Mechanical oil pressure guage

I would like to put a mechanical oil pressure guage on my 82 XJ 1100. I need to know the best place to plumb it in. Could it be the bolt on the lower case where the oil pipe bolts on?? Thanks.

 

Friend of mine put one of those on a different bike using a custom made oil filler cap. Mounted the guage directly on top of the cap.. You just need to move your leg a little and glance down to see the oil pressure.

Perhaps not what you were thinking, but it works.

 

No I want to know what the oil pump system pressure is. I have no idea what you would find out with a guage in the filler cap except maybe the oil temp. No way that would tell you the pressure in the sytem. Thanks anyway.

 

The only place on the XJ1100 to access the main oil galery is on top of the engine next to the oil feed line to the cylinder head. There in a pipe plug there , you can tap into it. You could fab a mount for the guage and run a line ot it.

 

Hmm. Now I think of it, it was a temperature gauge.

 

Hi PitMonster, Here is my post as i made an adapter for the lower oil gallery.
SwissJohn suggested a flexable line up to my handlebars instead, but i like it short and sweet.

On another forum topic it was suggested to try the oil tap from the right side of the head, i see someone would have to drill the bolt to take a flexable line to a gauge on the handlebars. Thinking of it more closely it could be done with only a little effort.

I and others seem to think that the pressure readings would be different from those two points, and i think the lower gallery would give a better indication of oil pressure short of tapping off the pump itself.

If you come up with something let us know..

 

Looking at what you did Rockerto, it's real nice, but like I said on your thread, it's a bit in the wrong place to be useful.

However I do like the polished steel pipe, it looks better than braided hose. I was reading a book by Billy Lane the other day, and he did a similar thing with a copper pipe, which is nice when it's new, but over time, it'll go brown, polished steel will stay nice.. I wonder if you brought that pipe forward and up through your exhaust pipe you could attach it somehow to the frame near the front of your tank, it'll be closer to your other instruments and be easier to read. Perhaps you could even mount it directly onto your tank with a very short bit of flexible hose to make tank removal easier??

 

Thanks John,
Just a shortage of suitable materials keeps me from
redesigning it, and more pressing matters.

I like the steampunk look, but your right,
it tarnishes without a quick rub of steel wool once a month.