Jurry rigged coolant sensor
 

I want to do some radiator blocking and remove/replace my fan in my car, but the only gauge for temp is my dumb light. So yesterday I jurry rigged a digital food temp thermometer. I extended the wires inside it so I could read the temp inside the car and the other end would be stuck in the radiator somewhere. I bought this sensor originally to see if my engine was overheating and saw that it was very accurate when stuck in a radiator fin (once the 185 degree thermostat opened the reading went to 185).

So right now I have it stuck in the radiator just below where the water comes in from the engine. I did have it down at the bottom of the radiator but it read 120 going down the highway, which was obviously not the temp of the engine.

I am going to be testing it tomorrow to see if the gauge is in a good place. I am hoping this will be accurate so I can move on to some other experiments :).

If it doesn't work I need to find out what it would cost to put in an aftermarket sensor and gauge. I was seeing ~100 dollars, in which case it wouldn't be worth it.

So far I have gone from 18 with my round trip to work to 22 using P&G and coasting to stop lights to what should be 25 tomorrow when I fill up by adjusting my points. I just got my carb tuned today so I am looking for a slight improvement on the 25 and if I can block my radiator and take my fan off I am hoping for 27 or 28. At which point I will be on the heels of my brother's Civic :).

Any comments on my sensor and why it will/won't work are welcomed, I will keep this thread updated on my success/failure.

Good night everyone!

Fourthbean

BTW, Nice Car...
 

A bit off-topic, but I just saw your car in the garage today -- nice car! That's a clean '63. Does it have the "Blue-Flame 6"? I really like the 60's Chevys -- especially the Bel-Airs and Impalas. Good work with the FE and that 3-speed :thumbup:

RH77

Had to go look that one up as I have never heard of the blue flame engine. Looks like it is a little bit older, the 235. Mine is a 230(well it was, I switched the block to 250).

Thanks for the props. I honestly thought 18MPG was all I could get out of this tank. Thanks to this site I have proved myself wrong on that point :).

Ya...the three speed. I will always wonder how much better I could do with a 4/5 speed. Maybe one of these days I will have the guts to put in one of those, too much modding on a straight car for my liking :(.

I put the sensor at the top of the radiator just below where the tube comes back from the engine. My top reading is 150. So I know it is not reading anywhere close to the water temp inside the engine as my thermostat is 195 and brand new. Oreilly auto has a temp gauge for 20 bucks. It uses the mount where my dumb light sensor goes right above the thermostat. Funny thing is I can't find a 20 dollar gauge on ebay. I figured they would be all over the place for cheap if the auto parts store sells one for that inexepensive of a price.

Just looked on Ebay again and found plenty of inexpensive gauges, not sure why I couldn't find them before...

I am probably going to spring for one of these so I can make sure not to run my battery all the way down. This should set me up nicely for an E-Fan install as well as an air-dam.

After looking at gauges it makes me want a tachometer also. Would be nice to know exactly what rpm's I am turned at.