Oil Pressure/Temperature Sensor Banjo Bolt

[SmuttyHutty]

Just did a quick search of the forum and it doesn't seem to appear that anyone has tried these:

https://www.rx8performance.com/products ... anjo-bolts

Thoughts?

If it is a goer then I may seek the expertise of an engineering member:

[exiled--viking]

Good idea but not sure if you would get the correct readings but l could be very wrong but it dose save the ball ache of getting that sandwich plate in and it would be cheaper you could drill them out with an upright drill stand ....... easy done like the idea

[warpc0il]

Using a banjo bolt sensor is ideal for pressure, fitted around the pickup for the oem pressure switch. As this is the point at which the manual shows pressure readings being taken.

However, while it's great for pressure, being a dead-end in the flow means it's not ideal for reading temperature. The temperature reading at that point will be slow to respond on initial warm up or if there's an issue, which defeats the reason for the gauge.

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[SmuttyHutty]

Thanks gents. I guess if the temperature is slow to respond that would be better than reading too soon?

Is the oil cooler system always flowing? As in, there's no thermostatic valve?

[warpc0il]

There is a crude thermostat on the oil coolers but it opens almost immediately, which is why the mouse map mode is so effective.

It's a bypass valve, so the oil lines are always in circuit.

I did consider fitting two oil temperature sensors, one on the input to the first cooler and one on the output of the second. This would show the oil temperature coming from the engine and the effectiveness of the coolers.

However this was over ten years ago when I was concerned about the effects of blocking air to a cooler and found it much easier just to use temperature sensing labels instead for the experiments.

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[13Black]

I made a bunch of these and offered them for sale at the time. Wasn't much interest in them so they're in a box somewhere where I no longer have easy access.

The trick is to tap them just right so that the sensor fits in and only juuuust intrudes past the head of the bolt internally so it picks up enough flow.

[13Black]

Certainly can't see them being much slower to respond than sammich plates

Screenshot_20210211-114800_Chrome.png

[SmuttyHutty]

That was my thinking. But, as ever, I'll happily listen to engineers on this forum. There's a guy selling four Banjo bolts for a tenner on eBay. I think it's worth the experiment but I don't want to clutter the dash with dials. I think 79398 has an ashtray located readout.....

[warpc0il]

You can get modules that allow you to feed additional data onto the CANBUS, so that it can all be monitored, displayed and logged via the ODB2.

I looked into this many years ago but all the kit I could find was professional race team stuff and silly expensive.

might be worth another trawl around and see if anyone has made a breakthrough on cost.

[13Black]

Decent gauges (R-Spec?) allow you to set warning alarms when pressure gets to low / temp gets too high, I think they're nice options since most of the time you only really care if they're out of spec and don't always need to know the precise value. So can be put out of the way.

I put some of mine in the glove box angled toward me so I can have it open with a camera on / willing passenger if I need to monitor them for reasons.

[SmuttyHutty]

I was thinking more about knowing when everything is warm enough to give it some welly. I'd need to see the readout for that.

[WildMan10]

The trick is to tap them just right so that the sensor fits in and only juuuust intrudes past the head of the bolt internally so it picks up enough flow.

Which is why I welded a stub on to the bolt that I drilled and tapped for my r3. Drilling and tapping is an easy DIY job; I welded mine but there are plenty of welders around who will do the job for a few drinking vouchers.

Alternatively, you could drill and tap the bolt for an off-the-shelf adaptor, see eg here

[SmuttyHutty]

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-do-you ... ts-235867/

[WildMan10]

The first part covers fitting a revised banjo bolt. However, the second part is probably superfluous as fitting an oil pressure sensor to an R3's maintenance port is easier and cheaper.

Have a look at this:

https://youtu.be/LFO7tsqzeS4

[SmuttyHutty]

The first part covers fitting a revised banjo bolt. However, the second part is probably superfluous as fitting an oil pressure sensor to an R3's maintenance port is easier and cheaper.

.....ah, if only I had an R3. I am just a poor boy with and S1 192 and a PZ.

[WildMan10]

Apologies, I had it in my head that we talking about R3s as a continuation of a recent thread.

For an S1, IMO a sandwich plate is the easiest and cheapest option.

[350matt]

I've done this mod to mine for temp and it works well

I don't understand Dave's comment about it being dead ended as the oil coolers are in full flow all the time just with a bypass across the back of the cooler for when the pressure is high and the oil is cold

as 13Black says you need the pip of the sensor just sticking into the flow so you have to counterbore the top of the bolt a little

and a sandwhich plate isn't that easy a mod as then replacing filters becomes a lot harder

[ChrisHolmes]

The "dead end" refered to using the oil pressure switch connection point to sense temperature, not the cooler lines.

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[Conan]

This sounds like a good idea
I would be far more interested in oil pressure than oil temperature ( a little delay in temp won’t hurt )
You have a water temperature gauge to keep an eye on temperature and know that it takes longer for the oil to reach a temperature or around 20 miles of driving ( weather dependant ) before screaming the engine.

[SmuttyHutty]

I made a bunch of these and offered them for sale at the time. Wasn't much interest in them so they're in a box somewhere where I no longer have easy access.

The trick is to tap them just right so that the sensor fits in and only juuuust intrudes past the head of the bolt internally so it picks up enough flow.

If you can dig those banjo bolts out it seems like you might have a few interested people...

[13Black]

Well, perhaps could be more straight forward:

No longer a trader, so can't legit sell them, and there's not enough income to actually warrant the effort, there aren't that many in the box.

For oil temp sensors, they all come in different shapes and sizes, so I'd do a "first stage" preliminary tap on them that would leave the sensor too shallow, and then tap it further to suit the sensor. So ideally they'd be paired with a sensor so the fit is as good as it can be - maybe it doesn't make a noticeable difference - but you wouldn't want some random sensor to go too far in and restrict the flow.
Similar to that end, entrusting what is usually every-day people who are sometimes capable of a multitude of mechanical cockups fit tapered threaded fittings to a critical oil supply ... maybe it's just me and anxiety, but for me it's a bit of a "when" / not "if" one person has an issue and it becomes a total headache that their £4,000 bridgeport build now needs new bearings. Bleh

When I'm next in their proximity, I'd be happy to dig them out and post them your way for whatever you'd want to do with them, in the sense that no money changes hands and they're just some "for parts only" "damanged" bolts with a hole in the middle that will leak if fitted to a car and have nothing to do with me lol.

[SmuttyHutty]

That's a deal!

[13Black]

Alrighty, Mister Smut (not you Nigel..) let me know your address in PM and I'll send you over the goods.

[SmuttyHutty]

PM'd

[New Duke]

I watched the video that Ian linked to regarding using the Series 2 oil service port (the S1 oil filter location). I'll put a screenshot below for anyone that hasn't seen the video.

If an R3 owner only wanted one gauge, and that gauge was an oil temp sensor, and the sole purpose of the gauge was only to give a sense of whether the oil had warmed up enough to give it some revs... are there any reasons not to use that port for the sensor? With those as the very narrow criteria.

Series 2 RX-8 oil temp pressure sensor solution.jpg

Alrighty, Mister Smut (not you Nigel..) let me know your address in PM and I'll send you over the goods.

PM'd

If either of you gents still has a couple of those bolts going spare I'd really appreciate nabbing one or two.