water temp sensor location

[socal pat]

Just got my dual sweep water/oil temp guage from Track Dog and did a little searching on M.net. and opinions vary wildly on sensor placement. So, where are youz guys taking your temps from? I will be using a Westach 1/8 npt generic sensor for both oil/water temps. Thanks guys.

[chuckerants]

I put it at the easiest place - in the upper radiator hose coming from the T-Stat housing to the radiator. You can buy the fitting from egauges.com.

I spoke to Gary@TDR and, "We put a Tee in the
5/16" water hose that comes from the tstat housing over to the TB or to the
oil cooler hose."

[raceskier]

Pat,

I used one of these adapters: http://www.egauges.com/images/autometer/Large_Pics/2281.jpg in the heater hose outlet from the back of the head. It's upstream of the thermostat, so I believe it is the highest temp you will see. The OEM sensor is tapped into the same fitting on the head.

Ken

[J_Man]

I used a similar adapter and installed it in the exact same hose (the one going from the back of the head to the heater). Pat, be careful not to install it in the hose next to it (the one going from the heater then near the header to the water pump) because the temperature there is cooler (the water already passed through the heater radiator)

Pat,

I used one of these adapters: http://www.egauges.com/images/autometer/Large_Pics/2281.jpg in the heater hose outlet from the back of the head. It's upstream of the thermostat, so I believe it is the highest temp you will see. The OEM sensor is tapped into the same fitting on the head.

Ken

[J_Man]

"We put a Tee in the
5/16" water hose that comes from the tstat housing over to the TB or to the
oil cooler hose."

That hose is a source after the water has passed through the OEM oil cooler/heater, so the temperatures will be skewed from the oil temperature (if one hasn't already removed the stock oil cooler). If you want to tap in that 5/16 hose, do it before it goes to the stock oil cooler. It starts at the back of the head (under the coil packs) and goes under the intake manifold to the oil cooler - so tap in the line before it goes to the oil cooler. It is much easier to tap to the line going to the heater though - especially on a car with a intake side blower since there is so much space on the exhaust side of the engine bay and it is easy accessible

[Kyp J]

I agree that the heater hose out of the back of the engine is the place. since it is the hottest place on the engine.

Is there a threaded hole in that brass adapter? That is nice looking, but I don't see where the sender goes in the pic. I got a nasty adapter in a junk yard and don't even know what kind of car it came out of. I will order a brass one.

[socal pat]

I went to egauge.com and looked it up. There are around 4 different sizes and I think that one just got turned around in it's package because all the other ones do show a nipple for a threaded sensor. I'm going to do the Trackdog-style install because they sent me the fitting and I have Monday off. Later on I'll have Tom send me the part number for a replacement hose and install at the heater hose when the mood hits.

[J_Man]

Is there a threaded hole in that brass adapter? That is nice looking, but I don't see where the sender goes in the pic. I got a nasty adapter in a junk yard and don't even know what kind of car it came out of. I will order a brass one.

It should have a 3/8" NPT threaded hole on the flat side. Mine is that way and very similar looking to the one on the pic

[J_Man]

I went to egauge.com and looked it up. There are around 4 different sizes and I think that one just got turned around in it's package because all the other ones do show a nipple for a threaded sensor.

I just looked at egauges.com
You need the 5/8" adapter (that's the size of the heater hose).
The adapter doesn't have a nipple. It has a 3/8 NPT threaded hole, and looks like they sell it with adapters (the brass thing you see on the picture) if your gauge sender needs a smaller thread hole (i.e. 1/4 NPT or 1/8 NPT). I have used such adapter (a bunch of these came included with my temp gauge/sender) - I used the 3/8 NPT to 1/8 NPT one because 1/8 was the size of my temp sensor.

To mount the adapter and sensor, use yellow teflon tape (from your local hardware store) - the yellow tape is much more chemical resistant than the white one

Don't rush it. Just wait for a few days to get the adapter and do it right. It takes 10 minutes to install - assuming you already installed the gauge inside the car and routed to the wires to the engine bay ...

[raceskier]

Actually the e-gauges 5/8 hose adpater has a 1/8 NPT thread. No need for an additional reducer bushing.