Oil Filter relocation

First let me thank everyone who has replied to me.

The epa would probably be more concerned about my lack of a catalytic converter, oops, good thing I dont have to pass emission tests here.

That's what I was planning on doing. The braided stuff would be nice but I'm on a students budget right now (or lack thereof). I think the main reason they popped off was due to using not so good clamps when I replaced the old lines. The only thing I'm still paranoid about it the pressure in the lines. It reads anywhere from zero up to about 35 psi at the most, usually around 15. I have already replaced the pressure sender and the oil pump was replaced awhile ago also with no effect. The reading of zero is definitely not accurate since I have squeezed the oil lines with my hand when the engine is running and there is quite substantial resistance.

Does anyone know how the pressure sender works? I've heard various stories but I don't know who to believe. My guess is that it is being affected by the long lines and narrow fittings, hopefully it's not giving an accurate measurement. Does anyone think that using stiffer, pressure rated lines would improve the accuracy of the sender?

Thanks again to everybody, especially Kevin and The Raven, for all the help.

David

The long lines might result in a line drop, but I suspect that the additional length would have little impact on your oil pressure. It's just a couple of feet...

How it works? Not really. But consensus is that after about 2 decades the units tend to either go wonky or just plain fail. See the links below. :)

Don't know. But I do know that you can switch to a heavier oil (specifically, 20w50) to raise the oil pressure... But I would first establish for certain that what the gauge is showing is in fact accurate.

FB oil pressure gauge discussion:

Where the gauge plugs into the motor:

---- The oil pressure sender is located on the rear plate (cast iron) to the right of the rear upper spark plug, on the drivers side. If you've got a J-spec 12a engine made prior to 1981 it won't have an oil pressure sender, just a switch to activate a light as they didn't have oil pressure gauges until '81. You can get around this by drilling/tapping a thread into the base of the oil filter stand (carefully, it's aluminium).

----

Installing an aftermarket gauge:

If those are standard rubber hoses, they may soften and swell in the presence of oil. This would choke off the oil delivery, and make them very hard to clamp in place. Why not relocate it close to where it used to be. A visit to a 9x25 cent car wash might be a good idea.

I posted some more pictures after I cleaned the engine up. It looks %100 better.

||I'd still be tempted to recommend you go with an earlier under radiator oil ||cooler and factory hoses, which will work better and do away with most of ||the hose mess.

To do this properly also requires substituting the older short radiator, so the cooler will fit below it. Need the mounting brackets too. That stuff seems to be a little harder to find of late, but it may be a local thing. Some people use longer lines and set the cooler in front of the radiator.

Personally, I use the beehive cooler on my racing RX7 and it has worked fine, oil temps well in the proper range. I don't think I've seen over 240 on the track on a July day in Texas.

||Now can someone tell me where the coolant lines come from for these coolers? ||Never really bothered to look into them (hate the idea of that cooler) as I ||run full sized coolers on older engines.

One comes out of the filter base fitting at the upper left rear of the engine, the other comes out of the left side of the timing cover. Not sure which is the pressure side.

Texas Parts Guy

Way back when I was racing, oil temp was held to 200 deg or less. Since only oil cools the rotor a temp of 240 reduces power.

Chas Hurst