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I have the Ford Racing 90 degree thermostat housing that has a recessed area in top but is not drilled or tapped. I need to either replace with one that has a port for my fan sensor or drill and tap this one to 3/8 npt.
Any tips or suggestions? hopefully there is enough material to get enough threads in.
anybody done this ?
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I put my sensor in one of the "plugged holes" in the intake.........EZ-PZ
6sal6
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If its of no use otherwise I'd go ahead and do it. If it doesn't work you're in no worse a place than you are now.
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6sally6, I'm running an Edelbrock Rpm air gap on the 351w and there are no other ports available on the intake. I have a port at front driver side of intake but that's used for temp gauge. I have a port on passenger side but that's for heater hose. Only other port is at back of intake for brake booster.
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Can you not switch to this t-stat housing?
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yeah I could change housings but most are made cheaply and everyone complains of leaks. This one is a Ford Racing and gets good reviews. Was hoping to not have to swap it out.
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I’ve got the one I linked above. So far, I only have dyno time on the engine, but it doesn’t leak at all and appears to be a quality piece.
Although if you’re using it for your fan sensor, you’d probably be better off with an in-line temp sensor in your lower rad hose measuring the temp of the water exiting your radiator. I bought one of these to use for the temp sensor for my fan, but I don’t have enough room in my lower hose to make it work. Not sure what year your car is, but you may have room in your lower hose to make it work.
Last edited by Chaplin (3/14/2019 8:09 PM)
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Is there room on the intake to add a bung? You can buy them from Summit or JEGS then have it welded in.
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my car is a 67 Fastback with a dart shp 427w. I'm running the Griffin big block rad and I could install a sensor in the hose or I could drill and weld another bung in intake. The intake is already installed and don't feel like going thru and drilling and welding a bung.
I think I should be able to drill and tap the housing without to much difficulty. I know using an NPT tap is different than a regular tap so I need to make sure to do it properly. I know I need to use 9/16" drill and then from what I understand tap to a depth of 12 threads.
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3/8 NPT is pretty large, any chance you could
go with a 1/4” NPT sender instead?
What is the wall thickness where you want to tap it?
Whatever you decide you need a round hole of the correct size. I know this sounds dumb, but it is so easy to accidentally bell a hole oversize or end up with an oblong hole when drilling from an interrupted cut, using a handheld drill, improper clamping, poorly sharpened or poor quality drill etc. Use a milling machine or drill press with proper workholding and quality tooling.
Don’t buy a poor quality tap.
Get a good sharp HSS one. Also consider NPTF instead of NPT.
Do not tap too deeply, I would only go as far as needed to get your sensor where you want it. Try to use a fixture or a steady hand to keep from belling it.
Use good sealant.
Loctite 542 has treated me well.
Last edited by Bentworker (3/14/2019 8:54 PM)
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MUSTANGSTEVE USE TO SELL AGOOD THERMOSTAT HOUSING THAT WAS MADE VERY WELL. I HAVE HAD ONE ON MY 289 FOR YEARS.
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Here is one more option for you.
Replace your manifold heater hose fitting with this something like this, remove the shutoff valve and put your sensor where the valve was.
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You would think Edelbrock would consider an extra fitting somewhere since they design and build these with performance in mind.
The attached pic(on left)shows the Ford housing I have. I haven't test fit a drill in it yet but there is already an indention or most of the hole already in the housing. I'm thinking the hole is already sized properly just not all the way thru housing. If it is correct I just need to drill thru remaining material. Only challenge there will be finding exact center and use smaller bit as a pilot. I guess worse case I screw it up then I can just try one of the cheaper ones like the Dorman on the right that has the port.
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1fststang wrote:
Only challenge there will be finding exact center and use smaller bit as a pilot.
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They make centering punches just for that. Should be able to pick up a set at a reasonable price.
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That picture is worth a thousand words. That should be no problem whatsoever to tap.
