I was on my way home form a car show when I blew the top radiator hose on my 73 slant after making a road side replacement and driving to the next exit about ten miles away the temp was 280 degrees I found an Auto Zone and replaced the thermostat and started out again only to have the temp shot up to 250 degrees after several water stops I finally made it home. I am convinced that I need a new radiator my question is where should I hook the Sun Pro temp gauge on the motor ? currenty my temp probe is attached to the top tank of my radaitor this does not seem right to me although it works fine I do not want to drill a hole in my new radiator if I don't have to Thanks Jim.

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1956 Dodge D100 Pick up
power plant 225 slant six

Drill & tap your thermostat housing for the temp probe -- just make sure it doesn't stick so far into the housing that it interferes with the thermostat's operation.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

I never liked the idea, of putting the temp gauge in the T-stat housing. It will not read engine temp, untill the T-stat opens. If the T-stat should stick closed, the gauge would not show the over heat condition, untill it was too late. What is the problem with installing it in one of the threaded holes in the top/front of the head?

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

I am currently running a 195 degree thermostat and I was thinking about going to a 160 to keep the engine cooler is this a problem Heat is not a concern because I do not drive this truck during the winter. Thanks Jim

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1956 Dodge D100 Pick up
power plant 225 slant six

Charrlie,

I had what I think is a good reason for tapping the thermo housing, but first want to say THANKS for the help and time you have given me over the phone and email. I have seen we are similarly styled back yard kings!

But as to the reason, I got several sensor sets and upon trying each found the sensor was too long....it bottomed out. Upon trying adapters I didn't like the amount of probe still touching water outside the adapter. It was pretty easy to do the thermo housing thing after seeing DD's pic...but I did it for redundancy. I left in the stock unit to keep an eye on block temp until thermo opens and like seeing the temp differentials. While I like my Sunpro, what if it was bad? Same reason I have use both a voltage gage and an idiot lite in the charging circuit outputs. Plus....the SunPro was only long enough to reach the thermo housing and be neatly placed at the side of my compartment. I moved everything possible to the inside fenders and come in at right angles to block so as to leave the engine bare to work on.!

rock
'64d100

Well, different strokes for different folks...I like the T-stat housing location because it lets you see the thermostat open (or not open, if you don't get that reading "jump" when it opens). But yeah, there's nothing wrong with using one of the sensor ports up top/front of the head. I assumed they were already in use, hence your question.

Use a 180° thermostat, Stant Superstat #45358. A 160° will just waste gas and dirty-up your oil with no benefit.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

I have a temp sender in both the stock location and lower in the block using the drain plug location. They both work, and show a difference of about 15 degrees. When the head is running at 215, the block is showing 200. I put in a 180 Tstat to help eliminate detonation. The head cruises down the road at 180, but raises to 200 and above at idle in traffic. When I pull into the garage and let it idle, it goes up to 220, but never higher. I am quite surprised by your temperature readings of 280. No wonder it blew out the coolant. The highest mine ever got with the 195 tstat was 250, and that was the head, in the garage, idling on a hot night, before I installed the coolant recovery bottle, and the high level filler cap up on the upper hose. I suspect your cooling system is blocked up somewhere, or your tstat is malfuctioning.

Sam

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