Gas Gauge Sender

[Aggressor]

Question for the day: Is it possible to calibrate the fuel level in-tank sender unit? Full sweep on my factory supplied Stewart Warner Deluxe from empty to over-full is only 15 gallons not 20. The remaining 5 gallons is in the area that the pointer finds as it drops below under the empty mark.

-Geary

[dmswann]

Maurice actually set my gas gauge up very similar to yours. The reason was "conservatism", to make me feel "uncomfortable" when the gauge got near "E" so I would buy some fuel. It has worked thus far. The gauge on my other first car was calibrated very close to actual fuel tank volumn.....I ran out of gas once. It was amazing how many people stopped and asked me what was wrong with my MG!

[Aggressor]

MG!!! MG!!! This aint no stinkin MG!!!
(Actually I really like MG's)

Dennis
I have the opposite problem. I'm cruisin about.. I take a look at the gas gauge ... and say to myself .. "self .. screw it you still got 5 gallons". I have been close on fuel twice in the last couple of years. The only saving grace is the 2 holleys carry sufficient fuel in the bowls to get you to a station when the fuel pressure starts dropping. (In an urban setting)

If you read my second thread (above this one) it's worse at night because with the gauge lights on it jumps up another 1.5-2 gallons so I say to myself ... screw it I got 6 1/2 to 7 gallons left at night.


Til I get this resolved I gotta watch the gauge closer.

Thanks for the info - Geary

[diegokid]

MG, it gets worse. When bringing our car home from Unique we stopped to eat. An ederly gentleman started talking to us and asked what year Corvette that was. My wife being the person she is told him it was a 63 and one half and only a few were made. We blew it off. The worst one came while the body was at my brothrers for paint. Some guy came in and asked if it was a Karmann Ghia! My brother thought that was funny until he asked my brother what year Duster his Demon was!

[Aggressor]

Just a follow-up to an old topic. Today I pulled up the trunk (Aka "boot") carpet and removed the fuel gauge sender. My tank depth was 10 7/16 inches. I bent a longer piece of 1/8 inch rod to replace my float rod for fully extended top to bottom range of motion. I allowed about 1/8 inch clearance on top and bottom of the arc of travel.
The car is on the lift so I won't have an opportunity to fill 'er up for a few days. The throw-out bearing started protesting rather loudly so I removed my toploader to replace it. The source of the "rebuild-me" sound turned out to be the non-US made Nachi input shaft bearing. The steel cage that separates and locates the ball bearings decided to give up, pack up, and get outa Dodge as it apparently had suffered a horrible beating from my FE and outright lost the war. A quick call and $200 later Dan Williams had a Road Race Toploader rebuild kit on its way North. There was really no damage to the toploader but I did a major rebuild to be sure. (Rugged US made bearings this time) The toploader did a real fine job of grinding up much of the oriental steel bearing pieces into gray slurry that drained away with the 90w gear oil.
The McLeod t/o bearing hydraulic unit was also wounded in battle but will be back in action this week.

-Geary

[Slither]

Bummer! Hope you get her back in action quickly. We'll be interested to hear about the sender modification... keep us posted.

[Aggressor]

After 6 weeks on the lift (Waiting for parts and working on the little stuff) I took her out for testing. She ran fine with exception of a severe notchiness in the shifting. It seems I received bad advice on using a larger T/O bearing. I found out that it was pressing over too large an area on the long finger style clutch. Basically "pancaking" out on the fingers and losing it's mechanical leveraged advantage. So another 2 weeks is involved in swapping out hydraulic pistons with McLeod and purchase of a smaller bearing. The parts should arrive Monday.

On the gas gauge situation I was totally happy with the results. Starting at indicated "Full" the gauge needle starts decending smoothly to the point where at indicated "Empty" the fuel pressure started to drop.

If anyone wants to modify their sender let me know and I'll explain what is involved.
It's not difficult but does require accurate measurement and some nominal shop skills.
I was remiss in not photo-documenting my work but I can talk you through it.

-Geary