Long time lurker/MINI2 nut/Michigan MINI nut. Thought I'd share my experiences with everyone. Please note two different methods for this in my post.
Oil pressure mechanical gauge how-to
ON-Block Mount Method:
Time:
-A little less than two hours your first time
Tools needed:
-18mm wrench
-11mm wrench (or whatever size is needed for your gauge crush fitting bits)
-1 1/16”, 6point, deep-well socket OR 27MM, 6point, deep-well socket (bought at local hardware store, but is very hard to find)
Items needed:
-Mechanical oil pressure gauge (I used an AutoMeter Pro Comp UltraLite)
-Teflon pipe tape; Blue or Yellow container (bought at Home Depot)
-3/8” brass T-fitting with all female ends (bought at Home Depot)
-3/8” brass pipe thread male-to-male extender that is 2”long (bought at Home Depot)
-Gauge bits
Note a few things before beginning:
-I read countless other threads with bits of information here and there, but there was never a definitive write-up of how to install the gauge, thus I did it.
-This write up is based on the fact that you already installed the gauge into your cabin, and ran the line through the firewall. The following pic shows where you can access a grommet to put lines through it.
-The method I used is for AutoMeter Pro-Comp UltraLite
mechanical gauges, and thus your gauge hardware may be different in terms of sizes. All of the crush fittings and remaining hardware will be the same.
-This is all done by touch and memory of what is down there. You do not need to jack the MINI up at all or remove a wheel or fender.
-Real estate is limited in the engine compartment of the MINI (as if you didn’t know that). So, you will not be seeing what you are doing as you are hooking up various items. However, if you have a friend along with you, that person can get on the ground right behind the passenger tire (US spec MCS) and look up to see what is happening. That person will not be able to reach up there or help out at all since space is too tight.
-Since space is so tight, I couldn’t really take any pics as it is hard to get a camera down there for anything. I did borrow a few pics from other threads, and will describe in detail as best as I can. I also took a few final pics.
-I used a 6 foot copper line (made by AutoMeter) to run the oil from the T-fitting to the cabin. It just seems safest to cover anywhere where oil my be able to spring a leak, so I threw that nylon wire in the trash, and used copper instead. It was a little difficult to run the copper wire from the cabin to the oil-sending unit, but use your imagination on places to run it. Look at the last pic to see where I ran mine. Please note:
DO NOT BEND THE COPPER LINE TO MUCH OR ELSE YOU WILL KINK OR BREAK IT. Please use your head.
-Total cost for this method is about
$10 not including tools or the guage itself.
First thing to do is to remove your stock oil-sending unit. This is an electrical switch plugged into a mechanical plug which is screwed into your engine so it reads your oil pressure and alerts the computer (and your dummy light on the dash) saying if the engine is low on oil. So, the following picture shows where the unit is, and basically where you will be working the entire time. To find it yourself, go to the passenger fender (US spec MCS) and look down where the oil canister is. Directly underneath and a bit more towards the middle is the green plug you are looking for. The red tab slides across and then you can push the green tab to pull the top of the switch off.
Once that unplugs, you will need to put your 1 1/16” or 27mm socket on the place where you just unplugged. I had to use an angle bit that attaches to the socket and wrench so I could get my ½” drive socket in there. As I stated, real estate is tight, so it will be frustrating. As ColorodoMark stated “I could not get my socket wrench on there, even with assorted adaptors. So, I resorted to the vise grip method also: but I had to go buy a shorter one then what I had to fit in there.” That is possible to do, but if you work your socket wrench enough, you’ll get it. A little oil may drip out, depending on the angle of your car on the driveway or garage. Clean that up so you can see later when everything is done if you have any leaks.
If you can believe it, that was the hard part. Put any adapter needed for your gauge bits included with the gauge into the end (not top) of the brass T-fitting with Teflon tape around the male end. To wrap Teflon tape, make sure you are wrapping with the way it will screw on (clockwise) for about two or three passes. The end of the T-fitting means that part that will be pointing towards the cabin of the car. Now put your Teflon tape onto both male ends of your 2” long 3/8” brass fitting. Screw that puppy into the hole you just took the mechanical oil-sending unit out of. Don’t worry about it being all the way tight as the brass T-fitting will tighten it more.
Now screw the brass T-fitting into the male brass fitting you just screwed in. Watch your hands on the piece of metal right next to the T-fitting. Make sure that bad boy is tight (but not too tight where you may strip the female end in your engine block, as that will cause major problems). Also make sure the opening with nothing screwed into it is pointing up towards you after tightening that, as you will need to access it easily.
Now, you are going to hook up your crush fitting onto the end of the brass T-fitting where you placed the adapter for your bit with the Teflon tape. I’m sure if you are doing this, you already know how crush fittings work, so I will not be explaining this. If you don’t, please consult someone that has done it before, as it is crucial this connection is correct.
