Topic: CB550f Oil pressure gauge?

[billyjack]

Hey guys - I love the look of the Oil Pressure Guage setups sometimes seen on the CB750's (ala Carpy).  Has anyone ever applied this to a CB550?  If it can be done, how is it installed?

Thanks for any help.

[Square]

I'm looking for the same info and will post here when I get it.
(I know it's an old thread) but hay
C

[Bodi]

The 550 has a bunch of oil gallery plugs, two may be in the oil filter feed and a poor choice for a pressure gauge feed - you should measure pressure in the main oil gallery across the engine which comes after the filter.
There's a plug on the right side of the engine down and sort of in front of the ignition cover. That's the best choice. There are also two under the engine - these may be in the pump feed galleries. There's also one under the alternator cover: you'll find this one in a hurry if you start the motor with the cover off, it is held in by the cover and it will pop out and GUSH oil. The others screw in and have a fairly large (17 or 19mm?) hex "nut" molded on the top. You just unscrew the plug then drill and tap a 1/8 NPT threaded hole in the middle of the hex. You can then reinstall it and screw a gauge directly into it (hard to read from the seat and prone to catastrophic destruction causing a serious oil leak if the bike falls over) or run a small hard or braided tube to a conveniently located gauge. I have done this on my 400 (similar but missing the two bottom plugs), I just carry a 1/8 NPT plug to put in the hole should the gauge or tube fail on a ride.

[bryanj]

The two under the engine just fill in machining holes from memory, the pressure ones are the oil switch on top of the pump and the plug under the points cover

[Bodi]

Plus the one on the right...

[Square]

I thought a 'T' off the oil switch would be the ticket,
But I have not looked to see if there would be any clearance issues.

seen alot of ppl drill holes in the left side cover and think a gauge behind some hole or sticking out and up would be the cats ass.

[Bodi]

A tee on the oil switch would work OK, but there's limited room under that cover and you'd also have to run a gauge line out to your gauge location. There are electric gauges but the senders I've seen would likely not fit under the cover.
Pump pressure (the pressure switch is mounted on the pump) is also before the filter, I would prefer to measure pressure in the main gallery feeding the bearings.

[bryanj]

The plug under the points cover is the one on the right

[Bodi]

Nuts. I just saw "under" a cover and thought of the alternator cover surprise plug.

[Terry in Australia]

I made an oil pressure gauge "kit" for Al Harper's 550 engine by tapping into the gallery plug under the points cover, screwing in an elbow and running some braided hose up to a point between the points and clutch covers, and a simple bracket for the gauge mounts to one of the 6mm screws on the top crankcase close to the points cover. I posted it here somewhere, but if anyone is interested, I'll post it again when I get back home and have access to my pics. Cheers, Terry.

[bryanj]

Two different english meanings, perhaps i should have said below not under

[Terry in Australia]

A picture's worth a thousand words...............







Cheers, Terry.

[Square]

Thanks for putting up pic's that looks great! 

[scottly]

Sano installation of the gauge, Terry!

[Deltarider]

Installation of a gauge 'down under' involves a safety risk IMHO.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Guys, I'm glad you like it. As far as a "safety risk" goes, I'd agree that plumbing a guage into any orifice in an engine presents some risk, but then, so does crossing the road, eating hamburgers, or riding motorcycles. Sometimes you have to overcome your fears to enjoy some of life's simple pleasures.............   

[Deltarider]

Traffic here in Europe in general and my style of riding in particular do not permit looking at gauges somewhere below.
Long time ago I presented the concept for an electronic engine guard. It would offer the best of both worlds: you can fully concentrate on riding and you'd be warned whenever something goes wrong (like temperature to high or pressure to low). When done cleverly, bike will keep it's original looks.

[Terry in Australia]

Oh, okay, I'm with you now, and yep, I remember riding a moped around Amsterdam back in the 1970's, and coming from a small Aussie country town, I was amazed by the volume of traffic, I could only guess how congested it is now!

Still, you don't need to check your guage constantly as you're riding along, so as you're sitting stationary in heavy traffic you'd probably be safe to glance down for a moment, same/same on a freeway occasionally, or of course you could use a longer length of hose to remote a gauge to anywhere you'd like to put it.

I've seen some "multi-function" digital gauges like you're talking about on EBay, but they look a bit big and bulky for motorcycle use, (particularly on older bikes like ours, and I'd be worried about how weather proof their electronics would be. Cheers, Terry.  

[OldSchool_IsCool]

Thanks Guys, I'm glad you like it. As far as a "safety risk" goes, I'd agree that plumbing a guage into any orifice in an engine presents some risk, but then, so does crossing the road, eating hamburgers, or riding motorcycles. Sometimes you have to overcome your fears to enjoy some of life's simple pleasures.............   

I NEVER eat at McDonnald's without wearing my leathers, though, for practical reasons, I skip the full face helmet in favor of just a skid lid. 

[Deltarider]

  Ha Terry,

In Germany situation is far worse: maintain 160 km/h on some highways and you might be able to keep up with local traffic. . Only country in the world that made me fill up the tank within an hour. They make fine highways though, them Germans.

[Terry in Australia]

  Ha Terry,

In Germany situation is far worse: maintain 160 km/h on some highways and you might be able to keep up with local traffic. . Only country in the world that made me fill up the tank within an hour. They make fine highways though, them Germans.

Sounds fantastic mate, a friend of mine offered to take his wife to Paris for her 50th birthday, but instead, she made him trek around Vietnam for a month, and I thought, "who in their right mind would refuse a trip to Europe in favor of South East Asia, particularly at the moment?"

I think I must have done most of my travelling in Germany by train (I had a Eurail pass) because I don't remember the Autobahns, but I'd love to be able to ride at "go straight to jail" speeds, over here the fastest you can go is 110 KPH, which is pretty diappointing, most of my bikes will go twice that, and some more..............