Extra water temp sensor

[taznuv]

Hi all, I have a 1980 Alfasud which only has a water temp warning light. I want to have a temperature gauge but the sensor on this is just a thermo switch. I am planning on using a small LCD display to show temp and other data (volts, oil pressure etc), based on something I have already developed using a PIC microcontroller.

To get to the point: how can I easily add an extra sensor that will give me a variable resistance that I can use? Is there something I can slip under a hose, and if so where should I look to put it?

thanks

Bruce

[taznuv]

Cheers for the reply. Yes I think I might be able to change to a proper sender, although it's a strange little unit fitted to one of the cylinder heads. Also I would lose the temp light although I guess that's not a big problem.

[taznuv]

Thanks for your reply, sounds like a good reliable solution. I've also been told today that on the cars that had a guage they didn't replace the temp switch on the o/s head with a proper sender as I thought, but fitted the extra sender somewhere on the inlet manifold, so I'll have a look tonight and see if I can find a blanking plug anywhere.