I've decided to pull the trigger on the oil pressure/oil temperature/water temperature gauges (mounted in the RB pod) for the series 2.

While RB doesn't have anything on their website about an 09+ gauge system (due to increased oil pressure) I did find this on Google:

http://www.racingbeat.com/manuals/11...auge%20Kit.pdf


So my plans are to buy everything separately and then put it on my car following (loosely) the instructions listed out here:
Normalexception.net - 2009 - 2011 RX8 Gauge Pod

My questions are as follows:
The gauges I'm going to order will have electrical water temp and oil temp senders so running these lines will be easy. The problem is in order to get an oil pressure sensor that reads high enough, a mechanical sender is required.
1) Will I be able to install a mechanical sending unit at the aforementioned location? (there seem to be adequate room to work with in that area) Will the use of this location affect the accuracy/usefulness of the oil pressure readings?

2) Will measuring the "average" oil temperature via an adapter to the drain plug be a useful reading of oil temperature or will it read artificially low (since I know the RB instructions above mount it to the oil cooler return lines.)

3) Anything else I'm forgetting? I know running the line for a mechanical oil pressure gauge isn't going to be fun, but based on the locations I've looked at on the car, it seems like it will be do-able with some patience and careful attention to not pinch the lines.

 

Howdy... since you referenced my site, i suppose i should chime in ;p.

1) There are two types of oil/fuel pressure senders:



and



If you get the former one, it will fit where the blind plug is without any issues whatsoever. If you are using the latter though, you will need to either use an extension, regardless on if you use a modified banjo bolt (corksport or rx8-per-4-man-se) or not. I swapped my setup to a prosport EVO kit which uses the latter sender, and I ended up using the following in the blind plug location:



FYI, your oil pressure needs to read up to 120psi. Although the S2 specs up to 150psi, under the rarest occasions would you ever see that.

2) Personally, I recommend getting a modded banjo bolt like the following and connecting to the oil cooler:



The reason being that I have run into some issues with getting the wiring snagged on debris. Nothing serious, but still. Getting the average temp has really worked great, and I measure temps close to what everyone else is pretty much getting using a filter spacer (oil temps typically chase coolant temps by about 10F). But the oil cooler is ideally a smarter location.

3) Routing wires isn't so bad, only thing you need to worry about is getting stuff through the driver side firewall grommet. Just make sure you pop a hole in the farthest corner away from any and all wires. Take your time, no rush no problem. BTW, if you have the larger senders, ground them to the chassis, NOT to the gauge (some instructions have you run a signal ground from the meter to the sender ... you typically dont want to be doing this (Regardless working on a car, plumbing, etc) as these senders hate the slightest noise.

hope that helps.

 

I was hoping you would see this thread

I think you pretty much covered everything I can think of right now. Thank you for your assistance.

 

NP, feel free to shoot me a PM/email if you have more questions. will do my best to share my experiences.

 

I want to install Racing Beat guage ppe on top of dash location. What parts and where to buy for oil pressure, oil temp and water temp?
What brand of gauges would you suggest
thanks,
Matt
405-985-1674