a flat faceplate over this area to mount hardware on, but for now I mounted the gauge inside the cubby, and the switch and alarm hidden in the back of one of the DIN pockets. This pic is the DIN pocket w/ the switch+alarm, obviously: And this horrible shaky video is me playing with the gauge while the car is half-warmed-up. The brightness setting is just too high for the camera, hence the blurry look of the lit-up parts of the face. I roll through the basic settings menus (peak display, high alarm setting, low alarm setting, backlight color, brightness). On the way through, I set the low alarm high enough to make it trip at my current pressure just so you can hear it go off and see it flash, and then set it back to zero after. Warning: partway through this video, I trip the alarm, and you're going to get really annoyed at the buzzing sound long before I get back through the menu system to set the low pressure alarm back to zero. Have your mute button handy: __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

11-04-2011, 06:22 AM	#435 (permalink)
ChrisSlicks A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: North East Posts: 6,203 Drives: 09 370Z Sport M6 Rep Power: 653	Nicely done! And thanks for confirming the thread type. __________________ Hotchkis ARB \| Stillen CAI \| Art Pipes \| Berk CBE \| Stillen AP Racing Brakes \| AE Performance Oil Cooler \| BC Racing ER Coilovers \| Doran Control Arms

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