Bugeye gas gauge

[ichthos]

Still working out the bugs in my newly restored bugeye. I noticed that the gas gauge tends to move around. For instance, when I was driving yesterday, it moved down to 1/4. When I stopped and started it again, it went back up to 1/2. Is this just a grounding problem, or do I need to have it worked on? If I do get it worked on, any suggestions on who I should send it to?
Kevin

 

[smaceng]

Kevin, all the BE gas guages do that. The gas guage is just an indicator of how much gas is left. The real test is when it stops on the side of the road!
Scott in CA

 

[Sarastro]

Yeah, it's an early digital gauge: full or empty.

Problem is, there is no damping in the gauge, so anything that affects the sensed fuel level makes the gauge reading change. Like the fuel slopping around in the tank when you start and stop, or stopping on a hill.

Fuel gauges of that era were notoriously inaccurate, at best. Even today they're not great.

 

[Rut]

That's not too bad, my GMC pickup drops to empty when I stop for a light no matter how full, moves back up when the truck moves...weird.
Rut

 

[regularman]

Probably 3 things cause it to move. One is the gas sloshing around in there and changing the level where the gauge is when you start, stop, go uphill, etc. The second is any looseness in hinges of the float. The third is that is a 12 volt sourced gauge and the voltage of the generator models might be 10-16 volts at any given time depending if its a idle or revved and what lights you have turned on.
Still you can get them pretty accurate. If you want to calibrate the sender to the gauge, I can tell you how I do it. Does your tank have a drain?