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| | | | Joined: Mar 2023 Posts: 120 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Mar 2023 Posts: 120 | I’ve attempted to replace the capillary tube and sending unit on my original gauge using a donor gauge. YouTube has a couple videos on how to do it using a section of copper tube from an oil pressure line as a slip sleeve soldered in place.
Has anyone done this successfully??? I keep getting a small pin hole on the last joint where I can smell the Ether leaking out. Maybe I shouldn’t use flux core solder?
During the process the sending unit is submerged in ice water to draw all the Ether to the bulb.
If I could find a good usable gauge with a good capillary tube I would abandon the fix attempt.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Bob
1946 Chevy 1/2 ton "patina" pickup with a 1953 235 engine, otherwise all stock and unmolested!
| | | | | Joined: Jan 2022 Posts: 2,466 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Jan 2022 Posts: 2,466 | How do you know the correct amount of ether?
'57 GMC 102, Original 347 V8, HydraMatic, 3.08 rear gear, added A/C, disk front brakes, HEI, AFB carb, '98 Honda Black Currant paint. T-boned and totaled 10/12
'52 GMC 152 Stake Bed, Original 228, SM420, added A/C, HEI, disk front brakes, '67 Chev 3.55 rear gear. Gets used as a real truck.
| | | | | Joined: Mar 2023 Posts: 120 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Mar 2023 Posts: 120 | I don’t. The donor gauge is a fully functional gauge that you cut the tube up near the gauge while the bulb in in ice water so you don’t lose any Ether.
1946 Chevy 1/2 ton "patina" pickup with a 1953 235 engine, otherwise all stock and unmolested!
| | | | | Joined: Feb 2016 Posts: 1,989 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Feb 2016 Posts: 1,989 | Ice water may not be cold enough to keep the ether in 100% liquid state. If it is vaporizing/boiling at even the smallest amount, it will create pressure in the tube/bulb/bourdon tube and purge out of the liquid solder. Try dry ice for a colder bulb.
1957 Chevrolet 5700 LCF 283 SM420 2 speed rear, 1955 IH 300U T/A, 1978 Corvette 350 auto, 1978 Yamaha DT175, 1999 Harley Davidson Softail Fat Boy
| | | | | Joined: Mar 2023 Posts: 120 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Mar 2023 Posts: 120 | Ice water may not be cold enough to keep the ether in 100% liquid state. If it is vaporizing/boiling at even the smallest amount, it will create pressure in the tube/bulb/bourdon tube and purge out of the liquid solder. Try dry ice for a colder bulb. In the videos it shows ice water with rock salt. Another fellow just has the bulb in the freezer while doing the soldering. So may the freezer is better but yes, dry ice might be the perfect solution.
1946 Chevy 1/2 ton "patina" pickup with a 1953 235 engine, otherwise all stock and unmolested!
| | | | | Joined: Mar 2023 Posts: 120 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Mar 2023 Posts: 120 | I really want this to work because so many of us have inoperable temp gauges for one reason or another and this way we can salvage a vintage original gauge!
Last edited by Bob King; 03/04/2025 9:20 PM.
1946 Chevy 1/2 ton "patina" pickup with a 1953 235 engine, otherwise all stock and unmolested!
| | | | | Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 29,814 Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) | | Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 29,814 | Dry ice and alcohol is the way to do that job. That's how we installed huge brass bushings in tire curing presses- - - - -ones over 12 inches in diameter and 6 inches wide. We would soak them in several gallons of alcohol in a metal trash can, with 20 pounds of dry ice in it. Those bushings would shrink about 1/4" in diameter and we would quickly insert them into a hole in the press frame. Then a big bull gear that closed the press down to cure the tires would be reinstalled.
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!
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| | | | | Joined: May 2015 Posts: 11,076 Housekeeping (Moderator) Making a Stovebolt Bed & Paint and Body Shop Forums | | Housekeeping (Moderator) Making a Stovebolt Bed & Paint and Body Shop Forums Joined: May 2015 Posts: 11,076 | Ice water is only 32F, but if you add rock salt, that mixture is 0F. Dry ice and alcohol is -130F, which is getting to the melting point of ether which is -177F. That will get the vapor pressure low enough that it won't blow the solder out of the joint.
Kevin 1951 Chevy 3100 work truckFollow this saga in Project JournalPhotos 1929 Ford pickup restored from the ground up. | 1929 Ford Special Coupe (First car) Busting rust since the mid-60's If you're smart enough to take it apart, you darn well better be smart enough to put it back together. | | | | | Joined: Mar 2023 Posts: 120 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Mar 2023 Posts: 120 | Thanks KLHansen
That is what I was needing. I hope this works.
1946 Chevy 1/2 ton "patina" pickup with a 1953 235 engine, otherwise all stock and unmolested!
| | | | | Joined: Feb 2016 Posts: 1,989 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Feb 2016 Posts: 1,989 | I have no experience soldering a vessel containing ether but I would imagine that any vapor pressure would increase with the heat from the soldering process, it may still present a problem at the last solder joint?
1957 Chevrolet 5700 LCF 283 SM420 2 speed rear, 1955 IH 300U T/A, 1978 Corvette 350 auto, 1978 Yamaha DT175, 1999 Harley Davidson Softail Fat Boy
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