I would find a gauge that goes up to 300 deg.  as 250 deg.
may be pegged once in a while,   but 250 deg. gauge
would be more accurate.
    Forget putting the sender near the thermostat.  This is
the entire problem with the factory gauge.   You lose your
coolant for any reason, and very little heat gets transfered
to this housing, mean while the engine is on fire.   Put the
sender in one of the heads.
                         Eric

Vanagon Man wrote:

>Listees,
>
>I am contemplating installing a water temp gauge on my WBX.  I found a vdo
>vendor that sells a water temp gauge, but it goes to 250 F.is that enough?
>I have no idea.
>
>The senders come in various thread sizes...........VDO suggests as near the
>thermostat as possible, but I do not see any place to put a sender in the
>thermostat housing.  So, I was thinking, what about in the cylinder head
>drain hole?  Or would that give me some sort of ridiculously high reading?
>All I want to do is install the gauge, observe how it is under normal
>conditions, and then i can see when I am either pushing the van too hard in
>summer, or a problem is rearing its head...........
>
>Adam P
>Charleston,SC     Coburn, WV
>81  Westy "The Brick "
>70 Single Cab "Whitey"
>74 Beetle "Ol Yeller"
>73 Transporter (STILL at paint shop)
>1988 Vanagon Wolfsburg
>1976 Transporter (New CA bus)
>1974 412 "Goldmember"
>Used Vanagon Parts for sale (mostly aircooled)
>
>
>
>