My 55 Ford with a 351W runs over half way on temp gauge and if AC is on about 3/4 or more on the gauge. I was told that originally these cars had 165 thermostats and if it is on 3/4 ( or sitting on the “”M “ on my gauge that is about 200 degrees and about right for todays engines. My car has never showed signs of being hot, never lost any coolant although it gets really hot in engine bay. Does anyone run another gauge along with the factory one and know about what is normal? Thanks for any input
Ford Y’s took their temp from the rear of the drivers side cylinder head at the intake base. I use a infrared temp gun at the thermostat housing and believe that. I like to see a 10* drop from the upper hose metal on the radiator to the bottom on the gauge is 185*. 55’s have 6 volt gauges and may make a difference. If you have a heat gun, drop the level in the rad tank 1”, leave the cap off and monitor the temp in the tank as you run the engine and note the on the gauge. I use a cardboard on the front of the radiator to speed things up.
how did you get your temp gage to work i have been trying to get mine to work but no good yet i have changed the sending unit but that didnt work either traced the wires eveything looked good
My 54 has a 85 302 motor. When I bought the car the temp gauge didn't work. I sent the gauge to https://williamsons.com/. Ron replaced the mechanism and sent it back with matching temp sender. That was a couple of years ago, still working as it should.
When I put the 302 in my 55 (was a y-block) the temperature gauge didn't work even though the gas gauge worked okay, this was using a gauge voltage regulator from a Mustang for the 12 volt conversion. I finally removed the 272 temp sensor from the y-block and installed it in the 302 and seems to work okay now. I have an Edelbrock intake manifold and installed a reducer to get the thread to work. Had to drill the inside of the reducer to get the y-block sender to fit and even then it was almost too long and hits the bottom of the water p***ageway but works okay. Still a mystery what is too hot as the gauge is marked "C" and "H" with no numbers. Mark
nosford: the factory temp gauge is a mystery like many of the era and since it’s at the back of the head I’m not even sure it’s true. The hottest coolant is right at the thermostat housing. I’ve drawn a factory gauge on a piece of paper and like said above dropped the level in the tank and check the water with a heat gun. I use a card board in front of the rad and marked starting at 150* every 10* to 200* where I quit. The 56 is bigger so I’m sure it is easier. This maybe a little off since the coolant has traveled up the hose to the top tank. But at least I know something. I use a 14# cap now with a modern heater core and radiator.
The "still a mystery" statement was to qicvick and the question as to where the gauge would read at "X" temperature. I bought a Mr. Gasket radiator cap with a temperature gauge built in, it reads the coolant temp in the top radiator tank by direct contact. As this is the coolant that is returning to the radiator directly from the intake manifold / thermostat housing it should represent the hottest coolant before it flows down through the radiator. If I drive the car until the temperature stabilizes (160 stat) the gauge reads below 1/2 way on the bar between "C" and "H". I then open the hood and check the temp gauge on the radiator cap and it is about 165. I also check the temp on a hot (95+ degree day) driving in stop and go traffic, dash gauge reading close to the top of the "bar" and the radiator cap says around 205. That will go higher if I sit and idle for long periods in line to enter a car show so going to switch to an electric fan this year when I get a chance. I am running a Champion aluminum radiator with a 50/50 mix of coolant and distilled water. After I am comfortable with the dash gauge readings I install the original cap and save the temperature gauge cap for diagnostics.
My Mr Gasket temp in the cap is always lower than any other device I use. Even thou your fan is close you might do better with a shroud or even slanting back the top of the rad so the fan is as parallel as you can get. It looks like it not. 55-56 Fords had a panel that fit over the core support and radiator that seals to the hood with a rubber. That really helped as all the air was then going thru the radiator when the fan was running even at idle. A shroud could help too. A baking pan style with a fan hole that matches the body of the radiator.
Thanks, I get all that. The radiator is pitched back at the top but there is no flange on this radiator to bolt a shroud to easily. Besides this fan is the loudest SOB I have ever ran in my life. I have fairly quiet exhaust and as I get above 2500 rpm the howl gets really annoying so will be moving the radiator forward and doing the electric puller fan thing.
I’ve got a friend with a 55-6 Merc with the later engine who also has an idle cooling problem. The Mercs firewall is closer to the rad support and radiator and he has no room either. Some of us with y-blocks, me included, are able to use a smaller 302 water pump pulley to speed up the pump at idle which fixed our problem. We owned these cars when I started driving and never ever had idle cooling problems. The only thing different is the gasoline as far as I’m concerned. I will say with unleaded with 10% ethanol my thru bumper exhaust are never dirty or carboned up even with all city driving…It wasn’t that way in 56-up I guarantee you. Good luck..
This is like the one I am using. It started out with my 63 Studebaker that had a "mystery C and H" gauge and I thought it was getting hot, saw this and bought one. Found out the temperatures were pretty normal. So I kept the cap when I sold the car and it has came in handy several times since.
I finally broke down and bought one last year when trying to sort out some overheating & vapor lock issues on my '64 Galaxie with an FE. It really helped to pinpoint things and I would recommend begging/borrowing/buying one. I learned a lot and it probably paid for itself in time saved alone.
The one in the picture is a MrGasket according to the Amazon listing I took the picture from. Prices vary based on the site but Amazon has it for $36 and free shipping if you are a prime member. It is also listed at Summit, Jegs, and all the normal parts places but don't know about shipping or ordering.
Thanks for the reply’s! I bought the Mr.Gasket cap and this is the readings I got, car was idling with hood down ( except to read gauge) with AC on that’s when it will get to “P”
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