wave1957

I have bought a mechanical water temp gauge made by Equus, part# 7242; I want to mount the sensor on the back on the passenger side cylinder head (engine is an '04 LQ9), but I have not been able to find the right adapter yet. I have just spent an hour at the local parts store that stores all the Equus parts/adapters... but nothing works. I have already read here about using Equus gauges and that the adapter needed is very thin and easy to break, so, which one is it? I figure someone out there has used that same gauge...
Can anyone help me?
Other options would be:
~ re-thread the hole in my cylinder head, but can I do that with the head in place? Where would the metal dust go...
~ mount the sensor in a rad hose: which one, top or bottom? how accurate would the gauge be?
~ drill and tap the water pump: how accurate would the gauge be?
Any idea will be welcome,
Thanks

forcd ind

iTrader: (7)

strret and performance has adapters that screw in (metric) and the other end is female pipe thread-they have them in several pipe sizes-they also make an adapter for the oil pressure gauge, mounts down by the filter

G-Body

iTrader: (4)

You need a M12x1.50 to 1/8" NPT adapter. Eqques kit #6848 has one.

wave1957

Ah, I thought so! The part store did not want to look at that particular adapter kit because it is called "oil pressure and electric temp adapter kit"... and I am connecting a mechanical temp gauge...
Thanks a lot!

350SS

iTrader: (38)

I think that adapter is too small for a mechanical sender fyi

wave1957

Indeed you were right, 350SS, this kit does not have the adapter I need, they are all too small...
So, what do I do now?

ls1nova71

iTrader: (4)

Shouldn't be that hard to drill and tap the head, assuming you can get to it. I did that to my Ls1, but was out of the car at the time. I gave up trying to find a sender that was the right size. As for the metal shavings, just put some heavy grease on the tap and clean off the shavings as you go.

wave1957

Equus does not apparently have the right adapter because I use a MECHANICAL gauge, and the sensor is bigger than for an elecrical gauge.
As a result, I think I will mount the sensor in the water pump (drill and tap) or in a water hose.
Any suggestions on those? Is one location more accurate than the other?

jay_lt4

iTrader: (4)

just run a 1/4-18 NPT pipe tap into the hole, works fine on my swap. dont drill the hole, just put some grease on the tap and screw it in, the grease will catch all the aluminum chips and you will now have a 1/4 pipe threads and can use any aftermarket gauges and senders

1SlowNova

I'm having the same problem just want to know if the 1/4-18 NPT pipe tap worked. I have an Equus mechanical gauge that I want to install. Seems like an old thread but let's see if I can get some help. Thanks.

Gray86hatch

iTrader: (83)

What I did on dads car was welded a npt bung in the top of the water pump.

Tim

BobH

iTrader: (4)

Autometer sells the adapter;
http://summitracing.com/parts/atm-2275

good luck,
bobh

SSSTANG#1

iTrader: (14)

I bought an adapter like the one above at Lowes.

Pop N Wood

iTrader: (1)

That looks like the wrong part. Needs to be M12x1.5, not M16x1.5.

By the time you get an adapter to fit the mechanical sensor it will be so far out of the head it can't possibly read right. Your options are to tap the water pump like most guys, put some sort of T in a radiator hose, pull out a freeze plug from the the side of a head, or put it into the brass block heater plug on the either side of the motor. They drill out to 1/2 NPT perfectly. I put my Datsun sender there