swapping stock oil pressure gauges and senders

Locutus · Postby **Locutus** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 1:52 pm

one thing that's been bugging me ever since i bought my NA8 is the idiot light oil pressure gauge.

there are a couple of write-ups about replacing the stock oil pressure sender in NA8+ cars with a VDO unit with decent results, but stock idiot light gauge is not linear and has its needle movement heavily dampened (it reacts very slowly to changing electrical input). i want my oil pressure needle to react instantly, like the tacho, so i know that i have x amount of oil pressure at x rpm.

after reading the article below, i thought perhaps it's easier just to replace the sender and gauge from an NA6 - is this as straight forward as it sounds?

http://www.miata.net/garage/opg.html

does anyone know if:
- the NA6 oil pressure sender bolts up to the NA8 block without mods/adapters
- the NA8 oil pressure sender electrical plug/sockets are identical to the NA6
- the NA6 gauge fits into the NA8 cluster without mods/adapters

ajay, what would it cost me to source an NA6 gauge and sender from mania (PM me if you prefer)? i might pop over on saturday.

Garry · Postby **Garry** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 2:26 pm

Yes. I put all the NA6 stuff in my old NA8. Everything just fits together like it's meant to be there. The oil pressure switch on the block was a bitch to get off without removing the oil filter but I managed, the NA6 sender unit was much easier to reinstall and everything worked like it was supposed to.

I wish I could do the same to the NB8B.

Locutus · Postby **Locutus** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 2:27 pm

Garry wrote:Everything just fits together like it's meant to be there.

awesome!

what did it cost you and where did you source the gauge & sender?

Garry · Postby **Garry** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 2:31 pm

I cant remember the prices, it was about 7 years ago. I do remember getting the gauge and the sender from a wrecker but one of them was faulty (cant remember which one) so I ended up replacing the faulty bit with a new one from Mazda. So it wasn't all that cheap.

edit: My memory is coming back.....

I could only get the sender unit at the wreckers. He wouldn't break up a gauge cluster so I got the gauge itself from Mazda. Sorry for the confusion.

Locutus · Postby **Locutus** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 2:39 pm

ahh ok.

thanks for your help. i'll update this thread when it's all up and running.

hope i will be able to get the old sender off without too much trouble.

Locutus · Postby **Locutus** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 12:43 am

bought all the bits today (thanks ajay!).

tried to remove the stock sender for about an hour with little success.

sender 1 : locutus 0

going to try and source a deep socket tomorrow to try and get the bugger off.

Locutus · Postby **Locutus** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 12:30 am

had to go out and buy a set of deep sockets (the socket that i wanted was twice the price if i bought it alone!) but they worked a treat.

everything's now in and i've now got a REAL oil pressure gauge. :mrgreen:

thanks again Garry!