I've searched the forums a lot but I couldn't find any advice on where to put the following sensors:
- Boost pressure
- Oil pressure
- Oil temperature
- Water temperature

I assume boost pressure would be best directly on the intake manifold, and since there is a closed port (see attachement) to use that, right?

For the temperature gauges, I want the absolut maximum figure occuring in the system. I have seen a lot of users put the oil temp sensor in the oil pan, which is not appropriate for me, since I will be tracking the car. In my current tracktool, a Ford Probe 24V, there is a blind screw right next to the 6th cylinder, which is the thermally most stressed one. I put the autometer gauge sensor, which I will also be using in the FD, in that position and it always gave me the most critical temperatures in the system.

For the oil pressure I assume I can use a Y-adapter with the original sensor, can anyone give me the screw thread of that?

 

Something like this oil pedestal is the easiest way.

Billet CNC Oil Filter Pedestal (FD3S RX-7) - SakeBomb Garage LLC

 

A cheaper and equally functional mounting solution would be to buy an oil filter sandwich plate from blackworks racing and use the two ports for your oil temp and pressure. Not sure if this is the most critical area but its definitely the most popular and accessible place. For the water temp, most tap the back of water pump housing and install it there. I tapped mine into the coolant line coming off the top of the rear iron.

 

I recommend the Sakebomb pedestal for the oil temp and pressure senders. Now that this has become readily available, I switched from the sandwitch adapters. The problem with those is they push the oil filter close to the throttle position sensor, making it easy to crack during oil changes. Coolant temperature sender needs to go behind the thermostat or you will not get an accurate reading until the thermostat opens. Either tap the back of the thermostat cover or put inline with the throttle body coolant hose. Boost sender can go to any extra nipple on the intake manifold.

 

wouldn't the lower radiator hose work fine for a coolant temp?

 

Sure, but less connections/clamps = less chance of a leak.

 

Even though those adapters offer a large convenience with ease of install, I would rather know the temps IN the block opposed to the radiator hose.

 

I have had one of these for 13 years. Easy install, and never leaked. More accurate readings than the TB coolant line (once the t-stat opens).

 

Mine:
free nipple on the UIM for boost
PFC Commander for Water Temp
stock oil press gauge with new sender
oil pan plug 1/8 npt adapter for oil temp

 

It will work but not ideal because the gauge will not read until the thermostat opens. Also, depending on the style sender you may have to run a ground wire to that adapter.

 

Yeap!! I pull everything from the Oil Filter Pedestal as well. Water is OE location....Don't know why you'd want to move it.

 

OP, just curious...why TWO temp gauges...oil AND coolant?

The gauge on my TB coolant line works a charm. Easily installed (no cutting radiator hoses, no drilling), easily reversible if needed, reads immediately, actually reacts marginally quicker than my PFC and is always in agreement.

 

Since I wanna track the car, I want to know exactly what is going on with the liquids. I even thought about a oil temp gauge for the transmission oil, but I'm not sure whether thats really necessary.

My current tracktool (Ford Probe 24V I mentioned above) is known for engine failures due to thermal overstressing the engine oil, so installing an oil cooler and watching the oil temperature is mandatory. On hot trackdays (the hottest was around 35°C (95°F)) I had up to 140°C (284°F) oil temperature, as I said messured directly on the hottest cylinder. I never thought about the water temperature though because the needle of the original gauge was always fixed at normal. Since the FD puts stress on the oil AND the water and the original water temperature gauge is not accurate I thought it would be best to monitor both.

For the water I think I'll go with the throttle body hose, sounds right for me.

Oil I'm still not sure. Is there really no blind screw or something in a really important (because hot) place in the engine? The KL-DE engine in my Probe is also a Mazda engine, and one that is not in any way as "sporty" as the 13B. Why did they bother with a hole for instruments (the screw thread is 3/8" NPT) in one but not the other?

