A little more progress.
Milltek is still working on his prototype wiring; he's had work delaying him. In the meantime, I've proceeded with more work on the rest of the conversion and the car. However, last week my oil pressure sensor started leaking and acting strange... again... and the price for the sender went up... again. If I get a new one, it will last for a few years, and then die... again... and by then the sensor will probably be up to $100 if not more. Heck with that. Time to convert to another set of instrumentation, preferably something more precise and reliable with better illumination.
I used to own this 1985 Nissan 300ZX Turbo with this digital gauge cluster. I liked it a lot - it was clear, easy to read, and even though it had faded a bit over time, it was still very legible at night without being irritating. Information was accessible at a glance - I especially liked the combiner bar-graph tachometer; the height of the bars told you how much boost you were using and the highlighted bar told you at what RPM you were running. Overall, I found this very usable. I thought, why not try some digital gauges this time around?
I settled on these Autometer Cobalt Digital gauges, as they match the rest of the panel lighting the best of the acceptable gauges I examined. This is the oil pressure gauge, as you can see. The fuel level, voltmeter, and coolant temperature gauges are on the way and should be here Monday or Tuesday. Unlike the stock gauge, this one can tell me to the nearest PSI what the engine's oil pressure is. It won't be lagged by a bimetallic core and there are no moving parts. More importantly, it costs only a little more than a stock sensor.
These gauges come with all needed sensors. This oil gauge sensor is readily available and inexpensive to replace should it fail; it is a one-wire hookup so I can use my existing wiring.
Here's the gauge ready to be installed; Weatherpack connectors have been attached and the wires have been loomed.
The dash top or "crash roll" on an XJ comes out after removing seven screws and disconnecting a couple of wires. The tach and speedometer come out with a simple twist and then can be lifted out. The ancilliary instruments are held in by a similiar retainer system to the Auto Meter gauges.
Here are the three connections for the oil gauge - sensor line, the illumination bulb, and the power wire. The Jaguar gauge grounds via its metal retainer and the steel backplate of the dashboard; a ground must be fabricated to connect the Auto Meter gauge.
Tach back in, gauge installed and active. Here, the external lights are on and the LED display is dimmed - but the "OIL PRESS" legend is backlit by an LED.
Gauge in action:
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(Did I mention the stock gauge illumination was dim, even at maximum, for no apparent reason?
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I'll post again when the other gauges get here and are in.