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I got my center punches at Harbor Freight. Can't remember what I paid, but they were surely cheap, and have worked on many, many projects for probably over a decade at this point. They come in very handy for even light fabrication work.
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If the hole is properly sized for the threads you need to cut, just drill a hole in the bottom...1/8 then 3/8 or so and use a rat-tail file to gently open the bottom out to the diameter of the hole. That bottom can't be more than 1/8 or maybe 3/16 thick, I would think. Trying to drill that to the exact dia of the hole without making a mess might be problematic.
BB
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Thanks BB, that may be the route I take using a file after I get it drilled close.
just need to find the tap locally now.
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Just addressing the concern of using an NPT tap vs regular threads it's really no different. I picked up a quality tap from Amazon when I added extra holes to my oil pressure block extension and timing cover. Took no time at all.
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Glad your asked this question. I was going to post the same thing. I need a port for EFI temp and Gauge Temp. Im adding a heater so I need one of them for Elbow for heater hose. My temp sender hangs down a bit. Will tapping our using a thermostat housing that is tapped going to interfere with actual thermostat? Will the temperature reading be effected being its on the back side of thermostat?
Last edited by Steve69 (3/15/2019 12:05 PM)
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With he thermostat on the radiator side of the thermostat should it not open the fans will not come on. The engine could heat up but fans not trigger as coolant isn't being released through the thermostat.
I'm not to worried about that as I will have a manual override switch and a speedhut temp gauge to keep me informed on temps. My temp sensor is plumbed directly in to the intake.
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Much easier to drill and tap a new hole in the intake manifold. That will also send the proper temperature to the sensor rather than being downstream of the tstat.
Sawa comment about pipe thread taps not being any different than straight thread taps. BE CAREFUL WITH THAT! The tapered tap, if tapped too deep, will allow the male pipe thread to go in too deep, sometimes to the point of falling all the way through the tapped hole! So, don't tap anymore than just barely enough threads to get the male part to seal. And deeper and you risk an oversized hole that will never seal.
I drilled and tapped my intake manifold behind the distributor to install an extra sensor, using 1/8" pipe threads.
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MS wrote:
Much easier to drill and tap a new hole in the intake manifold. That will also send the proper temperature to the sensor rather than being downstream of the tstat.
Sawa comment about pipe thread taps not being any different than straight thread taps. BE CAREFUL WITH THAT! The tapered tap, if tapped too deep, will allow the male pipe thread to go in too deep, sometimes to the point of falling all the way through the tapped hole! So, don't tap anymore than just barely enough threads to get the male part to seal. And deeper and you risk an oversized hole that will never seal.
I drilled and tapped my intake manifold behind the distributor to install an extra sensor, using 1/8" pipe threads.
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Steve69 wrote:
MS wrote:
Much easier to drill and tap a new hole in the intake manifold. That will also send the proper temperature to the sensor rather than being downstream of the tstat.
Sawa comment about pipe thread taps not being any different than straight thread taps. BE CAREFUL WITH THAT! The tapered tap, if tapped too deep, will allow the male pipe thread to go in too deep, sometimes to the point of falling all the way through the tapped hole! So, don't tap anymore than just barely enough threads to get the male part to seal. And deeper and you risk an oversized hole that will never seal.
I drilled and tapped my intake manifold behind the distributor to install an extra sensor, using 1/8" pipe threads.
Those drill/taps Chuckee is using are not pipe taps. They are good for up to three holes before they break.
Useless bit of trivia: Chuckee lives just west and south of me. Not close enough to smell his goats or see his tractor graveyard.
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All the aluminum cast ones I have drilled and tapped had a cast start of a hole that was just a little smaller than the tap drill for a 3/8 inch NPT thread. I use a 37/64 or 9/16 drill depending on how deep I want the sensor to go. Then tap accordingly. Always use the pipe dope stuff instead of Teflon tape so you don't have to over tighten the sensor and split the boss.
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