Hiya fellow FC Owners
yes its me again , another addidition to the car with lots of pics :)
i decided that i wanted an extra temp gauge in the car so decided to put one in the top rad hose
i wasnt happy with the standard gauge as it doesnt REALLY tell you the temp - rather hot or cold
so the hunt began
managed to get a the gauge off ebay ( what a wonderful place ) , the top hose adaptor came off ebay ( more about that later though ) - and tonight it got fitted ( yippee )
right then lets bring on the pics :)
Ta
Stu
( read to the end - and i will tell you what it cost me ! - and you all know me by now so you KNOW its gonna be cheap !! )
First Pic then ....
and as it was the gauge i bought first i may aswell start there :
Second Pic ...
on the other end of the gauge - there is a probe - this measure the water temp !
when the gauge arrived , i boiled the kettle , stuck the gauge in ... and sure enough it was about 100 degrees - so that proves that it atleast worked :
Third pic ...
right then i had the gauge , now just needed something to plumb it into ?!?!?!?
had a shop around and they were looking at anything between £12 - £24
hummm lets look on ebay !!
came accross a chap selling ones for the escort , he said he could make ANY pipe with any fitment
so asked on here for the top hose size and its 38 mm internal diameter .. so emailed the chap with some pics of the probe and the top hose size and it was simple
"bid and win and i will make it for you !! "
got the sizes off the probe ( length , width , thread pitch , shoulder size etc.. )
told him what i needed , a couple of conformation emails and the sender was made !!
( the adaptor needs a shoulder as the nut isnt attached to the probe )
paid my money and 3 days later the sender arrived :)
then sent the better half out for a O ring to make it water tight :
Forth Pic..
i like the sender so much , here is another pic at a different angle and showing the thread and the shoulder !! :
Fifth Pic..
yeah i really like it so here is the last pic of it :
Sixth Pic ..
right then , need to get some water out of the car as the top hose is obviously full !!
Seventh Pic ..
well its a top hose adaptor so i suppose thats where its gonna fit !!! :
Eighth Pic ..
well the pipe was cut , hose adaptor fitted and all bolted back together :
poured water back into the car , started her up , got warm on the normal temp gauge
what was the new gauge showing ... thats right .. NOTHING
panic set in , waited for the car to cool down for a few hrs , took the probe out , boiled the kettle , once boiled , took kettle to car , stuck probe in kettle and gauge shows 100 degrees
humm thats strange ... obviously the car needs to be driven to get the water pumped round properly as there wasnt much water in the hose , but the water level had dropped
i had the same prob when i changed the rad , had to drive it for about 5 miles for the water to get all round the heater matrix and the such like and then topped it back up
so will take her out over the weekend and top her back up
i know you are now all dying to do this mod and are desperate to know how much it all costs ... well wait no more !!!!!!!!!
Temp Gauge : Cost £2.20 + £3.50 P&P = Total £5.70
Sender : Cost £3.20 + £2.50 P&P = Total £5.70
Washer : 30p
So all in all its cost me £11.70 ( if my maths are correct !! )
the seller on ebay is called saloon22 - and sells escort top hose adaptors - but will make anything you ask for .. he is superb - sent me loads of pics and what sizes he needed and what he made was superb
So thats the story of the top water hose temp gauge
I hope you liked it
Ta
Stu
( next project : £1.50 front fog lights )
Nice one m8, tops with the pics.... :wave
crickey - that was quick !!
did you get my PM about the headlight pic i could do with ???
I did m8, it will have to be tomorrow night or Saturday for the shots...
I am now about to post up the other pics from yesterday with yourself and that other bloke with the dirty coloured FC that kept getting into your photos... :p
ha ha ha funny matey !!
thanks again
stu
The deed is done, have a look in \'chit chat\'...
Mate, how long did you wait with the car running for the new guage to show? Cos it takes about 5mins+ at idle for the thermostat to open.
it was running for about 10 mins to be honest
it did the same thing when i did the rad - filled it full , start her up for 10 - 15 mins and all was fine
took it for a blast and it was only after 5-7 miles that the low water light came on
i dont think there is much pressure on the engine when at idle on the drive - so i think it needs to be run
the gauge still works - so thats a plus sign ( as tested with kettle )
the only thing i can think of is how much water travels through the top hose - should it fill the pipe ??
the probe sits about 5 mm off the bottom of the pipe and im wondering if the water isnt deep enough for it ??
i will give it a run over the weekend and report back :) - with pics :)
Stu
The pipe should be full, have you ever changed the thermostat? If its not working properly it wont be doing your engine any favours.
yeah its working fine - i will recheck tonight
nice one, will be doing this mod myself soon enough.
For under £12 its cheap enough ( just what i like ! !)
well done stu--a good mod done in under 20 quid-cheap as chips!!! :evillaugh :evillaugh :evillaugh
oooh yes - took her out for a spin today
gauge sits around 82 - 96 - depends on driving
so not sure if thats good or bad to be honest ??
Stu, did you get the Guage working ok? I dont want to have to come up there...
the thermostat should open at 83, i fitted my guage in exactly the same way, and it reads exactly the same temps as the apexi, never more than 88 but generally about 85 - 86. you dont really want it higher than 100.
apexi ????????????????????
Apexi Power FC commander......................... did you read the thread i spend hours typing in the members rides :flamed
what with you being a mod and all that :eek
the only TII with a stock TII engine running a Power FC..... (that i know of)
(i bet Trex wishes he had one after today!) :rollin
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHH
it is for the FC then ( or did you use an FD one )
there was one on ebay last week for about £700 buy in now
its an FD one, they are a lot cheaper than that, i have seen them for 300 with out the commander
i got told that you could run an FD one - but then other people tell me you cant - so i dont know who to believe !!
how much was it to get it converted to run the FC ???
330 BHP though - thats a nice round figure to be honest - i just dont know how the hell you insure it - my insurance wont even let me fit a boost controller :(
traders policy!
There is more to come when i get a boost controller!! i would like to run about 1.1 bar and see around 370 at least, fingers crossed!.
The power FC is bog standard for an FD, runns the stock program and gets mapped like any other FD, i had the FC wiring loom converted to fit which was fairly easy, although i did also supply and old FD wiring loom to help, ReWorx did this, You would either need the FD UIM or get Throttle position sensor to work somehow but fitting the FD UIM solves a lot of problems in one go and isnt too difficult to fit, you get the air temp sensor, TPS and can fit a greddy elbow instead of the stupidly small FC throttle body inlet.
it all sounds well and and good i must admit - thats probably well over the top for what i want to be honest - i was looking for about 250-260 at the fly
and im hoping that will be possibly without completly rebuilding the car
failing that - just a terminal speed of 100.01 mph will do me just fine :)
Any plans to do anymore gauge installs?
Im toying with the idea of oil temp/oil pressure/water temp on my Egi.
Where would it be best to take an oil temp feed from and where would i be best to monitor pressure?
you already have oil pressure on the dash - so you could leave that alone
and to run an oil temp - you can get a sandwich plate that lets you do it- i have set up a discount code at a company - but you need to be a member to see the details - sorry
not sure what the next gauge it to be honest - im sure i will find one !!
Looks like im becoming a full member at the end of the week then :chat