For me the main reason is that I do not want oil to be routed inside the cabin. I know the chances are remote it would leak etc but I have had mechanical gauge line break on one of my other cars inside the engine bay. By the time I got the engine shut off it had dumped a lot of oil on the garage floor. If it turns out I cannot get good info from the electric gauge then I will re-think things.
David
68 E-type FHC
Use a braided line and it canāt break. I do worry a bit about the cheaper plastic lines as it could rub against something and cause a fault. But braided should be fine. Iād charge it once outside the car to make sure itās not bad out of the box though.
When I put the engine together the original sender didnāt work at all. Got a sender from Nossingers (sp?). It seems to work great - the values are in the range of what youād want and follow temperature and rpm in a logical manner. Iām not concerned about absolute accuracy, as it reads over 60 psi cold, holds at 40 hot 2 000, rpm or so. Since it reads correct in concept, all should be well. Others may think this just sloppy on my part, but I know itās fine. Went with āNossingersā because I recall someone respected saying they were more apt to have good units. Whether an urban myth or factual, who knows, but my unit seems to work well.
I recently replaced my totally failed with an sng unit. It seems fine, but who knows. So long as I see pressure, Iām not worried. Seems odd that no one seems to want to build a consistently reputable sender. Itās really pretty low tech.
Actually thinking about it, itās like so many other formerly well built parts. Quality shops are driven out of business by overseas garbageā¦
I say you hear or smell (maybe even feel) an engine problem before it manifests on a gauge. If a gauge is giving you false info, you may hesitate, or second guess by driving on. There is no engine condition more critical than adequate oil pressure. Boats, for example have alarm buzzers so the happy captain doesnāt sail on. It really doesnāt take long for low/no OP to kill a top end, much less first on the delivery list: the main bearings. The good news is the XK engine oil system has no hoses (in Eās at least) and other weak links other than theā¦sender/gauge. To each their own, for sure.
True confessions: still have the well grommited plastic tube on my mech. gauge. 15 yrs & counting. Whatās Mobil One smell like?
what sort of braid?..hopefully not anything that conducts electricity, or it would warrant non-conductive shield, at least in cabin, imo
I think the one Wilkinson resells is SS braid with a vinyl cover. But if not you can easily run it through a shrink wrap tube or Plasti Dip it. But yes I wouldnāt want it flopping around by the fuse blocks uninsulated.
Thanks very much for the tips. I will plug the mechanical gauge into my car to see how accurate the electric gauge is and then go from there. The gauge I have is a 1.75 inch liquid filled unit that can screw direct into the side of the Tee piece with no line attached. It is a little smaller and about same weight as the electric sending unit. Trying now to figure out a good way to just leave it in place in the Tee but not risk any leaks due to vibration and heat. If my stock gauge is good now then I hope to be able to check often with a flashlight compared to the stock gauge but have a minimum of added parts and clutter.
David
68 E-type FHC
