Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

No problem with that, its a related topic...

I have purchased a set of sensors now, and have done some tests to see if I will get spurious warnings from my spare wheel... it seems to work well - so teh next step is to drill holes and install.

What is the best way to drill through the bumper (22mm dia required), considering that there is steel behind the plastic.... this is a job I dont want to mess up!

I would use either a normal drill bit or a hole saw?

A hole saw came with the items I bought, it looks a bit flimsy and probably OK for plastic, but not so sure if OK for steel. I am concerned that if it siezes halfway through the job, it may damage the plastic part which must fit snug around the sensor.
I dont have a 22mm drill bit.

chris
a 22mm hole saw is standard electrical size you can buy one at voltex ect we cut steel with it every day
around 35 rand just turn slow and use cutting oil

My weekend project completed - reverse sensors fitted and a temp sensor attached to my gearbox so I can monitor the GBox when towing.

The reverse sensors bought on ebay for $16 and free shipping, and works better than expected. I removed the back bumper to install, but actually realised its not neccessary and you can cut the holes and fit the wires no problem. The only hassle was that the wires were too short on the 2 sensors situated furthest from the control box - so had to splice a piece of coax to complete the job.

The gearbox temp monitor is a BMP (boer maak an plan) job. Used an eletronic cooking meat temp measure device - also works great!

See the pics below.

looks great!!!
where did you connect the gearbox temp sensor to ? and what temps are you getting ???

Hi Tinus - As I said its a bit of a BMP solution.
I stuck the sensor on the side of the Gbox with some pratley steel, with a bit of an insulation on the outside. Not 100% I suppose, but i am looking more for a trend than full accuracy - driving around town and highway yesterday to check it out, the max temp I got was 77 degrees. This at least is a baseline to work from. When towing under normal cool conditions I will also see what is normal, and then when the outside temp is off the clock (like Pongola last year when I came through there with outside temp 45 degrees) while climbing the hills in second gear with around 5000 RPM, at least I will have an idea what the Gbox is doing. I have done a little research and it seems that the transmission should not be allowed to go over about 105-110 degrees as this will decrease its life expectancy. Will be intersting to see what results I get.

Well done !! looks good.

Chris Skinner wrote:I have done a little research and it seems that the transmission should not be allowed to go over about 105-110 degrees as this will decrease its life expectancy.

That temperature limit would apply to the fluid within the transmission, though and not to the external temperature of the housing. Would it not be better to plumb a temperature gauge into the hot line to the transmission oil cooler? The housing temperature would give an indication of what is happening, of course, but if one does not know the temperature gradient between the temperature sensor on the housing and the fluid, then it would be difficult to know when the red lights really should start flashing.