On Jan 20, 6:17am, Barry H. Adams wrote:
> Subject: Adding An Oil Pressure Gauge To 74 Spitfire
> Next month I want to begin to restore the interior on my 74 Spitfire. While
> I have the dash out I'm contemplating installing a Smith's mechanical oil
> pressure gauge in the area between the fuel and temp. gauges. Of course
> this will necessitate moving the headlight switch (probably to the upper
> left corner of the dash). The reason I'm considering a mechanical gauge is
> because its face is very similar to the stock fuel and temp. gauges and it
> comes with a chrome bezel. Secondly, I hope to be able to keep the oil
> warning light functional.
>
> My question is this. Can I keep the oil warning light functional by coming
> off the engine with a some sort of conductive tee? One side of the tee
> (with appropriate nipple) for the sending unit, the other side of the tee
> for the oil line to the gauge.
>
> Barry H. Adams
> 74 Spitfire
>
>-- End of excerpt from Barry H. Adams
Barry,
I thought that I would let you know what I did in the same situation.
I have a '73 Spit, and as I was autocrossing the car, I decided that
I needed an oil pressure guage. I found that Smith's has a dual guage,
I know that someone else had the part number, with both oil pressure
and temperature. I believe that the gualge is from an MG. It fits
right into the dash replacing the original temp guage. The major
difference is that the temperature half is a mechanical guage instead
of a electrical one. I found that the latter Midgets with the 1500
Spit engine came from the factory with a mechanical temp guage, so I
ordered the adapter for the sending unit. (This was 1980 or so.)
Most people never realise that the guage is not standard unless they
are very familiar with the Spit guages. The only other difference
is that the dual guage doesn't have the blue filter for the light,
so it is brighter than the rest of the guages.
The other alternative would be to make a blank plate for the radio
opening and put your guage there. Since no-one uses a radio in a
LBC, this would be a perfect use of that location.
Doug Mitchell
dmitchel@ismi.net
dmitchel@ford.com
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