electrical temp guage

[geraldchainsaw]

has any 1 hooked up a electrical temp guage in our 57 fords, if so, would u tell me how, or is mech better?,  thanks    Jerry

[FORDNUT]

If you get 14 responses to the question of which is better, you will get 14 opinions. Mine is that I always use electrical; I like the ability to hide the wiring and if you buy a quality gage it will be accurate. The instructions will be included in the kit.

[geraldchainsaw]

should have said i want to keep the orig guage hooked up,   and 1 i can count on,

[geraldchainsaw]

update,   changed from a mech to electric temp guage,  i didn't like the dial on the mech & the electric #'s were more to the center,    what i did was tap a hole in the thermostate housing, in the front by the water hose fitting theres a flat spot big enough to drill & tap a 1/8 pipe tap,  and the hook up is rather easy,  a ground, wire to the sensor and a wire to  egnition switch,    & hard to see any of the work i did,

[57 Ford Kustom]

Jerry
   If you taped the hole in the thermostat housing and run a thermostat it will read correct while it is open. There is enough meat in the intake maniflo on the left side just behind the thermostat housing for a 1/8 pipe thread. I run a sensor there for the electric fan.

TOM

[geraldchainsaw]

Tom,  your right, its only good after the thermostate  opens,    & i'll bet your the 1 that told me about the drilling and taping  a while back,  but i didn't understand just where to tap it at, so i let it go,  but the heating thing got to me,  and i started things all over again,     while were at it on the highway it gets up to about 200, is that a problem?  jerry

[57 Ford Kustom]

Jerry
   200 degrees is about the top of what I would want to see. 50% antifreeze and a 7# radatior cap will put the boiling point about 220 dregrees or better. I run a 160 degree thermostat, with a 4 bladed fan and the stock gauge goes up to about 1/3 going up the Maine coast in summer traffic it goes up to about 3/4 but the elec fan does not come on.


TOM

[geraldchainsaw]

hi Tom,   1 last maybe 2 questions,   right now i have a 13 lb presure cap on the rad,  what do i gain by using a 7 lb?,  or is it just a relief thing?,  as to the thermostate i don't know what i have in there right now,  i guess it wouldn't hurt to take it all apart one more time,  it does have a pin hole leak right now at the thermo  about 5 drops of water in 50 miles,   but after i find out about the 7lb cap,    and then i'm all done,   thanks,   jerry

[57 Ford Kustom]

Jerry
   If you have the original radiator still in the car it was designed for a 7# cap. Sometimes a higher cap will start to disform the cooling tubes. a lot of people have used 13# caps with no problems in fact you go to a parts store and ask for a 7# cap and they will look at you funny. What do you have for a fan?? 3 blade or 4 blade. My son has a 57 with a 351W and a aftermarket flex fan found with a stock fan engine ran cooler. I am not a fan of aftermarket flex fans anyway.

TOM