Is my wagon a wagon?

This is how far I got. One third of my loom is done and turned out to be a prototype, demonstrating the need for making the ends of the remaining two wiring harnesses more narrow



To get the set of guages pointing downwards sufficiently, all dispensable material needed to be removed.
I was able to find two totally different connector types. One was already permenently pre-assembled with pure copper wire which is to replace the more stiffer composite type used in the PC looms. I, therefore, clipped the composite wires off of their ends, before wrapping the pure copper replacement wires around each terminal for soldering, making these ends quite bulky. These two will be feeding battery + and ignition +. Later on, I’ll upload the wiring illustration provided by VDO -Continental.
My digital camera arbitrarilly decided to go into flash mode, causing this image to appear somewhat blurry



This taken out of service Nippondenso voltage regulator once dwelling in my Toyota Corolla wagon was planned as the harness's organ donor, until it became appearant that the opposite connector wasn’t available

 

Making myself the laughing stock in front of the National Port & Pollish Association, I went ahead and got my sandwich plate ready.
Because my dishwasher was full enough to run, I set my priorities on getting this done, before finishing my wiring harnesses.
I started off by removing either the paint finish or powder coating from where the extension pipe was to fasten the plate, in order to secure ground contact required to run the guage set. The alternative would have involved drilling and tapping the plate's exterior for mounting a ground cable. Electro-chemical corrosion would have more likely taken place in such a set-up. I've not yet seen corrosion take place between aluminum and a dissimilar metal, when both are immersed in oil. It'll be interesting to find out. Once both guages suddenly go out, that'll be proof otherwise.
I initially planned on using valve grind compound. But, couldn’t find it. Maybe, that was better, because any trace of it remaining to pollute the oil gallery is the last thing anyone would want. Not finding the compound was possibly a blessing in disguise. Instead, I buried the plate in sand and then started twisting the pipe against the plate, until a rough surface appeared:



Obviously most time-consuming and risky was the porting-out of the temperature sensor’s location. The tapping alone required repetitive cutting and even chasing the outter opening, using an 11 mm drill bit, in order to be able to locate the sensor further into the plate, exposing as much sensor surface to oil flow as possible.
Idealy, the best place for this sensor would have been in the block. That, however, was the last place I would have wanted to cut threads into, as long as the engine wasn’t disassembled for cleansing. Most important would be knowing at what temperature the oil’s at, when leaving the engine block. Not at entry:



The most stable Dremel bit used was one which was barrel-shaped. Porting with a globe-shaped porting bit was tricky and needed constant concentration on the porting and a firm grip on the tool itself. Not using a Dremel, I wasn’t used to this substitute’s chuck construction which tended to rub on the plate’s surface not intended to get damaged. Nevertheless, the damage looks more dramatic in the following image than it really is:



A made it a point to even get the pressure sender as far into the plate as possible, in order to reduce leverage forces on its stem, when vibration exerts its forces. This was probably an overcautious measure, given that these forces would have been much greater, if the filter assemble would have been mounted 90° from where it was.

Also noticeable is how dishwasher detergent roughens up a painted finish, along with roughing up a marital relationship, when automotive parts start to share the machine with dishes and cutlery. This finish-roughing could only help dissipate heat better:



I'll make it a point to see if any paint surface erosion has taken place, during the next oil change. If so, it would be best to remove all paint exposed to oil, while I'm down there replacing the filter