Hey Paul,

I've always hated the idea that my Perkins M-30 had only an oil pressure ALARM, but no gauge... I added a VDO electric gauge a few years ago, but doing so required a Rube Goldberg arrangement of a tee-fitting that just wasn't right, seemed really vulnerable to vibration, etc...

So, last winter, I switched to a mechanical Murphy Swichgauge, connected to the engine with a stainless braided high pressure hose. The thing has worked flawlessly, it's an upgrade I'm really glad I made...

http://www.murcal.com/11.fw_murphy/11.swichgage.html

I'm also very pleased with the addition of an oil filtration bypass system, using a bypass filter from Amsoil... Most regular oil filters operate within the range of 50-80 microns, whereas a bypass filter can filter impurities as small as 1-2 microns... That's a HUGE difference that is bound to pay dividends over the long haul, and I'm very impressed how much cleaner my oil seems to stay, longer... Hell, if nothing else, it was worth it to eliminate the mess always involved in changing the horizontally-mounted filter on the Perkins, to an upright one in more accessible location...

Steve D'Antonio had an excellent article on bypass filtration in the November 2012 issue of PASSAGEMAKER, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to be available online...

best regards,

Jon