Looking to get a Turbo cluster and adding some gauges. I have the large tach, oil pressure, and voltmeter. I was thinking about putting my small clock back in and a fuel economy gauge, but what I really would like is a temp gauge for the radiator coolant. I havent seen a Volvo gauge, but VDO does have them and the senders. Anybody ever add one of these. Does the sender just screw into the radiator above the Return Transmission line??? Which type sender should I get?

Thanx for any thoughts
Patrick
Caroline 1987 244DL auto, Virgo rims, 206,000+++

I think Dave Barton has made graded gauge faces for some instrument clusters. You might check his website.

I have added a lot of gauges, and it is possible, but can take some effort to find and mount senders. You can mount them in the block if you find a port you can unplug, you can mount them in place of original senders. You can mount them in conjunction with original senders using Tee fittings. You can mount them in hoses using Tee fittings. Sunpro sells metric to 1/8 NPT adapter kits for about $5 that can help, and it is also possible to find 1/4 to 1/8 NPT pipe bushings.

I am using a Bede coolant temp gauge from JC Whitney, with a Stewart Warner sender in a metric 16 x 1.5 to 1/8 NPT adapter in the head in place of the original coolant temp sender.

Philip Bradley

If you take the compensating board out, you already have a coolant temp gauge.

When you get your turbo cluster you might wonder what to do with the turbo gauge. I decided to use it to monitor the coolant pressure in my 84 normally aspirated 240. It turned out to be a very fortunate decision for me, as shortly afterward I lost the water pump gasket near the end of an 800 mile trip in the fast lane of an 8 or 10 lane expressway. It was another stroke of luck I was watching the pressure gauge, because it went to zero giving me just enough time to find the next exit before losing enough coolant to make the temp gauge rise while it peed coolant onto a parking lot. A third stroke of luck (I'm very lucky) occurred when I found a still open foreign car parts place nearby willing to cut loose a gasket kit from a new water pump. Anyway, I credit that turbo gauge with saving the old head with 300K on it at the time.
Tapped into the highest part of the cooling system.

Art,
Please tell me more about this compensating board. What do I do?
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85 - 244 GL - Looking for a 245!

Chris,
I'm not sure you have one to remove. My impression is they appeared first in the 86, but I haven't owned an 85 or 86 to be sure. Best approach is to view some of the previous posts on this describing the bypass, if you have one.
RWD search results The reason I suggested it was the presumption one would want an aftermarket gauge to provide better accuracy and eliminate the censorship of the truth done by the compensation circuit.
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Art Benstein near Baltimore

now i can pull the turbo gauge from my '83 244 TURDBO and use it on my '85 245. is the oil sender hard to remove/install?
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Dan D. '85 245 DL , '83 244 Turbo Delanisdjd@aol.com

Kane is right. I got mine that way -- used a gloved hand to break it loose, then I think a 14 or thereabouts to get a grip on the 45. Careful not to overtighten putting the adapter in. You've got to find the one and only thread that has it tight enough, not too tight and facing the right direction out of the way of the alternator and oil filter. Then you have the wiring to install.
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Art Benstein near Baltimore

Having just pulled a sender from the junkyard today ... no, it ain't hard. Unscrew the sender first, then unscrew the nipple.

-- Kane ... also landed a fuel economy gauge and some other stuff.
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Blossom II - '91 745Ti/M46 ... Bubbles - '74 144GL/BW35 ... Buttercup - '86 245GL/AW70 ... The Wayback Machine - '64 P220/M40