where is anoil preeure switch

[renovationinnov]

sorry to be a bit stupid ,, but i cannot find where to fit my oil pressure switch to as i know the water temp switch is at the back of the valley
so what is the sensor on the left hand head front
the motor is a ls1
helf

[Aussie Mike]

Factory oil pressure is in the back of the valley. Water temp is in the passengers side head near the front (above the Alternator).

If you want to put in an aftermarket gauge then you can tap off the plate above the oil filter.

Cheers

[Gaz64]

Originally Posted by renovationinnov

sorry to be a bit stupid ,, but i cannot find where to fit my oil pressure switch to as i know the water temp switch is at the back of the valley
so what is the sensor on the left hand head front
the motor is a ls1
helf

As Mike has said.

Both are sensors, oil pressure sensor at back of valley, water temp sensor at front outside of LH cylinder head.

There is a corresponding bung for water temp on the outside rear of the RH head.

[Zedn]

What are you hooking up to it? Ecu?
It won't work with normal oil gauges I don't think. I tapped a 1/8npt fitting into the cover above the oil filter for oil pressure.

[renovationinnov]

im tring to do my oil & water senders so i can hook up my gauges as i just had the harness stripped down & all i have is a wire marked water temp & oil pressurebut they left the plug for the original temp switch
plus some extras for themos
ROB

[Modena]

depending on your gauge you may not be able to use the factory oil sender. For an LS1 most people tap this plate to 1/8' NPT above the oil filter, as the plate is not used for anything on the Aussie LS1's;

[bobcowan]

The water temp sender should be at the front of the engine. The coolant flows through the block, and cools the cylinders. Then it goes up into the heads, and foreword to the thermostat, and then (of course) to the radiator. If you put the gauge sender in the back of the block, it will only read the coolant temp as it leaves the block, not as it leaves the head. It won't provide you with usable information.

[Gaz64]

You need sender units compatible with your gauges, you won't get correct readings otherwise.

[gjkrv8]

On the same theme as Modena mentioned above I used an after market block off plate from Improved Racing. This gives you 3 x 1/8" NPT ports for Oil Pressure, Oil Temp and for Oil Supply for Turbo.

$100 bucks landed in AUS.

[renovationinnov]

thanks all
as modena has done i tapped a 1/8 npt in top of the oil filter & added a tee piece so as the oil temp & pressure could work
thank all
ROB

[renovationinnov]

ok ive got the oil pressure up & running , but now i find that water temperture is hard to access at the right hand back of the head & i need the left hand sender to run the ecu control so where do i look next or is there a place [ eg like remove out lets for heater pipes & tap a bung with a 1/8 npt thread in to run the temp gauge
rob

[bobcowan]

Originally Posted by renovationinnov

thanks all
as modena has done i tapped a 1/8 npt in top of the oil filter & added a tee piece so as the oil temp & pressure could work
thank all
ROB

Not a particularly good spot for the oil temp sender. That's a dead space, with no oil flowing through it. It will eventually warm up through conduction. But it will be slow to respond, and probably never read the max temp of the oil.

[Aussie Mike]

I put the oil temp sender in the sump. On US crate motors there is a threaded boss on the side of the sump where the sump heater screws in. I just machined up an adaptor to plug the sensor in there.



If you are game to unbolt the sump there is enough meat in the side of it to drill and tap a hole for a sender. Then you will be measuring the temp of the oil directly in the sump. It's dead easy to unbolt the sump. It uses an O ring gasket that is reusable.

As for the water temp sender, I've seen some people drill and tap for a sender into the top of the water pump. Some models of pump have a flat boss in the casting there ready for a different style of water neck. It makes a good spot for the sender. LS1 thermostat restrict water into the motor rather than out of and the thermostat is in the suction pipe of the pump.

I used the blocked off hole in the drivers side head for mine but drilled it out larger for a mechanincal sender (a whole 'nuther story). Stock it has a 12mm thread and it'd be easy to make up a 12mm to 1/8NPT adapter and that would require no drilling.

Cheers

[Zedn]

Mike, isn't that the oil level sensor location? Drivers side of the sump?

Any one install a steam pipe between the water pump and heads?

[sideshow]

easiest way to do it is
remove ls1 oil pressure sensor
break off plastic part and dig out electrics
u will have an alloy piece left
drill and tap the centre to suit your new oil pressure sender

with water u can make or buy adaters to screw into drivers side head right at back
u just have to remome allen key bolt
i have run out of the adpaters but i can get more easily when i order some other stuff
from my guy who makes em
or u can drill and tap a hole in flat sevtion on water pump
if u fit a sensor in a pipe between radiator and engine make sure u weld a small nut so u can run n earth wire from pipe/sensor to ground or your sender will not be earthed and gauge wont work

[Aussie Mike]

Sorry, yes you are right. It's an oil level sensor, I just looked it up. I'd assumed it was a sump heater connection for cold climates since the Aussie motors didn't seem to have it. My Holden sourced loom didn't have a connection for it either.

I've connected the steam pipe to the water pump but I made a filler neck and pressure cap fitting and welded it to the pump. That let me delete the header tank. Previously I had the steam pipe connected to the header tank. I reckon it needs to go to or near the highest point in the system to purge any trapped air out of the system.






How it's set up now.



Cheers

[renovationinnov]

thanks guys
side show could you get me one of the rihgt hand head adaptors ...please & if i did the rear block manifold modifaction can i run the oil temp from it instead
thanks again
ROB

[Zedn]

looks good Mike,

How did you have the header bottle connected before welding it to the pump? I was planning on using one of those inline radiator cap fittings (straight pipe with a neck on it) up close to the water pump and then just using a recovery tank from that rather than having a full header tank.

Did you drill out the steam pipe ports at the rear of the heads also? I cant see a connector in the photo. Not sure how important this is until major mods are made to the engine.

[Aussie Mike]

Early ls1 motors had a steam pipe cross over front and rear of the motor. These were then connected together with a pipe running under the manifold. With the introduction of the LS6 the rear cross over and tube under the manifold was deleted. I think this was mainly because the plenum area of the LS6 manifold is deeper and it sits down closer to the valley plate so no room for the pipe.

I've seen where people have drilled out the steam pipe holes and used AN fittings. I'm tempted to do this myself. I have just silver soldered some Bundy tube into the original bosses and soldered on an AN-6 fitting in the middle. I made up a matching cross over at the rear that eliminated the front to rear connection.

The header tank had an AN-10 on the bottom that ran to a fitting about half way up the radiator tank. 2x AN-6 fittings at the top were for purge. One ran to the steam pipe on the motor and the other went to a -6 fitting on the top of the radiator tank. The system filled really easily with air being purged from the motor and the radiator at the same time.

The tank is on Gav's car now.

Cheers

[Zedn]

Mike, where does the hose go that is coming out of the top of the welded on neck?

I am trying to work out the best option for my set up, but the steam pipe is confusing me.
My radiator filler is about 20mm lower than the upper hose on the water pump, but the steam pipe is then higher again.

Original plan was to install one of these inline fillers Moroso Radiator Hose Fillers 63745 - SummitRacing.com near the upper hose on water pump to allow it to fill without air getting trapped (or would it still be trapped in heads?). I was then going to just run the overflow to a recovery tank. Only problem is the steam pipe would be higher. Do you think it would work to just tap the steam pipe into the inline filler? Not sure if the air/steam would push through into the system or get stuck at the top of the pipe.