350z oil temperature guage install
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New Member
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 9
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From: Turlock, CA
350z oil temperature guage install
Hi everyone,
New to the Z forum, thought I share my recent experience with installing an oil temperature gauge in the OEM battery voltage location and still be able to utilize the OEM oil pressure gauge and the digital gauge for TPSM! I wanted an incognito gauge location and after looking at the interior for a while I decided to experiment. I went with a 52mm DEFI Racer gauge in amber. After numerous online searches I couldn’t find a DIY for oil temp gauge in the cluster location, so I decided to take matters in my own hand. I had a spare instrument gauge cluster to experiment on! I snipped the back of the voltage gauge and removed it from the gauge cluster. Then I used a 2” hole saw to cut out the hole on the cluster and test fitted the Defi gauge. I measured the gauge opening before ordering the 52mm gauge. Everything lined up as planned and I removed the OEM gauge bezel as well since Defi comes with a silver bezel which is a very close match to the OEM bezel. Now to the most important part, the sensor location. I removed my oem lower oil pan and got a sensor bung welded on to it to, so I could get the most accurate reading. From there it was a simple matter of installing the sensor and running the wire from the passenger side firewall into the cabin of the car. Then for power I tapped into the stereo wires. Everything worked as planned and I waited 24 hours for the oil pan gasket to seal before filling it up with oil. My car is setup for track events and I wanted to monitor oil temps before installing an aftermarket oil cooler. All and all it took about 3 hours total to do the install and I am very happy with the end result. Zero oil leaks and I have done about 3 track days so far. Here are some pictures for reference.
New to the Z forum, thought I share my recent experience with installing an oil temperature gauge in the OEM battery voltage location and still be able to utilize the OEM oil pressure gauge and the digital gauge for TPSM! I wanted an incognito gauge location and after looking at the interior for a while I decided to experiment. I went with a 52mm DEFI Racer gauge in amber. After numerous online searches I couldn’t find a DIY for oil temp gauge in the cluster location, so I decided to take matters in my own hand. I had a spare instrument gauge cluster to experiment on! I snipped the back of the voltage gauge and removed it from the gauge cluster. Then I used a 2” hole saw to cut out the hole on the cluster and test fitted the Defi gauge. I measured the gauge opening before ordering the 52mm gauge. Everything lined up as planned and I removed the OEM gauge bezel as well since Defi comes with a silver bezel which is a very close match to the OEM bezel. Now to the most important part, the sensor location. I removed my oem lower oil pan and got a sensor bung welded on to it to, so I could get the most accurate reading. From there it was a simple matter of installing the sensor and running the wire from the passenger side firewall into the cabin of the car. Then for power I tapped into the stereo wires. Everything worked as planned and I waited 24 hours for the oil pan gasket to seal before filling it up with oil. My car is setup for track events and I wanted to monitor oil temps before installing an aftermarket oil cooler. All and all it took about 3 hours total to do the install and I am very happy with the end result. Zero oil leaks and I have done about 3 track days so far. Here are some pictures for reference.
Mine is in my cubby with the AFR gauge, also welt off the pan, but have an aftermarket pan. I like the idea , kinda want to ditch the 2 upper gauges and install Autometer gauges in the locations.
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