Projects engine runs real hot, bad gauge.

my sweet little 289 cruises at 190*, but pull into a drive through it jumps over 230*...
took off the electro fans, put on a flex fan, had a buddy with a temperature gun, let it run up to 260*... gun said 190*-195*...
cheap azz ebay China-gauge... tested a spare from a box of junk given to me, set a sauce pan of water on the stove, dropped in the sender, 212* at boil... i will test the 289 with that gauge...
should have done the sauce pan thing with the first one... errrrr.

 

Since I'm an optimist, at least the gauge was reading hotter than the engine actually was, and not the other way around. I very much go out of my way to not use Chinese parts...but sometimes you have to. Id think you can find a new old stock US made gauge easy enough though..

 

i try and avoid the parts with little grey letters spelling china... bought the gauges years ago ...

 

Maybe the gauge was ok
, could have been the wrong sending unit ?

 

You can tune the gauge with resistors.
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...auge-w-aluminum-intake.1196872/#post-13628373

 

Factory Ford gauges are notoriously optimistic also . I use mechanical gauges in my own cars. If a customer wants electric gauges then I tell him that they need to check with mechanical gauges to make sure they are reading accurately.
Sometimes it's not just Chinese made gauges that are wrong.

 

I don't buy anything made in China. Pure junk always poor quality, fit and finish.

 

I like the mechanicals. I sleeve the tubing on the oil pressure gauge with heavy duty hose and clamp it on both ends in case it lets go...

 

it is mechanical, and junk...

 

Does Autometer still make gauges in the USA?


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Can anyone name one Chinese made item thats worth a damn? I can't think of any.

 

I went to buy a High Performance Coil from Napa & they gave me
MSD Coil made in China & I gave back to them !

Just my 3.5 cents

Live Learn & Die a Fool

 

Autometer manufactured in Sycamore, IL.

https://www.autometer.com/about/our-factory


Phil

 

lenovo (pc’s, tablets, etc), Haier (hi end appliances) , the top solar panel manufacturers are Chinese, iphones are assembled there (and other places)

When (we) consumers are willing to pay properly, the Chinese manufacturers are capable of meeting high standards. Simple fact.

Most of the time (we) want the absolute cheapest price for everything. We want a tv for $100. We want a microwave for $50. We want a computer for $200. We want a temperature gauge for $30. We want a full set of COP’s including plugs and wires for $80 when they are 10 times that from Ford. We go to Walmart or Target or order from Amazon, and want everything for nothing. We’re all guilty. Me too.

Think about how much someone had to work to save enough money to buy a tv or a radio or a vacuum cleaner 50 years ago. A piece of furniture was often a once in a lifetime purchase.


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I like their Kung Pao Chicken

 

I like Speedhut.

Ben

 

I'm not guilty of buying Chinese SHIT for my 60 Pontiac. I do have an iPhone.

 

I just ordered Speedhut. American made .

 

Do the research. Always. In the midst of the Industrial section of Mainland, China there is a 'block' (large factory cluster) named 'USA'. Beware of simply 'Made in USA'.
You may be getting less than you bargained for.
I have a Sun Pro gauge (mechanical temp) that reads 220-230 when temp is at 195-200.
The Sun Pro gauge is a 'temp-temp', (temporary temp) until wifey and I rewire entire truck and install my new Autometer set.
Old S/W gauges failed one by one, fuel gauge after 35 years; S/W mech. temp gauge lasted 40.
Replaced them with S/W fuel, Sun Pro mech. temp. Sun Pro temp lasted 9 mo., replaced with another. That one died a few months later. Retroed another Sun Pro mech., (third one) which is the high-reader.
Hot weather delays the wiring job, Rebel and Autometers in boxes...

 

As long as there is a market for cheap shit, someone will build it! The China built stuff is just like the Japan built cheap junk following WW2, everyone wanted cheap stuff and they were happy to supply it! They were always capable of building high quality but we didn't want to pay for it, just like today with the cheap China stuff.

 

A couple of week's ago I was watching the New's & they showed a clip
of them (China ) Building a Car well it was a Audi, I was shocked that
a Fine German Car was Made in China!

Just my 3.5 cents

Live Learn & Die a Fool

 

I try hard to never buy China made anything! Sometimes you have no choice....

 

Even with OEM gauges it is hard to get the right sending unit at times. I finally had to pay a premium for a Delco unit for my 77 dualie last year after I figured out that the gauge was way off.
Remembering back to the late 70's when my buddy Ron Moore's Model A roadster would show 265 on the gauge but he could remove the radiator cap while not wearing a shirt and not get scalded. I had to do some serious explaining on that one to convince him that the car was not running hot. That was a then new Stuart Warner Electric gauge.

 

There's no way you can live in 2020 without buying products made or components of products made in China .I'm guessing you have no idea how pervasive Chinese products have become. Most anything electrical has components made in China..

 

It's a crapshoot with the newer gauges. Have had many fail. Have a stash of older ones that work when another fails. Have gotten some in the ball park with resistors installed-that was due to the correct sender (ohms) not being available any longer-find old senders at swapmeets when I can. Have a box of em.

 

Got a photo of the flex fan you used and what size is it? HRP

 

I needed a fronr and rear valance panel (where the license plate is installed) for a 63 Chevy 2 door post car and called Ecklers and asked the sales person where their valance panels were made they replied "the USA". I was skeptical of the made in USA claim but as nobody other then Chinese manufactures a vavalance panel, I ordered them.
NOS OEM panels are almost impossible to find. The last one I saw for sale they were asking $650.00. When the Ecklers panels arrived at my house the two boxes they came in were clearly marked made in Taiwan which is not Mainland China but Nationalist China (same thing). The metal they were stamped from was about half as thick as the OEM's but suprisingly fit fairly well. The Chinese panels are not even close to OEM quality. Besides being a thinner gauge metal the ribs in the panels are rounded and not sharply defined as the OEM's. Almost every 62-64 Chevy you see has Chinese valance panels as thats all you can get. I can spot a Chinese valance panel from across a parking lot. After almost 60 years, all Chevy panels have been beat to shit. If someone in the USA would make a close to OEM quality valance panel they'd make a fortune as every 62-64 Chevy needs them. In the mean time Chinese is all you can get.

 

Used to be Harbor Freight was the made in China store, and you knew it. Now, if it does not say made in USA it isnt. So check.
Went to a higher end welding store recently. Picked up a few things. I noticed the 200 amp ground clamp i had selected rung up over the shelf listed price. I checked and asked. The cheaper was made in India, i took the USA and paid double.

 

Worlds greatest truism is "you get what you pay for".

 

Absolutely right. Even Miller is “assembled in USA”, but by the Chinese symbols, I’m guessing all the components inside are made “elsewhere”.

When I feel like I need a good “Dirty Harry 1 paid for beating”, I go over to WeldingWeb and throw this fact around a bit.


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