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I officially don’t trust my coolant temp gauge now. I’ve never seen it go above half way, which worried me. This is especially true since I have a manual fan switch.
I’ve heard a few different suggestions:
Anyone have more suggestions and possibly the easiest ones?
If I could find one that would be a plug and play changeup to the stock one that would be great.
Put it in the thermostat housing. Some tstat housings have 2 unused (14mm?) ports. Others don’t have this but you can drill/tap your own port. Or you can remove the OEM dash coolant temp sensor and use that port.
Be sure to put in a pressure switch tho. The temp gauge won’t warn you about coolant loss.
[quote=“Ranger” post=66003]Put it in the thermostat housing. Some tstat housings have 2 unused (14mm?) ports. Others don’t have this but you can drill/tap your own port. Or you can remove the OEM dash coolant temp sensor and use that port.
Be sure to put in a pressure switch tho. The temp gauge won’t warn you about coolant loss.[/quote]
So, just get a 14mm plug from McMaster Carr or something like that, order an aftermarket gauge, drill and tap and put some sealant around it and good to go?
I’ve literally never had to install one before.
Only reason I don’t trust the stock one is I took it out for a drive over the weekend and it was 86 degress. I sat at a light for 4-5 minutes without the fan on and the gauge never went above half way. Very skeptical now.
Confirm the size of the threads. I always get 14mm and 12mm backwards. Upon reflection, I’ll go with 14mm for the tstat body and 12mm for the coolant port (to throttle body) on the block.
Don’t bother with making your own adapters. A 14mm to 1/8NPT adapter is readily available. For a coolant pressure switch you can put the OEM oil pressure switch into the 12mm coolant port on the block.
A 12mm to 1/8NPT adapter that is suitable for temp is harder. Pressure easy, temp harder. The 12m adapter can be made to work for a temp sensor, but it’s trickier because the temp sensor probe is too big to fit into the adapter.
The way to make a 1/8NPT temp sensor work with a 12mm adapter involves a sensor with no probe length. These are often used for sensing cylinder head temps. Some of my old oil temp threads go into more detail on this.
Chuck Baader made his own 12mm to 1/8npt adapter, but he’s a better machinist than I am.
Ranger,
Can you confirm the thread size on the thermostat housing? Is is m12x 1.5 or m12x 1.75?
Im looking for some adapters to mount a mechanical Autometer Water Temp Sensor.
[quote=“silence” post=70389]Ranger,
Can you confirm the thread size on the thermostat housing? Is is m12x 1.5 or m12x 1.75?
I’m looking for some adapters to mount a mechanical Autometer Water Temp Sensor.[/quote]
I think it’s 14mm, not 12mm. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Auto-Meter-2267-Fitting-Metric-Adapter-1-8-NPT-to-14mm-/290372106589
See here http://spece30.com/forum/41-electrical-gauges-and-sensors/66323-oil-pressure-and-water-temp-adapters
Hopefully that has good scoop. There’s been a time or two over the years where I got the 12mm fittings (coolant barb and oil pressure) with the 14mm fittings (tstat) backwards in a post. Then once I figure out that I screwed up I have to go back, find the posts and fix them. Here’s the way I keep it straight…
You can’t use a simple 1/8NPT adapter in a 12mm port because the two are close in size, but you can get a simple 1/8NPT adapter for a 14mm port. That’s why the adapter for the 14mm tstat is easy, but a little harder for the throttle body coolant port and the oil pressure port.
Ranger, thanks for the link.
I think the mechanical water temp gauge probe is bigger than 1/4 NPT, more like 1/2 NPT.
[quote=“silence” post=70445]Ranger, thanks for the link.
I think the mechanical water temp gauge probe is bigger than 1/4 NPT, more like 1/2 NPT.[/quote]
Ah so. Well, you’ve kind of made it hard on yourself. You can either buy an adapter, something like this ( http://www.egauges.com/vdo_indA.asp?PN=ATM-2283 ), but with a 1/2NPT port, or you can buy an electrical gauge with a 1/8NPT sensor. A 3rd option is that I’m pretty sure VDO makes a 14mm sensor. That would thread right into the tstat.
Be advised that VDO makes devices in 2 different “ohm ranges”, US and ROW (rest of world). Gauge has to match sensor.
A downside of mechanical gauges is you have to be careful of the capillary tube.
I spent a lot of time fooling with gauges. At it’s peak I had so many pressure and temp gauges that you’d burst out laughing if I went into detail. One of many lessons I learned during that period is that high end full sweep stepper motor gauges are way to go. Look up Stack to see examples. Other folks, to include Autometer makes some too. Autometer owns Stack now.
Charms.
Better resolution because full sweep instead of 90-210deg.
Programmable to turn colors at different thresholds so no warning lights.
Will drive external warning lights.
Will connect to data logger and provide ACCURATE info.
Not affected by crappy sensor grounds.
More accurate.
Peak temp memory.
Yeah, I dont have the budget to get the more expensive gauges… I’ll have to figure out how to get this one to work.
I may have a buddy weld a small aluminum plate to the t-stat, and then thread that to fit the 1/2 NPT fitting…
T’stat housing will work, BUT you want to be sure you are sampling the water temp going into the radiator (coming out of the head). I use an aluminum sleeve/fitting from Pegasus and cut my upper hose to install. Works great.
[quote=“silence” post=70452]Yeah, I dont have the budget to get the more expensive gauges… I’ll have to figure out how to get this one to work.
