He-he-heee,......you actually think because I sat here and explained why I replied to 7T1 the way I did that I'm mad, or upset, or hot??? I'm SOOO glad they have this little smiley here. Trust me, it would take a whole lot more than words on a computer screen to put me in a mood where someone really needed to tell to "Cool Down".

Ok, now to answer your "FWIW".......You looked at my "Oil Temperature" gauge and told me that you would be worried because I don't have a working "Oil Pressure" Gauge. Seriously, please read my profile, this is certainly not my first car. It might be my first 81, but I wouldn't post pictures of my gauges if I really didn't have any "Oil PRESSURE"!!!

If what you meant to say was really "Oil Temp",......well that's easy,....besides the 98 C5, I've never owned another vehicle that had an "Oil Temp" gauge, and I've owned 45 cars. I've never overheated one single car that I've put a new motor in because I'm always on top of the engine temperature. Actually I'm on top of them all, I'm just usually a little more cautious when it comes to me installing a brand new motor. I do appreciate your concern though.


Once again,.....glad for the


Look, if anyone else wants to respond to this, or even make judgements about me, or assume they know my moods, or whatever,.....by all means knock yourself out.

If there's anything you would like me to read about this matter or anything other than water temperature you'd like to talk about, please send me a PM as I will never return to this thread again. It's now a solved matter with having my new mechanical gauge installed, so anything else is pointless. Cheers to all....

 

Anybody know of a good replacement temp gauge that 'looks' factory but isn't so bloody general. Man I hate guessing the temp. "Yeah its below 200 so I guess its all right". I've got a '79. Anyone?

 

TTT....anyone figure this out yet? After noticing the difference in guages I would like to know if that heavy mark to the left is 200 on my 81 because I'm always running with the needle vertical...granted the guage could be off like everyone says but I'd just like to know where I'm looking at.

 

if you have a gauge the same as mine in my earlier picture of my 81 dash and your needle is vertical than you are operating at 215. thats too hot and doing damage. like you said thats if your gauge is accurate. use a temp gun to find out.

 

Skipped over all the B.S. so these are my random comments.

1. Modern engines run at 220+ all the time. Before someone throws in the 'reverse cooling' blah blah blah I'd like to know what temp the fans on my '84 L69 Z28 kicked in at or what temp pre reverse cooling 'vette fans kicked in at.

2. you need the proper sending unit for your car. As far as I can tell 'lectric limited sending units have the proper resistence to give accurate gauge readings.

3. Do not use teflon on the sending unit threads. Sending units need to go in bare to properly ground on the head/block

4. Get an IR temp gun. I got mine from Harbor Freight.

5. When I measure temps I check:
a. thermostat housing
b. upper hose next to T-housing
c. upper hose ast radiator
d. radiator next to upper hose
e. radiator next to lower hose
f. lower hose next to radiator
g. lower hose at pump
h. sending unit

I've found my gauge to 'dead on'.

 

bad news....i just checked my 81 with the IR gun and my guage is pretty acurate considering I have the white overlays on there i could have it slightly off line anyway but at vertical on the guage my IR gun read 207 @ the t'stat housing....NOT GOOD!!! I'm too broke to fix anything and I don't even know where to start so my car is parked for a long time as of now. So I'd say to clear the air on the guage...200 is the heavy mark to the left and 215 is the vertical notch on and 81.

 

quick update...Guage was accurate as stated in my last post. I took the old thermostat which was a 195 degree. I put it in water on the stove and even at boiling, it still didn't pop open...there laid my problem. I ran to autozone and bought the mr. gasket co. 180 degree and swapped it out...now it runs just left the heavy mark over to the left which I feel safe in saying is the 200 mark. I put my IR gun on the housing where I was getting a 207 reading yesterday and it never broke 171 today with new thermostat in there.

ps thanks to ozzytom for the pm with the tip to make sure it was opening.