well i dont have my old heads anymore, and i need a temp sensor so i can get my temperature gauge working.

does anyone know if the thread is the same for the SBC's??


my block is 3970010 so its from 69-80, guy i bought car from said it was 72 so i will believe him, the guy at canadian tire said it was 11.99$ canadian for the sensor and a warning light??

i guess its for the older ones, they didnt have a gauge a red light came on when your motor overheated.

 

Gauges were an option on thirgens. If you have gauges you need a temperature sender, if you have idiot lights you need a temperature switch. The threads on the sender are 3/8" NPT, the holes in the heads will be 3/8" NPT or 1/2" NPT. If they're too large you can use a pipe bushing.

 

tell him to look it up for an 84 camaro, its got a gauge...

But it should have had the listings for both gauge and light but maybe he didnt scroll down in the list.

 

he didnt say warning light for a 3rd gen, i told him to look up a 72 chevy pickup.

ill tell him to order it tomorrow, see if it fits, if not ill bring it back.

 

Your gauges aren't from a 72 pickup, so why should the sender be? Get the right sender for your car.

 

grab the one for your specific car as the '72 might give you totally wacked readings because its probably made for a totally different gauge.

Edit: Damn Apeiron beat me to it

 

so grab a sensor for an 86 trans am?

 

You got it

 

i called canadian tire to look up a temp sensor for an 86 trans am

they have 2

one is a temp sending unit with gauge, and the other is a temp sensor

now they didnt have a 5.7 just a 305HO, would they be the same size?

i should go with the temp sending unit with gauge right?

im gonna go down and take a look at both of them, they have both in stock. they cant both be the exact same thing, ill look for the one that screws into the side of the head.

 

There's nothing to look at, they both screw into the had. Don't confuse them with any of this 72 pickup or 350 nonsense. Your car left the factory as a 1986 TA with a 305, so you want a temperature gauge sending unit for a 1986 TA with a 305. That's all you need to ask for. If the part they give you doesn't fit the hole in your heads, use a bushing.

 

ok so i should purchase the temp sending unit with gauge, or the temp sensor?

i think ill go with the one with the gauge.

and my car DID originally come with 305HO, in my 86 t/a, so ill just get what they have there for 20$ CAD

and what bushing do i get? what is a bushing? like an adapter?

 

instead of buying that, i bought this kit, it was 3 mechanical gauges.

it had a temperature gauge, battery gauge, and oil gauge, and it came with all the fittings and wiring i needed.

it had a 3/8" adapter for the temperature guage, so that screwed really nicely into the head, hook the gauge up.

for the oil gauge, i took the big black sending unit off the block, i left this copper piece there, looked like an adapter, and the fittings that came with the oil gauge fit right in, so i hooked up the hose to the gauge.

but for the battery, i havent hooked it up yet, not sure which wires to take off and attach to it, maybe if i took the dash apart and change it from the dash to my new gauges.

being stupid, i forgot coolant was going to flow out of the head, i unscrewd the pipe plug where the temp sensor goes, and lost about half my coolant, so i didnt start the motor to see if they work yet, i will tomorrow.

this whole kit was actually cheaper then doing everything else, it was 29$CAD

separate : oil gauge 10$, temp sensor 21$

will let you know how it worked, please oil gauge work, i hope its not the motor.

 

Its most likely a sunpro or similar cheapo mechanical gauges, i personally would have kept the electronic gauge. If i remember correctly all the 3 gauge kits just had mechanicals but you could buy the electronic gauges as singles. Been a while since i worked there

The mechanicals will tend to give you innacurate and delayed readings but if you only need it to see if your in normal op temps or meltdown it will be fine, also what are you going to do about the stock gauge?

 

i dunno, can i leave it?

im going to be putting in 4th gen dash's anywya, so im going to be getting rid of these old ones.

 

ok well i got 2 problems, none of the gauges move?

no oil is circulating through the see-through hose, and the temperature gauge didnt move?

i dont have the battery one hooked up, because mine works fine.

it should just work right, even without plugging in the lights.

all i did was screw the thermostat into the block, and the other end is already in the gauge, shouldnt it read, the motor was on for 30 seconds-1 minute, and no fan running, so it should have warmed up quite quickly.

and with the oil, the oil sending unit, was plugged into this copper T looking piece that was in the block, i didnt think i would have to remove that? so i plugged right into it, and the other end into the oil gauge, i siliconed inside by the compression sleeve/nut so that oil wouldnt leak, but no oil is shooting through it.

any ideas?

 

It usually takes longer than a minute of operation for the coolant temperature to increase to a measurable level. You did top up the coolant after installing it, right?

The only way oil would be "shooting through" the capillary tube would be if there was a leak in the gauge, which would be a bad thing. If you're not showing any oil pressure, there might be sludge or deposits in the fitting in the block.

 

yes i filled up the coolant.

oh, so no oil at all goes through that little tube? i guess i will take off the copper fitting and see if there is any junk inside there, is that the only possible solution why it isnt working?

what if the copper fitting is clean?

 

The tube may eventually fill up with oil, but it doesn't have to. It's just there to carry pressure to the gauge and it doesn't care if it goes through oil or air. If the brass fittings on the block are clean, you might have a faulty gauge, you might have got silicone in the tube, or you might actually have no oil pressure.

 

no oil pressure

but the gauge has been reading no oil for a long time

and ive driven the motor like that, and it doesnt tick, knock, nothing, the motor has never overheated.

 

AND I HAVE OIL PRESSURE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the line was kinked, in a spot that i couldnt see, i unkinked it, and i get a reading of 60

the gauge goes from 0-100, this good right, and whenever i give it a rev, it goes up more.