Redline, I looked it up and I believe you need the bushing with 3/8" female pipe thread in the bushing for your thermal switch. You may want to Double check me on this as since I cannot see the unit you have I can't be sure.

Part # 10911A '55-56. The other bushing is 1/4" pipe thread part # 10911B for '57 up. These #'s are from Tee-Bird Products www.tee-bird.com.



PW, do you have a '55 Shop Manual? Look on the page I stated, you'll see what I am talking about. Just curious though, how are you so sure your car is the same as it left the factory?? Have you owned it for 55 years... I'm impressed, haha.



Hope all this is of some help... I'm done.

BOB

Dang it, I got distracted by these other fellows. Your temperature gauge will work just fine without the thermal switch in the passenger side head if you install the proper sending unit in your drivers side head. The thermal switch was installed incase of "restricted coolant flow" (quote directly from Ford Shop Manual, page 141).



Good luck with your project, sounds like your researching and doing it right...




BOB

Bob...........No, I didn't buy it new,but I got it from the man that did.When I bought it 17 years ago,it only had 22,000 miles on it.He kept a written record of everything that was ever done to the car.The engine has never been worked on in any way.

 

Paul,

Boonville,MO

Ok, your right and the 1955 Ford Shop Manual is wrong… ha,ha.

BOB

Bob:

The shop manual is indeed wrong in this case. Only 1 sender in the driver's side head. That isn't the only error in the 55 manual, by the way.

BrodieSavannah, GA

Well Redline, all these other fellas say me and the Manual and whoever sold you your parts are wrong so I guess I will go with that... Sorry if I misinformed you.

BOB

Sorry to drag this one out of the inactive files, but I have a question regarding this stuff. I just bought a '55 Fairlane 272 (first classic, so I'm a babe in the woods) and the temp gauge starts out cold at start-up, then proceeds to scalding pretty quickly. I have read the previous posts and see that the '55 272 should have one temp sending unit on the driver's side (left) head, back toward the firewall. I have found that unit, but it would appear that a previous owner had put a thermal switch in its place (instead of the flat-head screw post that should be on the sending unit, there is a single plug type post, which I am gathering makes it a thermal switch). I am also gathering from the previous posts that there really is no need for a thermal switch on this engine...is that correct?



I have also found that there is a single wire leading from the head, where the thermal switch is apparently incorrectly located, to the bottom of the driver's side of the block where there is a temp sending unit that is also apparently misplaced. Is this where the thermal switch is supposed to be located? Or is this just a bad placement altogether?



If it is, it is my plan to disconnect the wire from the misplaced sending unit (toward the bottom of the block) and leave it in place as it is acting as a perfectly good plug the way is it and, if I don't do anything to it, I probably won't break it. Then, replace the misplaced thermal switch (in the driver's side head) with a new temp sending unit. I will need to swap the current spade connector that is linking the gauge wire to the thermal switch with a connector that will work with the sending unit, and will probably just cut off the connector that is currently attached to the misplace sending unit (at the bottom) and tape it off (leaving it there).



Does this make sense? I'd like to be able to answer who would have done it that way to begin with, but I can't. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Eric

'55 Fairlane Club Sedan

The switch at lower part of block is oil pressure switch!

  AussieBill            YYYY    Forever Y Block     YYYY

 Down Under, Australia

Well, that helps in some ways, but not so much in others. The wire leading to that bulb appears to be tied into the temp sending unit wire. I am fairly certain on this as there is resistance from the lead into the temp sender (which looks like its actually a thermal switch) to the lead into the oil pressure switch. I'm no electrical guy, but that tells me they're tied together. Does that sound right?

Eric

'55 Fairlane Club Sedan

sqt0341,

Take a look at the other two threads very close-by regarding fuel and temp guages - they may help your understanding.

If I understand correctly, some of the early production '55's had both the temp sender in the 5, 6, 7, 8 cyl head, and the overheat switch in the 1, 2, 3, 4 head; this switch would go "open" upon being too hot, and send the TEMP guage soaring over "hot" in order to get the driver to pay attention; the sender was "in series" sith the switch to "ground", as I understand the original setup.

Ford (apparently) dedided that the switch was an unnecessary production expense, and eliminated it fairly early-on in the '55 production year.

Regards,   JLB

55 Ford Crown Victoria Steel Top