Does anyone have experience with using a temperature sending unit in a Bravo 1?

Heres the situation:

My 2002, 29 Outlaw 496 MAGs came with Gaffrig monster gauges including oil temp. gauges. They're not connected to anything! Was told that it is next to impossible to get a reading out of the gauges with the 496 MAG engine.

So, I asked the dealer if it is possible to connect the oil temp. gauges to the Bravo 1 drives since it seems to make sense to monitor the drive temperature vs. the engine oil. (I'm a CPA, not a mechanic)

One of the service guys said it makes sense but the sender installs into the upper oil fill on the drive, and is vulnerable to breakage.

Anyone have any experience with use of the senders? Is this a good idea, or lame?

i use them and have never broke the sensor. they work well and i would do it.

Merlin,

Do you run wire through your boxes or the transom? I'm looking at running through the boxes to keep the exposed wire to a minimum. I'm putting bravo temp gauges on mine this spring.

sure, no big deal. Don't even have to use the "gaffrig" temp sender either, but you gotta be careful of how you route the sender lead and you need to seal it all up with liquid tape or plier handle dip.

But you can add compatible senders to your 496 and get the gauges to read whatever you want them to.
Add tees for additional pressure senders, and same on temp senders (you just gotta make sure the temp sender is in a location where coolant or whatever you are monitoring flows against the sender ( can't use a tee on temp senders).

i put them in the transom and have no problem. did you talk to mike n. about those pieces i want to put on my imco lowers????? i hear you had trouble making them work. what do you think about that idea. they work great on my #5's so they have to work on bravos right?????

496's dont have operable oil temp gauges? what? isnt that one the most important gauges?