oil pressure

I was wondering if anyone knows where to get an oil pressure gauge for a 1975 kz900. Also what should the pressure be? Thanks!

Since the pressure is so darn low on a KZ, you can't buy a gauge from the autoparts store and hook it up. You can hook up a gauge on a Vulcan which runs 60-90 PSI but on a Kaw KZ/Z, most of the engines (900/1000) have less than 10 PSI pressure tops. This means, any gauge you use that goes over 15 PSI will be hard to read. Can you imagine using a 100 PSI gauge???BWhahahahaha

OK, I think z1enteprises.com has a gauge but if not, they are on eBay. I also think jpcycles.com sells one that fits a 903/1015cc. You screw then into the side of the engine case on the right side where the oil galley plug is installed.

I too was looking for a gauge this weekend. Z1 didn't have one, and the only one I found on ebay was from a guy in Germany and it would cost 50-60 bucks to get it here.

BTW my manual for my KZ1000 says that @ 3,000 RPM a 2.8 PSI reading is NORMAL :blink: Crazy

I'm working on installing an oil temperature gauge, tapping the sensor from the back oil galley plug.
Oil pressure? Why would you need that?

Post edited by: CoreyClough, at: 2007/07/02 20:12

Oil pressure will give you a rough idea of oil temp, and oil temp will give you a rough idea of oil pressure. Neither one will save you from catastrophic failure, unless you are really lucky and just happen to glance at the oil pressure gauge as it goes to zero.

Spend too much time looking at the gauge and you will miss seeing that car that just pulled out in front of you.

Idiot lights work real well for me

Mechanical gauges are more consistant than electronic gauges. I argee with steell. Have a gauge that you can glance at and then eyes back on the road.

steell wrote:

Oil pressure will give you a rough idea of oil temp, and oil temp will give you a rough idea of oil pressure.

I'm curious, Steell; what is the relationship there? I know the heat will make the oil thinner, but I can't deduce what effect that will have on the pressure -- would it be greater? I grew up on idiot lights...

Oil temp increases, oil gets thinner, oil pressure decreases.

I once knew a guy that had a hot rod Vega, he had a high pressure oil pump and 15w-40 oil in it. He started it up when the ambient temp was around 15F and the pressure exceeded 100 psi, blowing out the mechanical gauge in the dash and shooting oil all over him.

I owned and operated a big rig for a few years, and they have pretty accurate gauges in them, I could actually watch the oil pressure go down as the temp gauge went up as I was climbing a long hard grade, then watch the temp go down and the pressure come up as I went down the other side.

On a side note, I saw the lube temp in the rear diffs exceed 350F when pulling the Black Canyon Freeway out of Phoenix to Flagstaff on a 115F day grossing 80k lbs.

If I had an egg, I would have cracked it on the rear diff and taken a pic of it frying

steell wrote:

Oil temp increases, oil gets thinner, oil pressure decreases.

I once knew a guy that had a hot rod Vega, he had a high pressure oil pump and 15w-40 oil in it. He started it up when the ambient temp was around 15F and the pressure exceeded 100 psi, blowing out the mechanical gauge in the dash and shooting oil all over him.

I owned and operated a big rig for a few years, and they have pretty accurate gauges in them, I could actually watch the oil pressure go down as the temp gauge went up as I was climbing a long hard grade, then watch the temp go down and the pressure come up as I went down the other side.

On a side note, I saw the lube temp in the rear diffs exceed 350F when pulling the Black Canyon Freeway out of Phoenix to Flagstaff on a 115F day grossing 80k lbs.

If I had an egg, I would have cracked it on the rear diff and taken a pic of it frying

ive seen more of those jackoffs with small blocks and big blocks with hi volume oil pumps and a stack of washers shimming the spring than id like to remember!:sick: a chevy v8 with proper clearances on bearings requires 10psi per 1000 rpms excessive pressure blows the oil right past bearings and puts it all up in the valve covers where its not needed:whistle:

Yes the std rule is 10lbs per 1000 rpm, the po put a gauge on the LTD, it dosent work and its mounted down on the engine, would be a real pain to look at while riding.

BSKZ650 wrote:

Yes the std rule is 10lbs per 1000 rpm, the po put a gauge on the LTD, it dosent work and its mounted down on the engine, would be a real pain to look at while riding.

Just wanted to add that the 10 psi per 1000 rpm is for plain bearing engines, not the roller bearing engines like the 900/1000/1100 series motors.

I'd hate to see a bunch of people have panic attacks

good point