Oil pressure gauge instal

Hello, I need to install a mechanical oil pressure gauge in my Skylark 455. Would someone know the best (easiest) location to install sending unit or fitting whatever they call it? Someone had mentioned where the warning light sender is... where is that?

Thanks

 

+1 on staying away from the nylon. Don't ask me how I know.

 

I'm gunna trust you guys on this one. The one that came with it looks like a super cheap tiny rubber hose...

 

Electric guages is the way to go. More expensive, very reliable and accurate and no oil leak issues inside your car...ever.

 

A picture of mine before paint
oil pressure sender hole marked with arrow

 

I bought a mechanical one, but it was too scary for me. Don't like the idea of oil in the cab, especially not with some idiot like me doing the plumbing.

I ended up switching to electric. I ran all of my gauge sending wires into the main harness, and drilled and grommeted a hole in the plastic plug near the fuse block to bring them in the car. I felt a lot better about this than drilling a hole in the firewall and snaking tubing through it, but that is just me.

Anyway, previous posters have pointed out where the factory read oil pressure from. I installed a T fitting here, so that I could run both my factory idiot light, and the gauge sender. Electric gauge senders are HUGE, make sure you mock it up to see which orientation is going to be best. I ended up installing mine so that the gauge sender stuck straight out from the block, and the light sender stuck up. That seems to work well.

People also like measuring oil pressure at the rear of the block, through one of the lifter gallery plug bores.. This requires some fancy machine work, but it allows you to leave the light sender alone, and gives a more "interesting" reading. The factory location reads pressure RIGHT after the pump, which may be significantly higher than what the engine is getting at the back of the block. George has a writeup on this on his website www.buickperformanceclub.com I believe.

People say that the electric senders fail due to heat and vibration. If they do, that's unfortunate... but they are cheap and easy to replace. I would rather do that than replace my interior due to a catastrophic oil explosion in the cab.

 

Larry can you point me in the right direction of the braided line and the correct tee to get to run the triple gauge and the the light. I am installing it this weekend

 

Interestingly, in the 5 years since my previous post, I have flip-flopped again back to using a mechanical gauge, at the rear of the block. Having used a 90* Electrical and a 270* Mechanical back to back... I'm never going back. The mechanical is super responsive, super smooth, and super reliable- works regardless of key position, or state of the charging system.

I got the line from Speedway Motors: 36 Inch Braided S.S. Brake Line - Straight AN3 91031846-3

You'll need a much longer line, if you're going all the way to the front of the block. You'll need a Male AN3 to Male 1/8" NPT fitting on the engine end of the line, and then probably an 1/8"NPT to 1/4"NPT adapter to get into your T fitting. You should be able to find the T fitting locally, it's all NPT stuff. At the gauge end of the line you'll need a male AN3 to Female 1/8"NPT... assuming your gauge has a Male 1/8"NPT fitting on the back of it, which my Stewart Warner gauge did. You'll also need teflon tape or goo at all the NPT joints, but not the AN joints.

Good luck!

 

https://fasparts.com/store/fasparts-brass-female-cross-1-8-npt-female-1-8-npt-female.html

I just ordered this for my nailhead, so I can run the sending unit for the light, as well as sending unit for gauge and a three blade pressure switch for fuel pump relays.

Picked up the 1/8 M - 1/8 M NPT to connect the cross to the oil port on the block, from the local ACE hardware in plumbing.

(I think the BBB is 1/4 F on the oil port on the block, but if you are using 1/8 on all the other components the cross will work, and you just need 1/4 M - 1/8 M NPT adapter)