I may have a buddy weld a small aluminum plate to the t-stat, and then thread that to fit the 1/2 NPT fitting…[/quote]
There’s nothing small about 1/2NPT. There’s places to come up with screwy solutions and there’s places to be cautious. You have a lot of possible ways to make this work but it looks to me like you’re shying away from the good solutions and dreaming up kludges because your big-ass 1/2npt sensor is driving the show.
If you want to stay 1/2npt, do it right and get the hose adapter for the top radiator tube. If you want to instead sample at the tstat, do it with an 1/8npt or 14mm adapter. Don’t screw around with kludges with oiling or cooling. I’m the poster child for this. I speak from experience.
The only negative about this solution is that you are adding 2 more hose clamps… which are 2 more places you could possibly spring a leak in the cooling system.
[quote=“Ranger” post=70456][quote=“silence” post=70452]Yeah, I dont have the budget to get the more expensive gauges… I’ll have to figure out how to get this one to work.
I may have a buddy weld a small aluminum plate to the t-stat, and then thread that to fit the 1/2 NPT fitting…[/quote]
There’s nothing small about 1/2NPT. There’s places to come up with screwy solutions and there’s places to be cautious. You have a lot of possible ways to make this work but it looks to me like you’re shying away from the good solutions and dreaming up kludges because your big-ass 1/2npt sensor is driving the show.
If you want to stay 1/2npt, do it right and get the hose adapter for the top radiator tube. If you want to instead sample at the tstat, do it with an 1/8npt or 14mm adapter. Don’t screw around with kludges with oiling or cooling. I’m the poster child for this. I speak from experience.[/quote]
Ranger, I was wrong its not quite 1/2"npt, After researching, it is a 5/8" NPT. so i need to find a 5/8NPT to 14 x 1.5
“The only negative about this solution is that you are adding 2 more hose clamps… which are 2 more places you could possibly spring a leak in the cooling system.”
Been running one for 10+ years without incident. Like all hose clamps…part of the prerace nut and bolt.
The only negative about this solution is that you are adding 2 more hose clamps… which are 2 more places you could possibly spring a leak in the cooling system.
[quote=“Ranger” post=70456][quote=“silence” post=70452]Yeah, I dont have the budget to get the more expensive gauges… I’ll have to figure out how to get this one to work.
I may have a buddy weld a small aluminum plate to the t-stat, and then thread that to fit the 1/2 NPT fitting…[/quote]
There’s nothing small about 1/2NPT. There’s places to come up with screwy solutions and there’s places to be cautious. You have a lot of possible ways to make this work but it looks to me like you’re shying away from the good solutions and dreaming up kludges because your big-ass 1/2npt sensor is driving the show.
If you want to stay 1/2npt, do it right and get the hose adapter for the top radiator tube. If you want to instead sample at the tstat, do it with an 1/8npt or 14mm adapter. Don’t screw around with kludges with oiling or cooling. I’m the poster child for this. I speak from experience.[/quote]
Ranger, I was wrong its not quite 1/2"npt, After researching, it is a 5/8" NPT. so i need to find a 5/8NPT to 14 x 1.5[/quote]
I’ll take hose clamps doing what they are designed to do before I let someone to a hack job on the tstat housing. And I’m the poster child for hacking stuff up.
Be careful about this sensor size business. I’ve played with a lot of sensors and sensor ports. 1/8, 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 are all common. I’ve never seen a 5/8NPT fitting. If you’re right, that’s all the more reason not to put it in your tstat. How big would hat hole be, 1"? A 1" hole in your tstat and then try to accurate put the sensor precisely into the water flow? No way.
I am also the poster child for bad ideas. And this, is a bad idea.
[quote=“Ranger” post=70460]
I’ll take hose clamps doing what they are designed to do before I let someone to a hack job on the tstat housing. And I’m the poster child for hacking stuff up.
Be careful about this sensor size business. I’ve played with a lot of sensors and sensor ports. 1/8, 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 are all common. I’ve never seen a 5/8NPT fitting. If you’re right, that’s all the more reason not to put it in your tstat. How big would hat hole be, 1"? A 1" hole in your tstat and then try to accurate put the sensor precisely into the water flow? No way.
I am also the poster child for bad ideas. And this, is a bad idea.[/quote]
Lol, I hope this isn’t a bad idea… All I want to do is find the proper autometer fitting that fits into the thermostat housing and works with the autometer temperature sender. I already did it on another M20, i just dont remember the autometer part number…
Auto Meter 2267
HOWEVER, drilling was required to achieve this:
[attachment=1936]photo_2013-01-29.JPG[/attachment]
I had to make a similar solution to mount my mechanical coolant temp sensor. I drilled out one of the ports very carefully and then tapped it with the correct NPT tap. During my motor install we attempted the same thing on a non leaking thermostat housing and the result was a crack in the boss and a now useless thermostat housing.
I use same method, with a mechanical Stack 270deg sweep gauge. Went mechanical as water temp can be a problem even with the car off, and didn’t plug into OEM port as I’d prefer to have a working gauge in the cluster than a dead one to not play mind games.
Guys,
What are your thoughts regarding mounting the Temp sender on the back of the head where the water port bolts in? I’m going to block that off regardless, and a friend suggested I put the sender in the new block off plate. Does anyone see any negatives about doing it this way? Ranger, what are your thoughts?