What's the lowest temperature that your gauge will read?
Normal running temperature for the motor with a thermostat is 130 - 140 degrees. Most automotive type gauges start at 120 degrees. The needle will barely move when the motor gets up to operating temperature. I have a gauge that starts at 60 degrees and goes up to 210 degrees. When the motor warms up the needle sits about mid-way on the gauge so it's easy to see.
mine starts at a 100 to 250 in black numbers then it goes 40-60-80,in blue numbers,where can i find one that starts at 60,cause i haven't seen one yet,thank you for the info,ill keep trying.
There's your problem. The overheat sensor in the head is essentially a heat-sensitive on/off switch. You can't use it to drive a gauge. You need a proper sending unit mounted tot he motor.
is that the thermoswitch your talkin about?if so,then i need to put a heat buzzer on and forget the gauge,sorry if i sound ignorant on this,but im not quite sure what i need to do now,if you can explain more,thank you for replying.
If you want your gauge to work you need the appropriate sender to replace the thermo switch, if you just need an over heat buzzer you just need a 12 volt buzzer or original buzzer if you can find one.
The overheat sensor does not have direct contact with the cooling water. You could use the threaded hole in the thermostat housing to rig up a water temp sensor.
There is a threaded pipe plug located just above the thermostat housing on the block. It's a 1/8" NPT threaded hole. You need a sending unit matched to your gauge that has a 1/8 NPT thread. Many of the gauges have a matching sending unit that is 1/8 NPT but you need to confirm that before purchasing.
Also you need to confirm the size of the hole in your dash. If you have an existing hole, it's either 2 5/8 or 2 1/16 inches in diameter.
