I bought a mechanical oil pressure gauge and to get it to work i have to connect it in the hole where the oil pressure sending unit goes. do i need to have the sensor in order for the car to run and if so how do i connect both of them in to the same hole. is there a splitter that i can put there so both can be connected or do i have to make a new hole.

thanks
steve

 

the easiest way to get both of them on there is using a "tee/T" splitter with 1/8th NPT ports on it. I believe the oil pressure ports on our engines are 1/8th NPT. Connect the T to the hole and the oil pressure sensor on one end and the oil pressure gauge to the other....

 

there should also be a square headed plug under your distributor behind your intake up against the firewall that you can take out too. I believe it requires an 8mm wrench on it. Need to pull the distributor to get to it though, then you don't have to worry about any leaks or a mis-read on your pressure from your gauge or your sensor. If you can't find it, i'm sure I can get pictures somewhere....

 

where might i be able to buy that splitter and can i see some of those pic

 

i've seen the splitters at home depot, i actually had to buy a coupler when i did my hsr swap, they should be with the tubing area and are a few bucks

 

attached are the pictures of the small plug on the back side of the block. i used the great wonderful MS Paint to help with the identification process... hope this helps out some.

 

I just did this to my truck(GMC K1500, 5.7L) not too long ago because the original oil gauge started reading low pressure and I wanted to see if it was a bad gauge or sender. My OEM sender is in the location behind the distributor pointed out by chris. I had to use a 90-degree elbow fitting then to the Tee fitting to clear the distributor and firewall. Both gauges read exactly the same and I have haven't had any problems with it. I used 1/4" NPT I believe brass fittings and got them in the plumbing section of the local Home Depot. Cost me all of $5 I think.