Upgrades 27. Stack Mechanical Oil Gauge
I timed this to coincide with a full oil change on the vehicle which I did at about 2250 miles, Caterham recommend 6000 miles or a year for the first change of oil, but as I'd had a rather intense track session, it is best to get it changed now. The shopping list for these steps is below (N.B. the extra sender and switch is so I can wire the oil temperature into the water temperature gauge and toggle between them)
The first part of the job was to install the new oil spacer between the filter and the sump, this was fairly trivial as the oil filter was now off as part of the service (see the service section for how to get the oil filter off). I installed the mechanical pressure fitting and the spare temperature sender into the new spacer and secured the threads with some Loctite 567. I tightened them as per the spacer spec which was finger tight plus 1+1/2 to 2 turns (I think I managed about 1 turn of each).
I then installed the spacer, using a brush of oil on the rubber seal, onto the sump using the 3/4" fitting that came with the spacer (n.b. this required a 1" deep socket to fit and I tightened to about 15Nm IIRC). Once I was happy with the spacer, I then installed the new oil filter onto this. I chose to install a new Mann W77 filter based on numerous posts I had read on the forums.
The next job was to run the nylon hose through the tunnel to the cockpit. I bought some clear silicone hose (4mm ID) to protect the pipe from damage, I used a spray of silicon lubricant through the pipe to make threading the oil tube through much easier. The passenger chair was removed, handbrake cable slackened and gear nob removed so I could remove the tunnel top (which I had done many times now anyway) so I could thread the tube through the existing grommet with the wiring near the bulkhead, and secure it all with able ties. The ends were then cut to suit the location of the sender and gauge.
I then connected the filter end of the pipe using the supplied compression fittings, these were tightened hand tight, and then tightened using a socket to ensure the fitting had compressed enough to hold it in place (I did this based on what I felt was right as it is compressing a plastic fitting which we don't want to crush from over tightening)
Removal of the original pressure gauge was now easily done by unscrewing from the back, and removing the plug in the back of the gauge. I decided that I wanted to keep the car backwards compatible and so I wired it up so both could work at the same time. I'd already split the red/white lighting wire as part of my dash dimming upgrade, and so I merged in an extra red/white wire using a 3 way wago box. The new wire I crimped a suitable red spade connector onto. I had already created a 10 way wago box for the neutral/black feeds (basically I found a good common ground which I could reuse) and so I just pulled a wire from there to use for the neutral connection.
Connecting the nylon pipe was just the same as connecting up the pipe at the oil filter end. I then chose to test the pressure gauge along side the caterham gauge to check the readings were the same. N.B. It still showed I had a lower than expected oil pressure which is being looked at by Caterham Silverstone.
