i installed my own white overlays on the gauges, came out nice but the water temp is off one or two lines i fear, is there any way to get it dead nuts or do i have to guess at this point? its a 91 bird lo3 and i have the fan switch disconnected so i cant do that trick =),maybe there is a way to hook up a temp gauge to the system some how?

 

maybe u can help me, someone had ran my fan off aswitch and iwant it to run like it did stock...do u know how to make i like that? but anyway, go to a advance auto parts or auto zone..or even a big lots, if u want quality dont get big lots but if its temperary then get a temp guage from big lots its like $5 and has instructions on how to install it..hope that helps

 

i got mine wired right into the fuse panel, ignition on fan on, ignition off fan off , same goes for tranny cooler fan........you say they have temp gauges at autozone? huh how would that hook into your water hose?

 

ok i just went and looked at mine, theres a coiled wire (looks like a spring) goes from the temp guage through the firewall ad to te right of the neck that contains the theromostat theres a little thing that comes up about2 inches or so and has a bolt on top, mine runs into that, by the way i have a 2.8 v6, im not sure if the v8s are the same, i supposed u could run it where the theromostat is too, ya they have them at auto zone there about $12 there

 

maybe they make hand held gauge i could hook up to the water temp sensor ? yeah i have an lo3

 

humm i dunno if this would work, my dad has these little therometers that he uses to check temps in ac systems,might work..

 

I was looking at mine today. I don't have any overlays.. but the marks on the guage are not that accurate. the temp gun read just under 200 F at the thermostat area, and the guage was down at the mark between the 100 and 220 mark. I'm almost thinking of making my own white face overlays, and redo the marks to match a digital temp readout. or just replace it with an Autometer guage.. perhaps

 

lol, well how does this temp gun work? this is what im getting at, i want an accurate reading so i can reset the dash gauge, and id like to know the best way of going about this,ty

 

noone has any advice on this?

 

I just replied on a similar note in another thread on this board.

The stock temp guage is completely non-linear. When the needle just barely starts to move, thats about 150-160. By the time you get to a sliver above the 100' tick, thats actually closer to 170. The mark between 100' and 220' is actually about 190.

I've verified those numbers in my car with a scan tool (beauty of AD conversion, non-linear doesn't maytter anymore), and i've observed enough f-body temp guages with different temp thermostats to have confidence that they all act the same way.

In short, there is no point to trying to calibrate anything. All you need to know is what looks normal to you on your guage. If you normally cruise near the first tick and suddenly you're not, then you know you have a problem.

 

welp, this is what im gonna do, im gonna go out for a cruise with my dash apart so i have access to the needle, come back, pop the rad cap and stick a cooking thermometer in there, take the reading , turn the key on,set the gauge needle and everything should be kosher........what ya think?

 

I hope you wear gloves after running the car hot and popping the radiator cap.

 

sounds like a VERY BAD idea to me...dont do that, the antifreeze is VERY HOT! dont wanna hear about no one gettin burned, i guy i work with sometimes did that, burned his hands,arms,face, and another bad place...get my drift?

 

I have a 1992 Bird also and the way I have mine set is this......with the dash panel off and access to the needle.......I installed a C-4 Corvette 200* fan switch, after making sure radiator was filled, i let my car run to operating temp, when the fan switch kicks on at ..200*... I placed my needle on the 200 degree mark........so now everytime the ecm kicks on the fan I know the temp is 200*......I run a 180* stat with it and it runs very cool.....hope this helps you out.........hate to see ya doing the .........pop the radiator trick and get burned.......

 

nooooooooooooo......

you smother the cap with a rag and open it real slow to release the pressure, yeah you get coolant on the ground but it doesnt fly all over the place, lol can ya gimme some credit here



and chitown, i have my fans direct wired, i dont use a fan switch they are on all the time but ty anyway........