Need to find a place for coolant temp sensor

[Tosh Dickenson]

Looking to add a digital coolant temp gauge to my 1964 Deville with the 429.  The temp sensor is 3/8 NPT and manufacturer wants it installed in intake or cylinder head in a continuous flow of coolant.

Only threaded port I can see is where the existing temp sending unit is at the front of the driver cylinder head.  Anybody know of any other threaded ports on the heads?

Thanks!

[2o93f8rdftyzj]

See if you can get a T piece fitting to use.

[Tosh Dickenson]

Thought about that but I will need a pretty big tee to make sure the sensor probes aren't crushed and that will look pretty hokey sticking out of the front of the head.

[3ft7bqmb7dryo]

You can get an in line splice for the upper radiator hose. The sending unit will go in there. 

[Tosh Dickenson]

Thanks Russ, that's the way I was leaning.

[0wmawhs0nd6nt]

[0wmawhs0nd6nt]

I originally spliced a section of tubing into my upper rad hose and had the fuel computer bung in there. Problem was it only started working after the thermostat opened and it didn't look great. I ended up brazing a bung into the inside curve of the upper passengers side of the water pump. That was 17 years ago and it is holding up fine. There is enough clearance there that you can go either mechanical or electric.

[Tosh Dickenson]

Thanks Dan, could you have drilled and tapped it in there?  I was thinking about doing that because there seems to be a lot of meat on that water pump crossover.

Are you running fuel injection on yours?  What system?

[0wmawhs0nd6nt]

Tosh, I was thinking of tapping it myself when I chose the location. After drilling the hole I found that the casting was too thin to support enough thread for a leak proof pipe thread. I went to Crane Supply and bought a weld on pipe bung and profiled it to fit the curve of the water pump, Brazing it on was easy. I wrapped a rag around the pump leg close to the impeller housing and soaked it with water to pull off some of the heat from the welding and not damage the water pump seal or bearing. 

I started out with Megasquirt in 2003, then Megasquirt II and now MS3Pro, all on a home built manifold. I'll log onto my other PC and attach a photo...

[David Thomas]

A few years back I installed an Autometer temp gauge in my 63 when I was having some overheating issues. I put a T-fitting at the back of the thermostat housing where the 1/2 inch heater hose attaches. That seemed to work out well for me and the Autometer temperature gauge. And, it was a simple affair to remove once I didn't need the auxiliary gauge any more.

[3ft7bqmb7dryo]

This is what I used. It was running the electric fan when I was testing out the fans. I dont use electric fans any more, but the car is a driving test bed at any given time. 

[0wmawhs0nd6nt]

"but the car is a driving test bed at any given time." 

Love it! 

[0wmawhs0nd6nt]

Yep, all that crazy stuff came from my feeble mind and hands. I originally built the intake in '03 and made changes to it twice since then. It's steady state now. I also built the headers and designed the serpentine conversion plate which I had water jetted out for me. I proto-typed it out in 1/4" MDF and when I was happy sent the drawing to the machine shop. I also drew up a 36 toothed wheel for the computer crank trigger and had it water jetted out. I heat shrunk it onto the Buick 3.8 turbo lower pulley I am using. The ignition is run by the computer using the crank triggered signal. The coils are LS truck from a Savana van. The brakes are hydro-boost scavenged from a Chevy Silverado HD and Wilwwod discs all around. A buddy ported the heads and a local machine shop hogged them out to accept some custom made Manley valves. I designed the cam profile using Dyno-Sim software and sent that off to Howards who ground it. 

My background is machinist/mechanic until I was 40. I got married and went back to school and got my MCSE which got me in to IT. Spent 17 years with EDS and HP and am now just fiddling in my garage making control arms and doing small jobs for friends. Been a tinkerer all my life, just can't leave well enough alone!