In a full custom setup, where is the best location to monitor the coolant temp?

I have ZERO parts stock on my car, not even the wiring harness is stock so I can place anything anywhere. I have a BeCool circle track radiator and a Gen I SBC with an air-gap intake, running an F1 procharger.

I plan on removing the middle of the nose on my Camaro to open up the air that can run into the front mounted intercooler. This should also help the radiator I think.

I have read that the back corner radiator holes are not good for temp checking because the coolant is no flowing by. Are the ports in the heads better?

Is it worth making crossover lines anywhere to help with cooling? Just looking to see if anyone with some tricks can tell me about their experiences.

Thanks.

 

There a port in the water neck area of that manifold? I just left mine there and seems to work fine.

 

Yeah, that is where I had it too, now that I think of it. Now I can't remember why I needed a third spot. First is the gauge, second is the thermostat switch for the fans... Oh well, when I remember I will post back here...

 

The heads will read the hottest temp. The intake and water neck will read about 10* lower than the head.

Go for one of the heads if you can, if not then just go to the intake and keep that 10* diff in mind.

 

I always like having the gauge in one of the heads.

 

I will keep that in mind.

My first build I tried putting stuff "where it would look hidden". But this time around I just want things to go where they will function the best and be most serviceable.

 

the intake crossover by the thermostat is where they always put the sensor that the ecm uses to tell what the engine is doing: this is true in pretty much every GM engine that i can think of... so, going by the logic of the people that designed these things, that's the best place to get the engine temp.. the head is a convenient place to put a sending unit for a gauge so the nut behind the wheel can see the needle in front of him do something, so that's where they put it.

 

I've been running mine with the fan switch in the passenger head and a mechanical gauge sender in the intake manifold for a few years with no issues. I figured the head would read hotter so I'd rather have the fan switch there to make sure the fan comes on as soon as possible, rather than seeing a hotter temp on the gauge. However, the difference in temp seems to be minimal between the two locations as my temp gauge reads right about 180 when the fan kicks on and that is what the switch's turn-on temp is supposed to be.