So now you have a copper line (or nylon if you decided to live dangerously) coming out from your cabin/firewall going into a crush fitting, which in turn is screwed into an adapter to fit the female end of the brass T-fitting. That, in turn, is screwed into a male-to-male 3/8” brass fitting that is in turn screwed into your engine hole where you originally unscrewed your oil-sending unit. There are only a few things left!
Take your mechanical oil-sending unit you unscrewed originally from the engine and remove the old Teflon tape. Put a new strip on the male end of the mechanical oil-sending unit. Screw that into the top of the remaining opening on the brass T-fitting, making sure it is tight. Watch out for the brass T-fitting and male-to-male brass fitting to not screw with you as you are screwing the mechanical oil-sending unit it, as the crush fitting on your copper line
DOES NOT like to spin.
Once completed with that, plug in your little green electrical plug you first unplugged. Triple check all connections and make sure you tightened everything, as if you lose oil from here, you could really screw up your engine.
Now go towards the end of this FAQ for the
Final Instructions.
Oil pressure mechanical gauge how-to
REMOTE Mount Method:
Time:
-A little less than two hours your first time
Tools needed:
-18mm wrench
-11mm wrench (or whatever size is needed for your gauge crush fitting bits)
-1 1/4" wrench (or whatever size your steel braided line ends are)
-1 1/16”, 6point, deep-well socket OR 27MM, 6point, deep-well socket (bought at local hardware store, but is very hard to find)
-Solder iron
-24" 18 guage wire
Items needed:
-18" Steel braided line with male 3/8" pipe thread ends (bought from Detroit Flexible Steel
www.hosenow.com)
-Mechanical oil pressure gauge (I used an AutoMeter Pro Comp UltraLite)
-Teflon pipe tape; Blue or Yellow container (bought at Home Depot)
-3/8” brass T-fitting with all female ends (bought at Home Depot)
-Gauge bits
Note a few things before beginning:
-Make sure the Steel braided line has at least one end that swivels or rotates as you'll want that to be screwed into the block for an easy install.
-I read countless other threads with bits of information here and there, but there was never a definitive write-up of how to install the gauge, thus I did it.
-This write up is based on the fact that you already installed the gauge into your cabin, and ran the line through the firewall. The following pic shows where you can access a grommet to put lines through it.
-The method I used is for AutoMeter Pro-Comp UltraLite
mechanical gauges, and thus your gauge hardware may be different in terms of sizes. All of the crush fittings and remaining hardware will be the same.
-This is all done by touch and memory of what is down there. You do not need to jack the MINI up at all or remove a wheel or fender.
-Real estate is limited in the engine compartment of the MINI (as if you didn’t know that). So, you will not be seeing what you are doing as you are hooking up various items. However, if you have a friend along with you, that person can get on the ground right behind the passenger tire (US spec MCS) and look up to see what is happening. That person will not be able to reach up there or help out at all since space is too tight.
-Since space is so tight, I couldn’t really take any pics as it is hard to get a camera down there for anything. I did borrow a few pics from other threads, and will describe in detail as best as I can. I alos took a few final pics.
-I used a 6 foot copper line (made by AutoMeter) to run the oil from the T-fitting to the cabin. It just seems safest to cover anywhere where oil my be able to spring a leak, so I threw that nylon wire in the trash, and used copper instead. It was a little difficult to run the copper wire from the cabin to the oil-sending unit, but use your imagination on places to run it. Look at the last pic to see where I ran mine (yes I need to tape the copper line down so it doesn’t rattle, but I just finished this yesterday). Please note:
DO NOT BEND THE COPPER LINE TO MUCH OR ELSE YOU WILL KINK OR BREAK IT. Please use your head.
-Total cost for this method is about
$40 not including tools or the guage itself.
First thing to do is to remove your stock oil-sending unit. This is an electrical switch plugged into a mechanical plug which is screwed into your engine so it reads your oil pressure and alerts the computer (and your dummy light on the dash) saying if the engine is low on oil. So, the following picture shows where the unit is, and basically where you will be working the entire time. To find it yourself, go to the passenger fender (US spec MCS) and look down where the oil canister is. Directly underneath and a bit more towards the middle is the green plug you are looking for. The red tab slides across and then you can push the green tab to pull the top of the switch off.
Once that unplugs, you will need to extend the oil pressure sending unit. First cut the wire about an inch from the green connection head. Strip back the black wire cover on the wire attached to the engine area, then strip back some of the exposed wire. Strip about a 1/2" of wire cover back from the green head you just disconnected. Strip each end of the extended 18 guage wire as well. Now comes one of the most difficult parts. Solder the extended wire onto each end of engine block exposed wire and the green connection head end. It is difficult as there is no way to look as you're doing it, so make sure your soldering skills are really good. Electrical tape then heat shrink wire wrap around those connections to seal them up.
