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Aftermarket Temp. Gauge

asoupley

Jedi Hopeful
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Anyone ever use an aftermarket temperature gauge on an LBC? Mine is not working and I cannot afford a new combo gauge at the moment. My biggest concern is where do you attach an aftermarket one to the engine?

Thanks
Tony
 
The sender unit for the aftermarket gauge must be used to replace the ether bulb one just under the t-stat housing on the starboard side of the engine. If you intend to have the combo gauge redone, try to keep the tube intact as you remove it. Nisonger gets about $150 to rebuild 'em, but they are the ones I've used for decades. Check the threads and O.D. on the replacement sensor for compatibility, too.
 
Like the Dr said, be careful removing the old sender. The aftermarket bulb typically can go right into the cylinder head of the A-series w/o problems.

Use the search feature in the Spridget forum and set the way-back machine for at least 1-year. Search various keywords like temperature. There have been a couple of threads about DIY dual gauge repair. Most those threads will include a link to here:
https://www.ply33.com/Repair/tempgauge
It's a very informative site. I tried the repair once on a badly damaged gauge that required additional calibration work. The method does work if you want to try it. You have little to loose if it fails.

If you don't want to try fixing this yourself, don't forget to check eBay. When working, these gauges go for too much money but typically less than the $150 to repair your own.
 
I had my gauge repaired about 5 yrs ago for about $80. If that doesn't work, I'd think you could get one from one of the forum members, I might have one but I'd have to look.
 
I bought a cheap, aftermarket mechanical gauge (under $20) for the race car and built an adapter from brass on a lathe.
"Male" part of the adapter matched the thread that screwed into the cooling system on the engine and "female" part matched threaded end of the gauge-sender.
Works great.
 
I just bought one from Advance Auto for $17. Turns out it fits perfectly into the adapter on a spridget. Took me about 5 minutes total. Not sure where to mount the guage... hopefully it is only "temporary".

Thanks for all the help guys!
Tony
 
And if anyone decides to repair their own using the web-link instructions- DON'T follow my lead and try to do it one better! I unsoldered the cap tube at the gauge instead of cutting it down the line. It is almost impossible (for me at least) to properly resolder it back at the gauge, the sleeve method is better.
Been there- don't try that
Bill
 
I thought I would bump this thread since I just did the repair outlined at https://www.ply33.com/Repair/tempgauge . It seems to have worked pretty well, and saved me about $135 on having someone else replace the capillary tube on my combo gauge. The fitting on the generic $17 mechanical temperature gauge at AutoZone fits just fine.

2332697947_614d206d73_m.jpg

"212, 215, whatever it takes."

Now that I have a flicker account I can start posting pictures of the 20 year restoration of my '59. It got kicked into high gear last year when my dad (He post under MarvJ) finished most of the heavy lifting.

Brian
 
Glad it worked for you. I did this same procedure a couple of years ago as a temporary fix. Well... like most of my temporary fixes it is still there and working.

Looking forward to the pics.
 
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