The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Water temp tubing

where can you get tubing for the temp gauge?

1954 Chevrolet truck?
Original-style gauge?

You would need a sealed tube - it contains a volatile fluid/gas (probably an alcohol?).

Once the tube is opened/broken, you need to get a new integral gauge/tube unit.

http://www.secondchancegarage.com/public/653.cfm

Water temp gauges are a sealed system, using ether as the medium. They are not readily repairable, although I have heard some have been successful, but not for me.

Need to get a new gauge, which includes the block sensor, long enough tube to reach panel, the tube is wrapped in a coiled spring like mat'l to prevent kinking. Very reasonable, not original looking, however.

Ed

Autozone has gauge tubes. It's right next to the blinker fluid and muffler bearings.

There is a rubber coupling in the middle of my tube, so I assumed you could get a longer one. Since I'm doing an engine swap, I need it to go to the front of the engine, or get an inline fitting for the Hester hose.

BTW, what size fitting is the small end.

whitedog, that 'rubber coupling' is most likely a sleeve to prevent wear at some point .... or someone has 'repaired' it somehow

Bill

There are companies that repair these, Bowtie Bits did mine years back. I needed a longer tube for the modern engine.

Joe

Jim Carter sells 1954/55 temp gauges with longer sender line. You send your old unit to him as a core.

My gauge actually works, I just would like it to be longer.

You want the gas-filled sender line to be longer?

The sender line would have to be cut and extended, or a new longer line would have to be used. Either way, the line would have to be filled/seal with ether/alcohol and most likely you will not be able to do this yourself.

You could switch to an electrical sender line - this would require an electrical 54/55 gauge (Jim Carter also sells this).

Adding a longer tube is a pretty simple operation. Buy a cheap aftermarket gauge with a long tube, and cut/splice the original tube with a short section of thinwall copper tubing that's a close slip fit over the original tube. You'll need to tin the tubing with acid core solder, and immerse the new thermal bulb in a container of dry ice and alcohol to liquefy the ether while doing the splice. That drops the temperature of the bulb WAY below zero and prevents the ether from evaporating while you make the solder splice near the gauge head.
Jerry

Whitedog,

If you attempt that simple operation, please report back your result.

If you are swapping in a 350, you can drill and tap the intake manifold at the left rear for your bulb (no extension necessary). This area of the intake is a dead end and has coolant there.
Thanks belongs to Hotrod Lincoln. He told me about that fix. Worked like a champ.
Carl

I'm not swapping in a 350. It's a late model engine that has a boss near the front of the engine.

I've seen they have replacement guages for v8 swaps that have the longer tube. For the sake of simplicity, that may be the way to go.

Thanks Jerry, I'll try that method.

Ed

Hey guys, stupid question
it seems these are assembled units when new; so how do we get it routed thru the 4-hole firewall grommet?

Thanks

Take the grommet out of the holder, slot the hole you want to use, feed the bulb through the steel holder and assemble.