My little review...

I recently had a desire to upgrade my autometer boost gauge to something a little nicer, as well as adding some other important gauges. I liked the craig hardy panel, but I also liked the 42 draft panel. It was really a toss-up to me, and I ended up gettign the 42DD panel.

The gauges I chose to use were the SW 0-30psi boost, Oil press, Oil Temp, and Water Temp. The Boost gauge would be installed in my autometer steering column pod, and the other three in the 42DD Panel. The Boost gauge is mechanical, the others are electrical. I made my selections, got in touch with Evan at 42 and placed my order.

I recieved my parts promptly (a benefit of being in Jersey, 42 is in MD) and was very impressed when I opened the package. All the gauges were nicely packaged and wrapped in bubble wrap. All the adaptors were neatly packaged in ziplock baggies with labels. The wiring kits were packaged the same way, ziplock baggies with lables. There was a geerous amount of wire in the packages, crimp on ring connectors, and everything needed for the install.

I also purchased a radio relocation kit from Buschur Racing (thanks Dave!). Installing the Radio Relocation Kit is a Breeze, and I really like the radio in that location better than the stock location.

Before:



I started my gauge install by pulling the stock trim panel out of the car and mounting the gauges in the panel. I pre-wired all the gauges for lighting, power, and the wires from the senders. I left about a foot of extra wire and installed some plugs from Radio Shack. That way if I have to remove the panel for access later it will be a snap. I removed my autometer gauge and installed the SW Boost Gauge.






For Ignition Switched power for the gauges I tapped into the ACC power on my radio harness. Gor gauge Illumination I tapped into the radio harness as welland for the gauge illumination ground I used a good chassis ground.

After I had all of the gauges installed, I ran the sender wires into the engine bay and prepared to install all of the senders.

I used the 42DD Thermostat housing replacement for the Coolant Temp. There is another thread regarding installing the temperature sensor in the upper radiator hose, and the gist of the thread is this. The coolant in the upper hose doesn't get warm until the thermostat opens, so the sensor reading aren't truely accurate until the thermostat opens. There is a small bleeder in the t-stat that allows a small amount of coolant through at all times, but it's not enough to allow the gauge to read properly. The gauge will slowly come up in temperature, then jump when the t-stat opens. This isn't a problem to me, but if yuor t-stat gets stuck closed, the gauge won't warn you.

After the water temp sensor was done I installed the oil temp sensor and the oil pressure sensor. I used the 42DD adaptors for both of these. The oil pressure adaptor worked well, the angled fitting gave plenty of clearance for the large SW sender. Oil pressure holds well at 25-35lbs at idle, and 100lbs at cruise.

The oil temperature sender, well, I don't like it. I called Evan at 42 to talk about this already, but these are my initial results. The included adaptor is simply a replacement drain plug with a hole in the middle for the temp sensor. This puts the temp sensor at the bottom of the pan where the oil is the coolest. It's 40 degrees outside in NJ right now, and after a 40 minute drive, the oil temp gauge never read over 145 degrees. The cooling effect of the air on the bottom of the pan was too much to allow an accurate oil temp reading. 42 is working on a new sender location, and after speaking with Evan today he will be sending me this new adaptor to put the temp sensor in the oil filter housing just like the pressure sensor. This will allow more accurate reading, I hope.

The SW boost gauge is a much nicer piece than the Autometer gauge. The needle is much more steady and the boost readings seem more consistent. There isn't much more to say about it beyond that...





Overall I am very satisfied with the quality of product from 42. Once I recieve the new oil temp adaptor I will move the sensor and hopefully get a much better reading. I will update this thread when I do...

- Steve

 

I have the SW oil temp gauge also as part of my triple gauge and it came with all the hardware needed to install it on the filterhousing. Mine goes up to 210 degrees after about 10 minutes of driving. I also couldn't be happier with the product, great job 42 Draft Designs!

 

where on the filter housing did you place that oil temp sensor? pics?

 

Interesting, hopefully the new hardware works for me...

- Steve

 

There are two plugs which can be used, I picked the one easiest to access. I didn't take any pictures but it will be pretty obvious once you get there. The hardest part is getting the plug out which always seems to be in there with about 100 ft lbs...

I should add that the sensor comes with a screw in attachment and adaptors, one for the oil drain plug and 2-3 other ones. One of the other ones fits the filter housing.

 

Is it a true fit, or is it the wrong thread, and you kinda make it fit?

 

It is the right thread, fit's perfectly. I did use some teflon tape to ensure a 100% seal.

 

looks good man, cant wait to get my car and put my SW in and then add more later

 

Thanks man, I'm real happy with it....

 

damm...the threads dont screw in right. It's crossthreading on mine. the temp sensor hardware and the oil pressure hardward for the sendor will not fit. I have to make it fit and its crossthreading and I dont like it. I'm gonna have to give 42draft design a call.

 

Thats what I was afraid of...

I'll see if the hardware they send me this week is a better fit.

 

that looks really good, i've wanted to do that for awhile now. mind if i ask how much it cost you for the panel and 3 guages?

 

Yep. See the attached picture of my setup (though in my case I am using Omori gauges).

l8r)

 

The kit comes with the oil drain plug sender adaptor as we were concerned that some EVO's did not come with the second plug in the oil filter housing. The car I work on has the extra plug, but many customers have reported to me that they had no extra plug. I have had enough positive reports that the second plug exists on all cars that I will be modifying all the kits to include an adaptor for the temp sender to go into the oil filter flange. Steve should have his adaptor by today or tommorow.


MrMejia - I believe we've been communicating via email. Now that I have read this thread I have better insight on what your problem is. You're using the brass 3/8 NPT adaptor that comes with the SW oil temp gauge to screw it into the oil filter flange. THis is not correct. You need to use the included drain plug adaptor or wait for me to release the temp sender adaptor for the oil filoter flange. I am currently fresh out of all EVO adaptors for the oil filter flange but I am tooling up the production lathe to make a huge batch for a variety of sender sizes.

Just to clarify - SW temp and pressure gauges come with a bunch of adaptors that noone but domestic hot rod owners can use. They are all NPT. You are NOT supposed to use these adaptors for anything and it's our mistake that we left them in there. mitsubishi uses BSPT threaded senders and plugs for fluids. NPT =/= NPT, EVER. NPT and BSPT differ by 1 thread per inch and slightly by outer diameter. Never try to screw an NPT fitting into a BSPT hole.

Feel free to post up any questions you guys have,

Evan

 

good info Evan, I'll be ordering my gauges real soon...