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| | | | Joined: Sep 2009 Posts: 78 Wrench Fetcher | | Wrench Fetcher Joined: Sep 2009 Posts: 78 | I have a 53 3100 with a 235 engine that came from a 1962 truck. The truck was just finished and has about 400 miles on it. I had a new radiator installed during restoration. I live in Texas and I took it out on a very hot day. About 5 miles from my house, the engine got hot and the radiator boiled over. I ended up having the radiator rotted out and that fixed the overheating problem. I don't have a temperature gauge because I couldn't get any of the replacement gauages to work so I installed just an idiot light which worked fine. After my overheating I would like to also install an aftermarket temp gauge under the dash. Is there another place I could connect it to the motor since I'm using the traditional place at the back of the head for my light? I was told that I could use one of the connections on my water pump. Would that work or is there a better place to connect it? Thanks
1953 3100 Chevy 5 window
1971 Chevelle SS
| | | | | Joined: Sep 2006 Posts: 2,393 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: Sep 2006 Posts: 2,393 | Use an electronic gauge rather than a manual temp gauge than you can use the same sensor as the idiot light.
Drew
| | | | | Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 29,838 Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) | | Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 29,838 | The water pump fittings will be reading the temperature of coolant returning from the radiator, which will be a lot cooler than the stuff leaving the engine. Get a thermostat housing with a 1/2" pipe fitting thread in it, and install the idiot light sending unit there. Then install the regular temp sensor where it belongs, at the back of the head.
Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln
Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt!
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway
Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
| | | | | Joined: May 2005 Posts: 8,983 Sir Searchalot | | Sir Searchalot Joined: May 2005 Posts: 8,983 | I don't think a light sensor is the same animal as a gauge sensor. One is a variable resistor, the other a switch to ground. It is a very good idea to have both types. One for alerting, the other for monitoring.
Right is right, even if everyone is against it, and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it. - William Penn
| | | | | Joined: Jun 2012 Posts: 1,747 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Jun 2012 Posts: 1,747 | Hotrod has the solution. Use both. Housing is the same as a SBC so it is cheap as well.
Steve H
| | | | | Joined: Sep 2009 Posts: 78 Wrench Fetcher | | Wrench Fetcher Joined: Sep 2009 Posts: 78 | Thanks, is Hotrod a parts vendor? Are you saying they have a housing I can use both out of the same location?
1953 3100 Chevy 5 window
1971 Chevelle SS
| | | | | Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 29,838 Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) | | Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 29,838 | is Hotrod a parts vendor? Nope, just another stovebolter. The thermostat housing that fits a late model Chevy V8 with computer sensors has a 1/2" pipe thread hole in it. Adapt the idiot light sender to that hole and USE THE ORIGINAL SENDING UNIT HOLE IN THE HEAD FOR THE TEMP GAUGE! There's no reason an oldtime bulb-sensor temp gauge won't fit back there and work right. Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln
Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt!
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway
Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
| | | | | Joined: May 2005 Posts: 8,983 Sir Searchalot | | Sir Searchalot Joined: May 2005 Posts: 8,983 | Hotrod is short for one of the posters "Hotrod Lincoln", the guy above......as in Jerry. It's not the name of a Company if that's what you meant.
Right is right, even if everyone is against it, and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it. - William Penn
| | | | | Joined: Nov 2010 Posts: 1,159 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: Nov 2010 Posts: 1,159 | I've seen bulb-type temp.gauges,at tractor-supply,Ag stores,for as little as $15.00. If you get one through one of the K.C. vendors,(at least for the T.F. square gauge),they run upwards of $50.00! | | | | | Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 29,838 Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) | | Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 29,838 | I've seen a procedure for repairing the bulb-sensor gauges by super-cooling the liquid inside one of those cheap aftermarket gauges in a dry ice/alcohol mixture, and solder-splicing the new bulb and tube assembly onto an original gauge. I've got an old gauge on hand with a bad tube that I'm planning to experiment on.
Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln
Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt!
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway
Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
| | | | | Joined: Mar 2005 Posts: 1,636 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Mar 2005 Posts: 1,636 | I'm curious about why the aftermarket gauges for the original dash unit wouldn't work?
Some of the older 216 heads had a tapered seat area for the gauge sender to seal off if my feeble memory serves me right.
The newer 235 did not have that taper, but seems to me I used an adapter the local parts store had to make the stock gauge sending unit fit. Had the tapered seat built into it.
Last edited by Roy Rodgers; 12/11/2014 3:32 PM.
| | | | | Joined: Sep 2001 Posts: 29,270 Bubba - Curmudgeon | | Bubba - Curmudgeon Joined: Sep 2001 Posts: 29,270 | | | | | | Joined: Sep 2009 Posts: 78 Wrench Fetcher | | Wrench Fetcher Joined: Sep 2009 Posts: 78 | The original Gauge didn't work so I bought a replacement from LMC which didn't work either. After pulling it out for the 4th time I just decided to just drill a hole through the bottom of it and insert a small LED light. As you all know, its very hard to install the factory gauges, especially if you have big hands like me  Guys, I appreciate your help on this one. I'll look into these adapters.
1953 3100 Chevy 5 window
1971 Chevelle SS
| | | | | Joined: May 2005 Posts: 8,983 Sir Searchalot | | Sir Searchalot Joined: May 2005 Posts: 8,983 | Some are talking electrical sender, some are talking bulb, Which are you wanting to use? The bulb and sender are one unit and don't care what motor or vehicle it's on. The electrical has to be ohm matched, sender to gauge. Old gauge with new sender does not work sometimes. Electrical is much easier to install, never a stained carpet. Albeit not "original".
Right is right, even if everyone is against it, and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it. - William Penn
| | | | | Joined: Mar 2005 Posts: 1,636 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Mar 2005 Posts: 1,636 | 1953 stock would have been a bulb / mechanical gauge.
But then his might not be stock. | | |
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