Mod a water neck for gage

F

Flyboy1st

Member
Any body ever drill and tap a water 29 neck for an aftermarket temp gage sending unit? Is how well did it work and what part of neck tapped and details like gage used.
 
How many I did was, 'too many' OK first you need a mechanical gauge they all come with fittings. Don't buy these that have high numbers buy the gauge with '0' '180' and '212'
gauges they now make are hard to read cause todays vehicles run hotter. Forget electric
nobody makes 6vt gauges they may exist I never seen one. Next, the adaptor is pipe
thread 'NPT"- next the proper drill and tap. The proper place is about 3/4" toward the
rear of the block like where the starter is. The Rule is you have one chance ! Or
although you may drill and tap the goose neck so if you make mistake can always braze
it up and do it again. With that said, buy the gauge and bring the adaptor to the hardware store they will match the tread and the drill and tap practice on scrap first.
I can not give you the tread size because the kit comes with a few adapters. Plenty of
good ole Stewart Warner gauges on ebay too. And then tractor supple has nice gauge
for 1939 to 1952 and up Ford tractor gauges no numbers but green band in the middle
and red for hot pretty cheap got one on my dump truck and the needle anywhere in the
green band is normal
 
Wouldn't this be easier? Just use steel tubing cut to length and weld a pipe fitting into it, rather than all the drilling tapping.

This is in a car I just bought and temp gauge is not used currently.
 

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Flyboy, I've done that on several 30-31 outlets, with no problems. Big job covered it nicely, just be sure to point it so it doesn't interfere with access to any head nut or other thing you may want to get to at a later date. It's interesting to note that the other replies did not answer your question, this happens quite often!
 
Charlie is right. The casting is too thin to drill and tap = only about 1/8 to 3/16 thick.. I build mine like this. 1/4" piece of pipe nipple welded to face of gooseneck - out of way of head nut. Then JB weld to seal the hickkies in the weld. Some sandpaper to clean up th JB then some gren paint to make it pretty- no paint on his one yet.
 

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kenparker0703 said:
Charlie is right. The casting is too thin to drill and tap = only about 1/8 to 3/16 thick.. I build mine like this. 1/4" piece of pipe nipple welded to face of gooseneck - out of way of head nut. Then JB weld to seal the hickkies in the weld. Some sandpaper to clean up th JB then some gren paint to make it pretty- no paint on his one yet.
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Pretty much the same plans as I have, just going to weld half of a cast pipe coupling to the outlet. I have a mid '50's SW gauge to install.
 
Not sure about yours but my water outlet is plenty thick enough to drill and tap for a pipe thread. I have done several and none have leaked.
 
DBSHELTON said:
Not sure about yours but my water outlet is plenty thick enough to drill and tap for a pipe thread. I have done several and none have leaked.
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Ditto, especially if you were to braze (or even solder) the fitting into the neck.
BTW, I HATE those necks sold with a tapped hole already in them. What gives with putting the hole on the LHS of the neck where it makes access to the head stud not difficult. I have only ever bought one of them and it was so poorly made that I couldn't get the nut on the head stud for poor machining. Leave them on the vendor's shelf.
 
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