Anyhow, the solution with the sandwhich plate sounds the most appropriate to me, or would it also be possible to tap the original pedestal with a 1/2" NPT for the autometer oil temp gauge? Where in the oil flow is the pedestal located? I think it would be best to take the oil temp after the oil comes out of the engine, is that the case for the pedestal? Does anyone has an oil flow diagram?

Thank you guys so much for helping me out! I'm slowly getting the hang of searching this forum via google, the forum-search just sucks, sorry..

 

My TB coolant line always reads cooler than my PFC. Thats why I reconnected to the radiator hose adapter. Maybe the sender is bad??

 

All true. The sender will likely have to be grounded, but that's easy enough.

 

If tracking the car I would invest in a diff/trans cooler, dual oil coolers if you don't already have them and just watch the oil pressure on the dash. Coolant temps will read out on the power FC.

Adding coolers instead of gauges make more sense as the expense of gauges don't help with cooling. Adding the coolers negates the need for a bunch of gauges you won't be looking at while racing anyway.

 

Do you know how tight of a fit it is to get a OEM filter installed with this adapter?

 

Im also looking at installing a external water temp and an oil temp gauge.

Oil temp:
My plan is to tap into the banjo bolt coming from the engine block to the oil coolers. This bolt is M18 right? Would a M12 to 1/8NPT tap be to big? Should i go with M10?

Water temp:
The previous owner has removed the low water sender and plugged this hole. Does anyone know what thread the water level sender has? If its 1/8NPT i can mount it straight in, but if its not i have to get an extension/adapter.

Thanks!

 

This sounds like a good alternative, since the oil comes from the block at its hottest there, right? Wouldn't it be the easiest way to put an adapter in, which has M18 male and female and in between the desired sensor thread (1/2" NPT in my case)? I hope its clear what I mean.

 

Thats correct, the oil is at its hottest when it leaves the engine before being cooled down in the oil coolers.
I don't think thats possible, since the Banjo connections is pressed on the hose, making you have to redo the whole system with new hoses and different types of connections i believe...

 

I have four defi gauges, boost, water temp, oil pressure and oil temp installed as follows (my engine bay below):



The oil pressure gauge is installed in the factory location on the block. No sandwich plate used as I preferred it out of the way so the oil filter could still be changed easily. On US cars I'm not sure if you would really want to remove the factory oil pressure sender since one of the gauges in your cluster would no longer work. However, in my car there is an unreadable boost gauge in that location (it reads mmHg instead of Bar or PSI so I have no idea what it means although it works, haha).

The oil temp gauge is installed directly into the oil pan with this SARD oil pan bolt adapter:

http://www.rhdjapan.com/sard-dren-drain-****-adapter-m14xp1-5-pt1-8.html

 

Oil and Oil Temp sensors can be installed with our billet Oil Filter Pedestal, which also lets you run a taller / larger filter element with more room/clearance! Our adapter plate can be run with the stock banjo hard line to the oil cooler or with an aftermarket dual oil cooler kit with the -10an adapter fitting (included in our oil cooler kit). We include two 1/8" NPT ports for standard oil temperature and pressure sensors as well as a 3/8" NPT port for the common GM temperature sensors (also adaptable for an external oil feel line for custom applications including center iron oiling mods).

Billet CNC Oil Filter Pedestal (FD3S RX-7) - SakeBomb Garage LLC

 

^ is there enough meat to enlarge the 3/8 port to 1/2 ?

 

Definately! Oil feed, or you just have a really large sensor?

 

I literally just "found" a good spot for the oil temperature sensor today (See attachement): There was already a aftermarket sensor screwed in that place (wire hanging loose in the engine bay), I just replaced it with my Autometer sensor.

I assume there was used something like this (3rd attachement).

Concerning the watertemperature sensor, do you guys mean the hose to the throttle body marked in the picture (2nd attachement)? This one is only 10mm in diameter, how can you fit a temperature sensor in there?
I found a blind screw in my thermostat housing, would that be a good place for the sensor if the screw thread matches my sensor? See attachement 4.

Can anyone tell me the screw thread of the original oil pressure sensor? I think I will go with an y-adapter for my 1/8" NPT Autometer sender.