Oil pressure sending unit(s)?

Yea that's not right I'll see if I can snap a photo of mine tomorrow. The bell shaped one on the end goes to the gauge.

Here's a picture from somewhere here on CCF

It looks like with a little wrench turning you could have things oriented the right way with the sending unit angled up instead of down and the slow switch also angled up.

Maybe Paul's picture tomorrow will show it more clearly, but it looks like you have all the right pieces and with a little work you could have things oriented the way they should be

On low oil pressure it puts the engine into limp mode limiting rpm's to around 2500.

From the same old thread as the picture

I think the switch is just that, at 5 psi decreasing it activates the SLOW mode and at 5.1 or so increasing it's deactivates the SLOW mode
Just a make or break switch like the old "idiot lights" in cars.

Probably good to have redundancy too. A bad sending unit won't cause the engine to go into limp mode and if you have a bad SLOW switch you'll be in limp mode but can verify that your oil pressure is still good and disconnect the SLOW switch to get back home at normal speeds.

lewy2001 wrote: ricofrancois wrote: This time I notice that the "check engine light" came on for 1 sec while the boat choked. This is the critical bit of information you have either a faulty SLOW (limp) mode oil pressure switch or the faulty SLOW mode temp switch. These switches are additional to the senders for the temp and oil pressure gauges. There is also the possibility of a SLOW circuit wiring problem. You can test this by just disconnecting the wire from both of these SLOW switches. Is the engine running at normal temps 160 ish? I have some pictures of the location of these SLOW switches that I will post when I get on the right computer.

KENO wrote: It looks like with a little wrench turning you could have things oriented the right way with the sending unit angled up instead of down and the slow switch also angled up.

Believe it or not, that's the first thing I tried. The main fitting on the block is bottomed out and will not turn any more and backing it out a bit loosens the threads so much in just a half turn I'm afraid it will start leaking. Seems to me that fitting is about twice too long anyway, so I figured it was a "home brew" someone came up with at some point.   If it's the correct part, I suppose I'll have to try some thread sealant and back it off.
It gets so loose though, does anyone have any suggestions on what product to use?

gt40KS wrote: The main fitting on the block is bottomed out and will not turn any more

All pipe dies that I have used have too much of a lead in taper to cut threads up to a shoulder. The hex adapter is "bottomed out" anyway. Sounds like cutting the threads deeper even if you could would only make things worse. A different hex adapter might have the thread started differently and might orient it correctly.
Cutting the external thread off of the hex piece and drilling and tapping for a common nipple is probably the easiest fix, if you have the tools. Easy fix for the correct tools and hard fix if you don't.

edit, agree with Pete on no sealant

Yes on the off the shelf fittings and a nipple. If you want the sender to be vertical like original, a 45 street el on the end of the tee will work.

drakeautomotivegroup.com has new oil pressure sender extensions for 25.00. They are listed in the Mustang catalog on page 88 of their PDF. Keep it original Pete

63 Skier wrote: I guess the punchline is there's several very easy options to orient the senders in a better position.

I figure that statement above is real accurate.

I also think that since you don't have to worry about a mechanical fuel pump you could get the sending unit and switch further away from the oil filter and more in front of the block off plate for the fuel pump and closer to the block. It would make for easier filter changes

That long fitting originally was needed to get the sending unit out far enough to clear the filter and the pump on the carbureted engines with a mechanical pump.

Any decent hardware store should have everything you need,

It's a combination of 1/4 and 1/8 inch pipe threads on the different fittings

I need to get licenses on my pictures
That's a pic of my motor when I pulled it to replace the heads, cam and clean up and then Lewey used it to show the sensor for the thread.
Can't get picture to post! this not having photobucket is killing me, I have to get set up on something for my iPad.

So what everyone said above is correct it needs to be reoriented up. I'm guessing the PO replaced the brass piece or it would be painted black also.
If you can't get it reoriented by taking it apart and cleaning up all the threads the brass nipple and tee from a hardware store would certainly work. You will probably have to use 1/4-1/8 reducer/bushing in the block than a 1/8" nipple and Tee as I don't think you will find a tee that is 1/4" in and 1/8" X 1/8" out.

http://imgbox.com/IBCW9WVs
Best I could come up with