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View Full Version : The '46 - '49 Truck Temperature Gauge Project



LarrBeard
09-12-2018, 10:34 AM
The aggravating backwards reading temperature gauge issue has managed to come to the top of my list for winter projects.

The 46 - 49 trucks used a King-Seeley gauge with a sensor a lot like the old flathead Ford V8's. The sensor was more of a bi-metal strip in a thermostat than a resistive sensor. The colder the coolant, the longer the contacts in the head stayed closed and the further to the left the gauge read as the bi-metal in the gauge heated.

I have found a couple of things that try to make the conversion, but they seem to be for 12-volt systems and they don't work for 6-volt folks. Technically, I want to try a voltage controlled pulse-width modulator approach.

The job would be easier if I had a spare King-Seeley temperature gauge to work with. This would be from a 46 - 49 truck or wagon before they switched to the round speedometer instrument cluster. (I'm lazy, I don't want to pull the gauge or cluster, and I'm too dern old to spend a lot of time upside down under the dash!)

Does anyone have a temperature gauge (see the attached cluster picture) they could spare? I'll buy (if reasonable), borrow or barter.