Installing Aftermarket Guages

[Wacky Dee]

just bought some guages from Justjap (autoguage stepper motor series) namely boost, oil pressure and water temp. The oil pressure one comes with a sandwitch plate or whatever its called which I believe is supposed to be mounted under the oil filter.

Question .. how do I take the oil filter without spilling half a litre of oil ? (just recently changed it ..motul 300v) Is it even safe/possible to take the oild filter without draining the engine first completely ? Will engine leak oil with the filter off or does the oil sit somewhere lower with engine off ?

Also .. what's the best route of getting the sensor cables to my cabin (dash) ?? Through the firewall somewhere ??

I've got a harness from my old factory satnav still on the dash and I'm sure I can get 12v from there for all the power connections but I need to get all the sensor cables back to the cabin first .. Called CRD and they quoted 3-5 hours labour x $120 ph YIKES!

[30three]

shouldn't lose to much oil, just whats in the filter itself. having not worked out 34 can't say about getting cables through but there should be a hole in the firewall somewhere, just put a rubber grommet in there so it doesn't cut the wires.

[Wacky Dee]

thanks mate yeah I dont know what I was thinking ..just spoke to Yavuz at Unigroup and he seems to be happy to do it for me and I'm sure he won't charge me anywhere near what CRD were asking. So I'll just take it there and pay tha man! ..and not worry about oil spills in the garage

[dori34]

you should fit the sandwhich plate when you get the service done so u dont waste any oil.

just out of curiosity, how much is yavuz charging to fit the oil temp/press gauges?

i need to get this done as well.

cheers

[DECIM8]

A shitload of oil will fall out, dont even bother without draining the oil first.

I know this because I forgot to unscrew the oil cap before I removed the filter big mistake because all the oil didnt drain and it went all over the side of the engine.

Just wait awhile or drain the oil in a clean pan and refill it.

[peterw]

i'll be doing this soon - fitting the GTT gauge cluster in my NA.

about due for an oil change so should work out nicely

post up some pics when done - I've got no idea what style gauges to put in mine.

[Wacky Dee]

Check out the Justjap 'stepper motor' series .. cheapish at around $100 per guage and look great. They're really good quality too even the packaging is impressive heh.

I'm not sure what Yavuz is gonna charge me but as I said I'm sure it's less than CRD .. sure as hell not $120ph x 3-5 hours. Unigroup are the only shop I've used so far that don't charge like a wounded bull. The only reason I even thought of CRD is because they did my EBC (before I knew about Unigroup) and I thought this would be a 1 hour job max..didn't wanna bother yavuz with that sort of nonsense

[peterw]

$120 p/hour is a joke, and 3-5 hours? Considering they want that much per hour you'd expect they'd know what they're doing, and do it in much less time! Glad I'm doing this myself. Although I reckon it'll take me several hours, only cost will be a slab for me and mate to go through whilst we work out how to go about it

[Wacky Dee]

hehe yeah I'd be doing this myself most likely at my parents place if I hadn't already occupied their house last week for 3 days when I was doing the seat covers ... don't wanna find one day they pretend they're not home when I come to work on the car

[peterw]

haha fair enough

are those Autoguage stepper motor series gauges the same as on this site ?

they look pretty nice in the vid if they are.

http://www.ozegauge.com.au/index.php?id=47

Is the edging/rim on the gauge different to those non-stepper motor series Autogauge gauges on JustJap site?

http://www.glowshiftdirect.com/ < don't mind the look of some of them on there (seen on ebay for about $80 per gauge)

too many options

edit: the edging on the stepper motor ones does looks nicer (not as thick on as the other ones)

Edited June 29, 2009 by peterw

[Wacky Dee]

  peterw said:

haha fair enough

are those Autoguage stepper motor series gauges the same as on this site ?

they look pretty nice in the vid if they are.

http://www.ozegauge.com.au/index.php?id=47

Is the edging/rim on the gauge different to those non-stepper motor series Autogauge gauges on JustJap site?

http://www.glowshiftdirect.com/ < don't mind the look of some of them on there (seen on ebay for about $80 per gauge)

too many options

No idea I just know the stepper motor series are electric ie. better and less fuss ... but the justjap stepper motor ones are WHITE when they light up. I want those blue ones like at the url above !!! DAMN YOU!!! Whyd you have to show me these now

[peterw]

ahh sorry - i hate when that happens to me

[Wacky Dee]

thats ok I had no idea that there were white/amber and blue/amber options .. if I knew I woulda gotten the blue as the rest of my interior is all blue leds

Gonna call justjap tommorow and see if they stock the ones with the blue leds and hopefully they let me exchange .. but I'm sure they only have these white/amber ones and now I'm gonna have to sell them aghhhh ..

[peterw]

ahh now look what i've done! hopefully they have the blue and can exchange then.

I think I'd go the blue too - suits other blue lighting I've got in the car.

[Wacky Dee]

hehe my fault for not doing any research beforehand Not gonna frett about it .. might lose $100 or so due to my own fault but so be it, as long as I can find ones with the blue backlight I'd be happy

[natho33]

hey mate,

i dunno why you would pay anyone anything for this job, its simple.

Run the wires through the same way you wud run a power wire for your amp, if your not sure on this root in a r34 look in the car audio section of these forums and there is a guide.

The way is through the top corner of the drivers footwell, then you remove the wheel inner gaurd(or just the rear part) and it will follow through to the engine bay.

With the gauges they will all have fittings/adaptors which the gauge box, should have instructions on where they should be fitted.

in answer to your question re the oil filter, i would play it safe and drain all the oil into a clean container, and re fill it or even add another oil change in with the huge amount of money your saving by d.i.y !

Im honestly not sure how you would consider paying 300-600 for a job that should take an absolute noob like myself an afternoon at the most.

[natho33]

also another option, if you are not confident on running the wires, through.

you could take the car just to the local mechanic(this isnt a hard job and any regular mechanic will suffice) which usually will charge around 70dollar ph labour and would charge you an hour or two at max !!