Next, you will need to put your 1 1/16” or 27mm socket on the place where you just unplugged. I had to use an angle bit that attaches to the socket and wrench so I could get my ½” drive socket in there. As I stated, real estate is tight, so it will be frustrating. As ColorodoMark stated “I could not get my socket wrench on there, even with assorted adaptors. So, I resorted to the vise grip method also: but I had to go buy a shorter one then what I had to fit in there.” That is possible to do, but if you work your socket wrench enough, you’ll get it. A little oil may drip out, depending on the angle of your car on the driveway or garage. Clean that up so you can see later when everything is done if you have any leaks.
If you can believe it, that was the hard part. The way the brass T will be mounted is onto the plastic casing housing the brake items (located on the passenger side US spec) on the outside of it (engine block side). One end will point towards the driver side where the copper line is originating from, one end will point towards the passenger side (US spec) wheel well and one will point down towards where the oil sending use to be. I will put up a pic here soon that will show what I mean.
Wrap the male swivel/rotating end from the steel braided line with Teflon tape then screw it into the hole you just took the mechanical oil-sending unit out of, making sure it is tight. To wrap Teflon tape, make sure you are wrapping with the way it will screw on (clockwise) for about two or three passes. Watch your hands on the piece of metal right next to the T-fitting. Now wrap the other male end of the steel braided line with Teflon tape then screw that into the brass T-fitting bottom (pointing down towards the floor).
Put any adapter needed for your gauge bits included with the gauge into the end (pointing towards the drivers side (US spec) of the brass T-fitting with Teflon tape around the male end. Now, you are going to hook up your crush fitting onto the end of the brass T-fitting where you placed the adapter for your bit with the Teflon tape. I’m sure if you are doing this, you already know how crush fittings work, so I will not be explaining this. If you don’t, please consult someone that has done it before, as it is crucial this connection is correct.
Take your mechanical oil-sending unit you unscrewed originally from the engine and remove the old Teflon tape. Wrap new Teflon tape around the male end of the oil pressure sending unit and screw that into the end of the brass T-fitting pointing towards the passenger side (US spec) wheel well. Make sure all connections are tight (but not too tight where you may strip an end, as that will cause major problems).
So now you have a copper line (or nylon if you decided to live dangerously) coming out from your cabin/firewall going into a crush fitting, which in turn is screwed into an adapter to fit the female end of the brass T-fitting. That, in turn, is screwed into an 18" steel braided line that has male ends on each end which is in turn screwed into your engine hole where you originally unscrewed your oil-sending unit. There are only a few things left!
Once completed with that, plug in your little green electrical plug you first unplugged. Triple check all connections and make sure you tightened everything, as if you lose oil from here, you could really screw up your engine.
Final Instructions:
Now comes the fun part! Have someone next to the engine watching for leaks from all of your new connections, ready to yell “Cut the engine!” if need be. Bring a towel into your cabin in case your crush fittings to your gauge on the inside were not completed correctly, and place that next to your gauge (in case oil leaks). Start your MINI, watch the gauge and be mindful of any leaks. Assuming everything is fine (and it should be, as you triple checked everything), your gauge will give you readings (look at the last reference link for what your reading swill be). Let the engine warm up for a few minutes parked, watching for any leaks at all. Once it is warmed up, take it around the block, working the engine to run some PSI to the gauge. Bring it back and park it. Immediately go to your new fittings you hooked up, and make sure everything is tightened still (as heat will cause some expanding, you probably will be able to tighten a few things a little). The most important part is to make sure your crush fitting is tight, as that may be a bit loose. Oh yeah, and your exhaust manifold will be hot, so watch out for that.
That’s it… you’re done! As a side note, either method isn't bad. I thought about remote mounting this at first, since many people posted this whole unit may vibrate a lot, especially during hard motoring while auto-crossing or the such. I initially did not go this route as this is a solid piece, screwed into a solid hole, and is not all that heavy. The only reason why I remote mounted it later was because I jacked up the engine to do a pulley swap and thought everything was fine, but I kinked the line a bit, so I lost the connection to the line. I had some time to re-do it, so I decided to remote mount it.
Any questions, feel free to ask. Motor On!
Oh yeah, and you’ll notice I did a mechanical boost gauge as well. I didn’t do a write up of this, as the threads in here are more than helpful of what to do (it’s easy).
This thread and
this thread are the best to use as a reference for your boost gauge install.
References:
First one.
Second one.
Thrid one.
Final one.
2004 Liquid Yellow MCS Sport/Chrome Pkg, 17% Alta SC Pulley, Alta Intake, Alta IC Diverter, Ultrik Cam, CM Flywheel/FX200, OBX ATB Diff, JCW Fuel Injectors and Software, Edge Racing Sport Header with Magnaflow Cat, 1 Ball Exhaust, JCW Plugs, Powerflex Front Subframe Bushings, Powerflex Motor Mount Inserts, Alta Springs, Alta Lower Control Arms, Alta 19mm Rear Sway Bar, Rear Seat Deleted, 17 by 7 O.Z. Ultraleggeras, Auto Meter Boost/Vacuum And Oil Pressure Gauges.
I don't think it's so different, but just in case...
