BE Fuel Gauge Questions

[mxp01]

Gentlemen:

I looking for a proper fuel gauge for my 1960 BE. From a previous posting I wrote down the following info:

BE takes a FG2530/31 with fuel tank 5300/32
Sprite II/Midget I takes FG 2530/70 with fuel tank 5301/06.

There is a FG2530/70 fuel gauge on Ebay.

My question is: Doesn't the fuel sender actually have more to do with it than the fuel tank? Could I put a different sender in my BE so then I could use the FG2530/70?

Let me know,
Mike Pennell

 

[Jim_Gruber]

Senders need to match with gauges.

 

[healeyboz]

Or be adjusted. Kim can tell you more.

 

[regularman]

Match the year of the gauge with the proper sender, look in moss. Yeah you could go with a later gauge and sender but you will have to use a voltage stabilizer or equivalent to give you 10vDC for it to work properly.

 

[mxp01]

Thanks, guys.

I'll look at getting a different sender.

Is there a "stock" stabilizer I can use?

Mike Pennell

 

[jlaird]

If you have the Bugeye fuel guage, get the Moss fuel sending unit. In tandam they work fine.

 

[Trevor Jessie]

Is this what he needs?

https://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Austin-He...sspagenameZWDVW

 

[jlaird]

Yep, that's it. Moss has em for 49 bucks plus a buck for a gasket as I remember. Ask Tony for a price.

 

[healeyboz]

I just got the same sender from the same guy. It reads at 6 ohms empty. I bet this is about as close to 0 as I am going to get. It sure beats the 14 ohms I was getting with the last one. It actually hits the empty mark on the gauge now. Not perfect but pretty close.

 

[jlaird]

Might be as you say as close as it gets. Maybe regularman knows off hand.

 

[healeyboz]

I'm sure he can match the two to work evem better. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif

 

[regularman]

That sender is a slide wire resistor. Think of it as a coil of wire on a stick and you at touching it at different points along that coil with a meter lead, with one end being empty and the other full. It really should be lower than 6 ohms, closer to 1 or .5 or 0 ohms. touch your leads together and make sure the meter reads 0 before checking the sender. Yes I could adjust to two together so it reads correctly even if the sender is a little off. Unfortunately the 0 ohms end of the sender is the empty reading on the gauge and anything more than zero ohms makes it read above empty in a gauge that is factory set. 0 ohms is empty and 70 ohms is full and any bad connections or wiring, etc makes the sender read more than 0 when empty and tell you that you have gas left when you don't. I hate that.

 

[regularman]

The ideal would be to do this and I have been considering setting up some kind of thing to make a bit of money. I would take a fuel gauge and a sender from someone and check it all out and set it up for accuracy and even supply a new wire lead to be run from the sender to the gauge that has also been used in the calibration. That way it would be all set up together and would be as accurate a possible. What good would it do to have a new gauge and sender but have an extra few ohms in an old wire from the orginal harness that was throwing it all off? There are lots of cars out there with smiths gauges and some are worth a lot more than spridgets and people would like to have a fuel gauge that is as accurate as possible.

 

[Trevor Jessie]

Every classic car I've owned I've done a DTE (Distance To Empty test). That is... I drive as far has I can after the needle hits the E mark. Then I know for future reference how many miles I can go to find a gas station. My current midget went about 19 miles after the E mark.

 

[healeyboz]

Kim,
Do the Moss senders read closer to 0 than mine?

 

[regularman]

Kim,
Do the Moss senders read closer to 0 than mine?

I don't know for sure about brand specific senders but they should all read very close to zero if they are working correctly no matter where they come from if new. I would send back a new sender that reads 6 ohms at the bottom because it is not right. Senders should last a long time, but what seems to hurt them in old cars is when they set for long periods of time and nearly out of gas. this allow some corrosion that would not happen if they were continually in gas. Too bad they could not spend $5 more on a sender and gold alloy coat the wire and the wiper in the sender, then they would last, but then they wouldn't sell any new ones.

 

[mxp01]

Gentlemen:

Thanks for all the feedback on this topic. It looks like I'll have to get with a new sender. I do have a MkII fuel gauge in the car now, so I'll work on the sender replacement.

It's starting to get cold in Tennessee. I've got about 10 hours of road time this entire year, but we're finally getting the entire car squared away.

Mike Pennell

 

[jlaird]

Excellent, keep at it. Worth the wait and next spring is comming soon.

 

[regularman]

I got to finish my midget this winter. still working on the grill surround, got the top and windshield and seats to finish installing as well and many little bits. If any of you want to send me your senders and gauges this winter, I would be happy to work with them as I get time. I'm not gonna charge anyone anything but the shipping until or if I get set up to handle something like that regularly. I do enjoy that sort of sensitive touchy feely setup, reminds me a lot of some of the weather equipment I used to calibrate back in the AF and of couse I deal with lots of controls and instrumentation at work as well but more and more its all digital/computer and less analog. Surprising how much time and patience it takes to get things right. You gotta check and recheck, then jiggle the guage a bit to simulate a bumpy ride then check again, then check later after it cooled down. Those gauges get hot inside with those coils and all. You have to find the acceptable point, still none are perfect but I like a fuel gauge to be accurate at the bottom. I want E to mean E, not 1/4 or 1/8 tank to mean E. Jeesh them tanks are small enough as it is.

 

[mxp01]

Kim:

Put my name on the list. If you'll accept it, I'll send you my combo sometime this Fall.

Mike Pehhell