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Bugeye fuel tank sending unit - repair or replace

Handyman

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My 1960 Bugeye has an original type (Smith Motor Accessories Limited) fuel tank sending unit. The metal float has some small areas worn through. The inside of the unit shows one broken copper wire and a multimeter indicates no current flow. Is it possible to repair or re-build for a reasonable price? What are some good options and good sources for replacing the sending unit? Thanks
 

Jim_Gruber

Yoda
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I know you want one with a metal float. One with a plastic float will turn into a sink in a few years. BE Guy is offering sender with metal float. NFI although I bought one from him.
 

dklawson

Yoda
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Were it just the metal float you could solder over the holes in your float OR replace it with a Ford part (# COAZ-9202-B). However, since you are also dealing with the broken internal winding, a complete replacement is a better choice. Of course... being a British car owner you need to keep the old failed unit "just in case".

Old and new gauge system parts are not interchangeable. BMC cars until the early/middle 1960s used magnetic gauges where most after 1965 used the later bimetallic system with the voltage stabilizer. If you do not find an early sending unit there may be a additional option. In the U.K. there is a firm called Spiyda Design. They make electronics for old British cars and they offer a product called the Gauge Wizard. It allows matching of almost any sending unit to any gauge... including ones that work in opposite directions. A solution like the gauge wizard should get you up and running regardless of what parts are available.

Gauge Wizard Link
 

smaceng

Jedi Knight
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Yes, keep the old unit....there is a least one shop in the US which will repair old sending units. I have gone through way too many poor quality reproduction sending units.....it was a constant headache!
Scott in CA
 

regularman

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The new versions are not any good, at least that I have found. The resistance in the sender is not accurate enough for the gauge. I have made a couple new versions work but I had to remove some windings off of the slide resistor to get it correct. If someone can fix your old one, that is the way to go. I have been away from it for a few years but the repro ones are not wound copper but some other metal and it cannot be soldered to.

Kim
 
OP
H

Handyman

Freshman Member
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Thanks a lot to all of you who followed up on my Bugeye sending unit question! As usual, the answers are thorough and helpful; and, independent points of view! Excellent.
 
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