MIDNIGHT RIDER
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- Sep 29, 2005
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I am dealing with an unmolested rear fuel tank sending unit/draw-straw on a 1985 diesel.
There is a 2-1/8" length of rubber hose and a missing showerhead filter thingie.
I need to know how much length the showerhead adds to the draw-straw.
I am tuning the gauge sender/float arm to display exactly what is happening in the tank instead of the miles off reading Ford presented us with.
I am doing this with a generic sending unit in a mocked up "tank", but I need to know where the bottom of the draw-straw/showerhead would be if that stuff were in existence.
If one has an original-issue sending unit and float arm, it is obvious why there is still about seven gallons in the tank when the gauge says "E"; the float can't get anywhere near the bottom of the tank.
Years and years ago, I found that the generic $22 assemblies were way superior to the factory issue ones.
The factory supplied float arm is not adjustable in any way without some extensive and difficult modification.
Every discount store generic assembly I have ever dealt with is vastly adjustable in three different and very important ways.
1. Pivot Point = you want this exactly in the center of the fuel level when the tank is Full to capacity and dripping out the neck.
2. Arm Length = the longer the better = at the barest minimum, you want the float to be aable to touch both tank top and tank bottom; it can't do this when the arm is shorter than these distances = the longer the float arm, the more accurate the readings.
3. Bendable - but stout enough to remain where bent; on some tanks, it is necessary to bend the float arm a bit to achieve accuracy; it is preferable if this can be achieved without bending.
It takes time and a lot of doing; but, I like my tank to be bone dry when the needle touches "E" and not an inch below "E"
The same goes for "F"; I want that float at the highest fuel level when the needle is at "F" and not have an inch past "F"
Back when I was a kid and we could buy real cars and trucks, when the fuel gauge said 1/8-tank, we knew we had better be looking for a station.
A gauge that is not dead-on accurate is worse than no gauge at all; it is like Amazon tracking "your package has left an Amazon facility"
Thanks.
There is a 2-1/8" length of rubber hose and a missing showerhead filter thingie.
I need to know how much length the showerhead adds to the draw-straw.
I am tuning the gauge sender/float arm to display exactly what is happening in the tank instead of the miles off reading Ford presented us with.
I am doing this with a generic sending unit in a mocked up "tank", but I need to know where the bottom of the draw-straw/showerhead would be if that stuff were in existence.
If one has an original-issue sending unit and float arm, it is obvious why there is still about seven gallons in the tank when the gauge says "E"; the float can't get anywhere near the bottom of the tank.
Years and years ago, I found that the generic $22 assemblies were way superior to the factory issue ones.
The factory supplied float arm is not adjustable in any way without some extensive and difficult modification.
Every discount store generic assembly I have ever dealt with is vastly adjustable in three different and very important ways.
1. Pivot Point = you want this exactly in the center of the fuel level when the tank is Full to capacity and dripping out the neck.
2. Arm Length = the longer the better = at the barest minimum, you want the float to be aable to touch both tank top and tank bottom; it can't do this when the arm is shorter than these distances = the longer the float arm, the more accurate the readings.
3. Bendable - but stout enough to remain where bent; on some tanks, it is necessary to bend the float arm a bit to achieve accuracy; it is preferable if this can be achieved without bending.
It takes time and a lot of doing; but, I like my tank to be bone dry when the needle touches "E" and not an inch below "E"
The same goes for "F"; I want that float at the highest fuel level when the needle is at "F" and not have an inch past "F"
Back when I was a kid and we could buy real cars and trucks, when the fuel gauge said 1/8-tank, we knew we had better be looking for a station.
A gauge that is not dead-on accurate is worse than no gauge at all; it is like Amazon tracking "your package has left an Amazon facility"
Thanks.
