Eldon,
Just went through this on my 327 with Edelbrock intake. Had only 2 ports for sensor or switch but I had to use one for heater hose so I was one short. You may have ports in your heads you can use( I didn’t). I put the temp gauge sensor and heater hose in the available ports on intake and just today installed an adapter under the thermostat housing that has 2 ports for sensors/switch.
Larry

 

Just went through this on my 327 with Edelbrock intake. Had only 2 ports for sensor or switch but I had to use one for heater hose so I was one short. You may have ports in your heads you can use( I didn’t). I put the temp gauge sensor and heater hose in the available ports on intake and just today installed an adapter under the thermostat housing that has 2 ports for sensors/switch. Larry

Summit has a few: Moroso 63433 Moroso Thermostat Spacers | Summit Racing

 

If you are going to use a spacer be aware of your sensor probe length.

Port needed for Temp sender

I installed an aftermarket temp gauge on my 57 283. The manifold I'm using has two water ports. I used one for the heater hose connection and the other for the aftermarket gauge. Tested my original (in dash) temp gauge and it works. (Grounded wire to sender and gauge went to full hot)...

www.trifive.com

 

I have one very similar to the one Pops referenced. My sensors were all 1/2" so I had a machinist friend drill/tap the 3/8" holes to 1/2". Looks good, works great. Good luck, Steve

 

qauge temp sensor on drivers side front port, then on the front just to the pass side of the thermostat is a sensor port that may or may not be drilled and tapped. if it is not drilled and tapped you can drill and tap for the pipe thread size of the fan switch. I have done this at least a dozen times. really easy and then you DO NOT need any t-stat spacer.

 

Hope this works for Eldon. I had 2 front ports already drilled in my intake but I had to use one of them for heater hose.
Larry

 

I ordered one of the Meziere thermostat spacers with twin holes. Should be here tomorrow and will test it out.

 

SBC heads have a port for a temp sensor, so I've always used one head for the gauge, and one for the temp sensor on the other head, if I needed two ports. Normally very little difference between one head or the other on the same outlet location.
I've also used dry probes to start electric fans, and I mount them to the top area of the radiator cores, on the backside. I like adjustable fan controls, so I can simply let the engine idle in the shop until it reaches the temp I want the fan to come on. Then turn the stat down until the fan starts, and it's set.

 

Go figure but my 291 camel hump heads don’t have any ports on either one. Strange, as my old motor with same heads has them. I used the probe by radiator in the past and wasn’t happy with it. The probe moved slightly away from radiator and car overheated in a parade.
Larry

 

My probe on the radiator core is secured with two zip ties, so it never moves anywhere. That's odd on your heads as my old camel hump heads have a port on each head. As do my other two SBC engines.

 

Well, I feel like an idiot. I pulled a photo of the intake off the interwebs instead of looking at a photo I took of the actual intake I have. Guess what….

Its already drilled and tapped for 2 sensors. ooof! Time to return the thermostat housing spacer I bought.

 

OK when you put that intake on use intake gaskets with BLOCKED EXHAUST CROSSOVER PORTS this will save big headaches with todays fuels and percolation in the carb.

 

Curious Eldon...Why the EPS manifold?

 

As Bruce said, it looked a bit better on the numbers. I'm planning on a thin riser to help with the heat transfer. I will also block the cross over ports as Hotrod said.

 

The EPS posts somewhat better horsepower and torque numbers than the Performer. It's for square-bore carbs only while the Performer has a dual pattern for both square- and spread-bore carbs. The EPS is slightly taller as well.

Several years ago Car Craft did a dual plane intake comparison on the SBC and the EPS made significantly more power and torque than the performer.

 

It does produce better torque down low, but it's a low to mid range rpm intake. A good street intake that's supposed to be a 5500 rpm max, which is what should work best for most street driven cars.

 

I doubt Bertha will ever be over 5500 rpm. She is a cruiser with a bit of muscle. Next car will be a bruiser.

 

If I was buying new I would have gotten the performer air gap. It solves all the fuel heating issues more than anything else

 

Here’s what I ended up with, don’t like it sticking out so far but it works.
Larry

 

Looks pretty good Larry...Would be less noticeable maybe if you painted it silver to match the intake manifold.

 

Just returned my spacer, will use the provision on the intake that I stupidly overlooked.