Water Temp Sender for V8 Conversion, To drive the original oil temp gauge Options

[DickSteinkamp]

What sender are you non P-motor guys using to use the original oil temp gauge as a water temp gauge? Mine is a Chevy V8 in a 1976 if there is a difference.

I have tried several VDO senders. The closest I can get is their 323-057

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It is their 0-150C (0-300F) sender. The problem is that it centers the needle at 75C (165F) so at normal operating temps, the needle is about midway to the right of center.

Their 0-120C sender exaggerates this even more. Their 0-200C sender centers the needle, but won't give me much warning if I start to over heat.

[DickSteinkamp]

My gauge doesn't have numbers...

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/www.2040-parts.com-20876-1566244812.1.jpg)

...but that wouldn't stop me from centering the needle at about 200F. The problem with that is I would probably destroy the gauge. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

The three VDO sending units I've tried seem to be linear but start at 0. I believe the original sending unit for oil temp was probably something like 60-160C (140-320F) with about 110C (230F) as the mid point. The engine would normally run just under the mid point.

I'd love to end up with something similar. Maybe something like 130-270F with 200F as the midpoint.

I've considered using the stock oil temp sending unit (it would probably be close enough), but I think it might be tough to adapt the metric threads on the sender to the NPT threads on my intake. Has anyone done this?

Chi-town...do you know of anyone who recalibrates gauges?