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VAC Ported Billet M54 Oil Cap: ACQUIRED

22K views 38 replies 18 participants last post by  McSpeed 
#1 · (Edited)
Screw oil distribution blocks. The long awaited VAC Ported Billet M54 Oil Cap has arrived! Soon I will drill and tap it and install oil sensors. VAC offered to do it once I marked the pilot holes I wanted but I'd already gotten the Q bit and the NPT tap 4 months ago so I might as well use them. Sorry for the bad pictures, I took them with my iPhone*

*just kidding! I hate when people say that :rofl:








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#4 ·
oh wow... that is cheap. i might just have to pick one up as well.
 
#8 ·
#18 · (Edited)
Got around to drilling yesterday. Used a big drill with a side handle and a Q bit, which is specified for use with 1/8" NPT taps. It really took awhile considering the amount of pressure I was putting on the drill. I stood on the beam and had a helper look from the side to make sure I was keeping the angle straight.



The clamp setup worked great.



The swarf was like tin foil.


Next: tapping, using denatured alcohol(?) as lubricant
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Note: VAC will do all this for you once you test fit the cap and mark your holes.
 

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#21 ·
Gotcha :eeps:

Question- what's the recommended tapping depth for 1/8 NPT?
I've heard that leaving 5-7 threads visible on the tap is the way to do it but it seems like that leaves about half of the threads exposed on the sender (when screwing the sender in by hand without any teflon anyway). Is that desirable? Given the heaviness of the Autometer pressure sender I kind of wanted it to thread as much as possible so as to provide the best support.

Can it fit M52TU?
Dunno. If it uses the same oil filter cap as the M54, then yes. VAC might know.
 
#20 ·
Can it fit M52TU?
 
#24 ·
Tapping was easy. I used a T wrench from autozone and splashed on some rubbing alcohol every half turn.



The hard part was cleaning the aluminum shavings off. The cap had oil residue in it from when I did the test fitting and aluminum micro-dust was stuck in every nook an cranny. It took a unbelievable hour long repeating campaign of degreaser, alcohol, heat gunning, compressed air, Q-tips, dental picks and paper towels to finally get it all off.

Next I put in the senders with 2 wraps of teflon tape and went for a high rpm drive to make sure the seals were sealed at full heat/oil pressure. After a little weepage I ended up tightening both of them down more.

Then it was time for wiring. These instructions were very helpful: http://www.csua.berkeley.edu/~lleong/vdo_install/

Notes:
1. I used an Add-a-circuit crimped to the three red gauge wires to get switched power to the gauges. Also, each red wire was given a separate inline Littlefuse per Autometer's instructions.

2. I couldn't get the dimmable face lighting to work by splicing into the ash tray light's positive wire (the non brown one?). Whenever it was attached the gauges went crazy and turned on and off every second displaying weird numbers. I decided I was happy with the red digital numbers anyway and left those wires unconnected.

3. The wideband connector was too big for the usual nipple firewall entry point so I used the larger grommet nearby and popped out the sound insulation knockout with a long screw driver. This larger opening was way easier with all the chunky Autometer connectors.




4. There was a grounding problem with the oil pressure sender initially. It caused the pressure gauge to show a no-sender-connected 'E0' error code if the pressure was below 30 psi:



I read that teflon tape (and oil?) can sometimes prevent a sender from grounding perfectly through its threads and cause this kind of problem. The Autometer instructions suggest grounding to somewhere on the body of the sender in this situation. This is my workaround for the time being:






Everything else was straightforward.
Here's the wiring path until I get around to tubing it up and/or extending it so it doesn't have to pass over the washer fluid tank.



And here's the payoff for staying up till 3AM last night :D (note that the wideband sensor is not plugged yet so it's just making up AFRs):


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#28 ·
Thanks. That's the good ole LeatherZ bezel alright. Yeah- I'm not sure why they did the side mount vs. top, but the caps were under development for long enough that there must be a reason...

Thats a huge ugly sensor.....but its functional so I suppose thats all that matters. they have a special teflon type tape that is conductive......
I don't mind the looks but I do wonder why it has to be freakin humongous. Good to know on the conductive teflon.

Just a tip here:

Run the wires behind the engine and though the fuel rail cover , just remember to heatwrap/sokcet them first :)
The grounding issue can be solved by soldering a wire to the unit and then clamping a O-clamp on the other end and then connected to the engine hinge nut :)

Apart from that it looks pretty nice :)
Thanks. Smart grounding idea. Going under fuel rail cover would be super clean.

2. I couldn't get the dimmable face lighting to work by splicing into the ash tray light's positive wire (the non brown one?). Whenever it was attached the gauges went crazy and turned on and off every second displaying weird numbers. I decided I was happy with the red digital numbers anyway and left those wires unconnected.
Has anyone else wrassled with the dimming function on Autometer gauge faces?
 
#27 ·
Just a tip here:

Run the wires behind the engine and though the fuel rail cover , just remember to heatwrap/sokcet them first :)
The grounding issue can be solved by soldering a wire to the unit and then clamping a O-clamp on the other end and then connected to the engine hinge nut :)

Apart from that it looks pretty nice :)
 
#34 ·
I guess u take this everytime u do oil change? Worried about the threads wear out?
 
#37 · (Edited)
eh it's a little more work but it's not bad: detach wires -> clean old sealant out of threads with a paper towel...reapply sealant -> screw senders in till bottom out -> reattach wires.

I'd say it's worth it for the ease of sender install, i.e. better than having a leaky sender block in a nearly unreachable place imo
 
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