Oil pressure guage installation on street bike motors

[Liteway]

This a question best aimed at you guys with experience using sport bike engines in 4 wheeled race cars. Jim, Captain, anybody? These motors were not designed for high performance flat cornering vehicles. I do not believe their oil pans are sufficiently baffled to prevent oil sloshing to the side and away from the pickup in hard sustained cornering (sweepers).

My Yamaha engine had a low oil level light that flashed on when cornering hard, even if the crankcase was slightly overfilled. Annoying but not a real problem, I just disconnected it.

Problem is, no oil pressure gauge to see whether the pickup is being starved.

I realize I am not going to corner at near the levels of a four wheel race car but with a lot more body roll, sloshing could be a problem. Might not know till the engine is smoked. How do racers cope with these problems? Surely they have oil pressure gauges. How to hook one up? Even having a warning light would be reassuring.

[stretchmobileski]

Great question, awaiting the answer.

[jim99]

I think all your thoughts are spot on. I guess if I thought there was a possibility of the engine being starved of oil pressure, even momentary, I would find out how to get an oil pressure gauge and/or light on it.

All the information I will offer is based on three engine series. A 1993Kawasaki ZX6, Suzuki GSXR 750cc 1993 – 2007 and a 2006 Suzuki Hayabusa (current trike engine).

The ZX6 was the first motorcycle engine I tried while racing with a group that used snowmobile engines. The rules did allow motorcycle engines, but no one was using a motorcycle engine.

The ZX6 fit into the ProAm class. It was competitive and indestructible. I geared the car to come out of the corner hard and fast, but 40 feet or so from where I needed to lift I had the engine on the stock rev limiter (13,000 rpm), twice each lap. We would run about 2,000 laps a season.

I ran that engine for two years and then changed to the GSXR 750 and moved into the Pro class. I sold the ZX6 and it was used by others for the next 5 – 6 years, and then I lost track of it.

The Suzuki engines would last for about 3 or 4 years under the same over revving conditions (14,300 rpm) and then blow up, usually valve train problems. We would just bolt in another engine bought off E-bay and beat the snot out of it.

The Suzuki engines require oil pressure to start and run. They also have an oil pressure light on the gauge pack. We never observed that light to flicker or light during operation. We did not run an oil pressure gauge.

On the Suzuki engines there is an oil pressure sensor with a terminal that feeds to the gauge pack/ecm. One should be able to unscrew the sensor, add a tee fitting, allowing one to add an oil pressure gauge and the sensor to send pressure signal to the gauge pack/ecm. If my poor memory serves me right, I think the sensor was pipe thread, maybe metric?

Don't know that all that information is of much value to one using a Yamaha engine.

Jim

[Liteway]

I believe my particular type engine was used for a few years in SAE racing. Don't know if they used a gauge or not but based upon what you told me, probably not.
Because you could race your engines without sump mods,
not going to fret it anymore. Thanks.