Thoughts on Oil Pressure/Temp Gauges

I noticed a number of KZ's at Mid-Ohio with oil pressure or temperature gauges. I would like to hear your thoughts on the necessity of these on a stock KZ650 and where/how you obtain the pressure gauge and hook it up.

Owning MG cars makes me a little paranoid regarding oil pressure - it is a great indicator of motor condition on those engines and wonder if the same is true for the KZ?

I know I will get hammered for this but

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Don't waste your money or time.
Your bike has a oil light, Right.
To get one that is a reliable, readable and works from
3 psi to 50 psi is tuff to say the least,
Unless you buy a large dial gage and plum it so the gage
is on the dash (so to speak) you can not read it wile riding.
Oil Temp Gage. Hard to tell I never had one.
If I was running a hoped up motor on the street it
might a good idea. Otherwise NO.

OK here we go.

XENU

No hammering from me

Get an oil pressure gauge and drive yourself crazy worrying about every little blip, no thanks, the light will let me know when somethings wrong (or the motor seizing, hammering, etc).

I bought an oil pressure gauge, installed it, watched it for a while then took it off and never touched it again. Once you see what the pressure is running, not much else interesting happens after that.

You can buy a good oil pressure gauge on ebay thats registers from 0-15 for about $35,if you like to personally monitor stuff like that,and you can se it from a riding position fairly easy.Most KZ's oil pressures are from 2 lbs. - 8 lbs. so they dont have much,they rely on oil flow rather than pressure,so dont freak out when you pull up to a stop and it shows like 1 lb. of pressure idling.There are a lot of people who say its unnecessary,but its a personal preference. For the Oil Temp gauge,either Z1 or Classic KZ's have a great gauge that replaces your oil fill cap and works real well.You'll notice as it gets hotter you have a little less oil pressure tho.,so you might want to run a little heavier oil in the summertime.Now with this all said,lets see how much hate and discontent it stirs up...LOL

Most KZ's oil pressures are from 2 lbs. - 8 lbs. so they dont have much,they rely on oil flow rather than pressure,so dont freak out when you pull up to a stop and it shows like 1 lb. of pressure idling.T

Um, no, they don't

That's what happens when you are 900/1000/1100 centric

The big KZ motors (900 and up) have roller bearings and low oil pressure, the smaller ones have plain bearings and 30-40 psi of oil pressure. I think the oil light on my 750 twin is supposed to come on at 7 psi.

Ratsenfligibergnats dern flickerbale poots skumsuckerable gizzenfloits!!!!

There I just wanted to bitch and moan and spit some hate and flame!!!

I feel much better!


Oh and I like oil pressure gauges! And Voltmeters and temp gauges and gas gauges. I also like radiometers!

Years ago I tried several oil pressure gages.
Never thought they works right.
A stock early modal Z when cold (not 20 degrees)
but 65-70 when first started will make 50 psi.
It only last a few seconds then go's down.
So if you buy a 2 - 8 Lb. gage and peg it the first time
you start the bike. Just how accurate will that gage
be in the future.
I think they cause more trouble then there worth.

I don't remember the equation but just how much psi
is enough? 4 psi will pump a (head) of a couple of feet.
There is what? 18 in. from the oil pump to the
top of the head. I believe those pumps are for volume
not pressure.

My thoughts not necessarily my opinion.

I bought one a few years back...installed it,and watched it when I could...all good.
It lasted about 4 months,and it became stuck at a certain point.Took it out...put the factory cap back on,and heaved the gauge into the garbage.
$40 well spent?...woulda been smarter to spend it on beersnabj.

BTW,it was a "VDO" gauge.

I would like to have an oil temp gauge. It gets hot enough here in Texas, when sitting at a stop light, to fry a steak on the head.....I am too cheap to pay the big bucks for an oil cooler, so I just run synthetic oil.....chris3