Temperature Gauges

Santa, I have had several temp guages fitted to various forby's and sedans, and I have always gone for the mechanical type sender, and straight into the block.

A temp guage cannot show a reading if there is no water, this is why I always put it in the block.

Santa, I don't know what your vehicle is, but I have fitted one of these mechanical type temp guages into a 200 cortina, 250 cortina, FJ45 cruiser, 2.0 pintara, FJ60 cruiser and HJ60 cruiser ( the HJ60 was not mine, but fitted exactly the same way)

In all of these motors there is a tapped hole in the block under the exhaust manifold towards the rear of the engine, with a bolt-like looking plug in it. The temp guages come with 1 or 2 fittings to suit different threat types/sizes, but I have always had to search repco/marlows etc; to get the right size fitting, I just take the plug out and take it with me to make sure I get the right one. This screws into the block, and then the temp guage sender unit screws into the new fitting.

Make sure you do not crimp or twist the metalic looking sender unit cord, or the temp guage won't work.

Alternatively, most thermostat housings have a little spot made to be drilled out and tapped, but like I said, if you have a sudden loss of coolant, the temp guage will not show a true reading.

With it mounted in the block, when the motor is cold, you can see the mechanical guage showing a completely different reading to the normal in-dash temp guage. You can even see it dip up and down as the thermostat opens and then closes as cold water hits it, untill finally they both settle at "normal" operating temperature.