Aluminum Cylinder Head - use w/ aftermarket mech temp gauge?

62Ranchero200

Famous Member
Greetings Ford Six Fans,

28 weeks after I placed my order, I received my aluminum cylinder head via FedEx. It's an impressive piece of engineering and visually imposing, and I'm certain that it will be well worth the wait.

Now to my first issue with the aluminum head: I have always felt that mechanical gauges were the most reliable, especially for critical monitoring functions like water temperature and oil pressure. I don't want to have to worry that low voltage or a short might be causing a false reading. In preparation for installing my 250 with the aluminum head, I purchased a new Autometer mechanical temperature gauge. The gauge is industry standard for a mechanical gauge, and includes a temperature probe, about 3/8" by 1 7/16", that is supposed to be exposed to coolant to monitor the temperature.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/248/autometertemperaturepro.jpg/

Trouble is, the aluminum head includes only a tiny 1/8 NPT female temperature tap, located aft of cylinder #6 on the driver's side.

I would really like to use a mechanical water temperature gauge, and I'd like to plumb it to the female tap if at all possible. I'd rather not have to run the Autometer temperature probe all the way to the front of the engine to tap either into the thermostat housing or an inline radiator hose fitting.

Is there anyone who has been able to use a mechanical temperature gauge with the female tap on the aluminum head?

Thank you,
Bob the Builder
 
This may not help, and I am not trying to be a jerk, but IIWIYS - I would have a very hard time wanting to modify my new $1500 baby, especially if there was a possibility it might not work.

It isn't what you asked, but I would "go electric" and make sure I spent enough $ to get a gauge I was confident in.
 
Greetings Ford Six Fans,

After special ordering a 1/8 NPT-M to 3/8 NPT-F adapter from amazon.com (all the others came from my local auto parts store), I was able to cobble up a combination of brass NPT fittings that would thread into the tiny 1/8 NPT port on the aluminum head, give me enough depth to fit the probe from the Autometer mechanical temperature gauge, and seal to the captive fitting on the probe:

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

In hindsight, I could have used a shorter 3/8 NPT 1" "close nipple" rather than the 2" nipple that I did use; I ended up with 1" more length than I needed.

Thanks
Bob the Builder
 
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