Date:         Thu, 13 Jun 1996 21:53:38 -0700
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         ddes@anet-dfw.com (David Schwarze)
Subject:      Re: vdo cyl head temp sensor location?

At 7:42 PM 6/13/96, Aaron Sedgmen wrote:

>I bought a VDO CHT guage kit for my '74 1800 camper, and found that the
>sensor, which is designed to fit under a sparkplug, would not fit because
>the sparkplug hole is recessed into the head.

Hey!  that sounds familiar...

>There has been some discussion on the list from time to time about this
>and it seems that if your T4 motor has or had fuel injection then there
>is a threaded hole on which to bolt the sensor and if not then one can be
>drilled.  I haven't checked this out but I intend looking into it next
>time I have the heads off.  In the past, David Schwarze has described to
>the list how he has fitted a CHT guage to a T4 motor, so perhaps he would
>be a good person to ask for advice.

Yes, I spent some time on this.  I couldn't fit the sensor under a spark
plug either.  Fortunately, there is a spot on the type IV head where there
is some thick metal you can drill into.  I was lazy and just drilled a
small hole for a sheet metal screw, but a better idea would be to drill a
hole, tap it, and put a stud in it (down Steve!).

The drawback to this method is that the sensor is NOT on the hottest part
of the head (near the spark plug) but there's not much you can do about
that without doing some serious modifications to the head.  Anyway, what
you're concerned about is a relative change in temperature, and the gauge
will still show that, so I don't think it's that big of a deal.  Mine reads
between 200 and 250 around town, and 250 to 300 on the highway.  When it
gets over 300, I know I need to back off the throttle a little  and/or
downshift.  People that have somehow managed to mount the sender under a
spark plug have reported temperatures considerably higher than this.

-David

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David Schwarze                   '73 VW Safare Custom Camper       (Da Boat)
Dallas, Texas, USA               '73 Capri GT 2800                (Da Beast)
e-mail: ddes@anet-dfw.com        '87 Mustang Lx 5.0          (13.986@100.81)
http://www.anet-dfw.com/~ddes    '93 Weber WG-50                  (Da Piano)
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