oldbutnotslow Posted July 17, 2005 Share Posted July 17, 2005 Is it the senders that are crap on the CC gauge or the actual gauge itself - (same question asked in post re thread size) If going to a mechanical gauge is going to give me fitting problems will an alternative electrical gauge react faster as the concern I have is that the CC gauge is not showing the pressure fluctuations that must be going on as it seems heavily damped. The cost of a SPA gauge knocks them out of a buying option. If I could fit a "good" electrical unit and use the existing wireing the job of swapping could be done in 1/2 hour! Any one have any experience or advice please. I would like to sort before my next TD on Wednesday. Grant 😬 183 BHP of black and stone chip excitement. 😬 here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick Day Posted July 17, 2005 Share Posted July 17, 2005 Caterham use gauges made by Caerbont here in their latest cars in contrast to the VDO gauges they used up to about 1997. The VDO gauges react more rapidly & seem to be more robust (both the gauge & sender). I have a Caerbont oil pressure gauge on another car & it's as accurate as Tony Blair's promises. If you want a reasonably accurate gauge then use a mechanical one from Think Auto (Mocal) here. Good source for gauges is Merlin Motor Sport here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldbutnotslow Posted July 18, 2005 Author Share Posted July 18, 2005 Boy what a fag trying to get info / advice on some mechanical gauges! So much bu&&ering about with adapters that Ive bitten the bullet and ordered a SPA as its said to be a direct replacement for the existing Tep / Pressure units. The cost ? Well its only 3s 6d per week for the next 10 years Grant 😬 183 BHP of black and stone chip excitement. 😬 here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patneale Posted July 19, 2005 Share Posted July 19, 2005 I think crap is the answer. My March 03 reg SV has had replacement Speedo, Rev Counter and fuel gauge and the senders for the oil pressure and the temperature gauges failed on this years St Moritz trip, So thats a full house on all my instruments. All made by Caerbont Automotive Ltd in Wales. And C C don't think they have a problem ! Lucky for them that average owner only does 4500 miles in the one year warranty period ! I have done 18000 miles on the road (No track days) in just over 2 years so my car is "old" and worn out in Caterham terms ! Hugh P N Robinson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beelzebub Posted July 19, 2005 Share Posted July 19, 2005 OBNS 150 nicker is a lot to spend on an SPA dual guage. However after looking at the available mechanical options that's what I did & am V. happy with the results. Temp & pressure are displayed in real time & the guage can be fitted with an external LED as your oil light. The pressure on this can be set to any value you wish. Fitting takes about an hour & the unit comes with its own wiring harness. Once fitted there's no ambiguity about the status of your oil temp/press. It's interesting watching how much ambient temperature affects the oil sitting in the DS tank & in turn the pressure from the pump. Everything is menu driven & all parameters are adjustable. Go on. You know it makes sense 😬 If you decide to have one remember to ask for the extra pin for the multi connector to drive the external LED as it's not supplied as std. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobt Posted July 17, 2006 Share Posted July 17, 2006 Where did you guys order the SPA dual gauge and sensors from? I'd like to order from someone who knows exactly all the bits that I will need for a 1600K supersport with apollo. Cheers Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmalcol1 Posted July 17, 2006 Share Posted July 17, 2006 *cool*I would like the same info for an 03 SV 1.8 k series with Apollo tank. John M GK03 EGX SV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobt Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 ^^^^^^^^^^ Anybody.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thinfourth Posted July 19, 2006 Share Posted July 19, 2006 I got my first one from SPA online and the second one i picked up from the local saxo dazza emporium who were most confused by a 7. They aren't too hard to pick-up and the sensors are pretty standard threads. The gauge actually comes with a set of sensors. As to fitting it is pretty straight forward. Only problems i had was i needed to drill and tap my bell housing for the oil temp probe but i have a early caterham drysump so there was no hole already. i belive an Apollo it is old sensor out new one in. Also the holes in the dash need widening by about 1mm on my car. The dash also needs drilling for the control button that comes with the gauge. For power supply i was a bit lazy and just stuck two spades on the end of the power leads that come with the gauge and stuck those in the plug that was fitted to the old gauge. Another think is the leads have quite long cables and i would be very hesitant to cut them so the extra needs to be lost somewhere in the car. The only tricky but was getting the oil pressure sensor fitted, now there is two approaches to this. The best is to contact think automotive who will make you up a nice hose allowing you to tuck the sensor up in the body work. Or you can do what i did and make up a adaptor but i had a machine shop i could borrow 😬 Also there was a bulk buy a while ago possibly arranged by somebody but i can't remember who. It might of been myles. The happy handle made me do it here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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