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In for a penny, in for a pound I guess. I seem to be modifying my BN2 based on what isn't working for me and I've gotten tired of that particular issue.. Now it is the fuel gauge that sort of works, but sort of doesn't. I'm tired of thumping on the dash to get anything close to an indication of what is in the tank. It was an overhauled gauge 12 years agp. Sender tests just fine. System is grounded with multiple grounds...blah, blah, blah.
I should start by saying I have no interest, financial or otherwise in Speedhut. I did put in their GPS speedometer and I love it. Works well and looks close enough to the Smiths gauge that only someone who knows Smiths gauges would spot it. It takes care of my non standard tires, transmission and rear end gears all at once. The fuel gauge is the same. It is programable with several preset ohm ranges and also allows a custom empty/ full calibration , which I used because my sender was about 3 ohms empty to 84 ohms full, as opposed to 0 to 90 ohms that they are supposed to be. It is also well damped so has rock steady readings.
However, calibrating it is a bit trickier than I had been thinking. The full calibration is easy, just fill the tank and set it to full on the gauge. The empty setting is the tricky part, mostly because I didn't feel like using the fuel pump to defuel it. I didn't know if the float is really all the way down at the same point that the vertical stand pipe, which is some small height above the bottom of the tank, starts to suck fumes. The smart way to do it would be to use the fuel pump to defuel the car. Then you would know where to set the empty point. I also don't know how much fuel it takes to make the float start to actually float , regardless of whether it is fully down or just sitting on the bottom of the tank. I know it doesn't sit on the bottom of the tank because I have it oriented correctly and listened carefully for the float to contact or not contact the bottom of the empty tank as I tried different positions. With the powered stud forward, it definitely did contact the bottom when put in place. With the stud pointing aft it did not. So right now, I know that when it reads empty I have between a gallon and a half and 2 gallons in the tank, which is fine by me. This is based on my putting roughly 12.5 gallons back in the 14.5 gallon tank when it was drained by siphon. Some day I'll use the fuel pump to set the empty point, but not today ( yeah, OK, probably never). Talk about the easy way really being the hard way.
I should start by saying I have no interest, financial or otherwise in Speedhut. I did put in their GPS speedometer and I love it. Works well and looks close enough to the Smiths gauge that only someone who knows Smiths gauges would spot it. It takes care of my non standard tires, transmission and rear end gears all at once. The fuel gauge is the same. It is programable with several preset ohm ranges and also allows a custom empty/ full calibration , which I used because my sender was about 3 ohms empty to 84 ohms full, as opposed to 0 to 90 ohms that they are supposed to be. It is also well damped so has rock steady readings.
However, calibrating it is a bit trickier than I had been thinking. The full calibration is easy, just fill the tank and set it to full on the gauge. The empty setting is the tricky part, mostly because I didn't feel like using the fuel pump to defuel it. I didn't know if the float is really all the way down at the same point that the vertical stand pipe, which is some small height above the bottom of the tank, starts to suck fumes. The smart way to do it would be to use the fuel pump to defuel the car. Then you would know where to set the empty point. I also don't know how much fuel it takes to make the float start to actually float , regardless of whether it is fully down or just sitting on the bottom of the tank. I know it doesn't sit on the bottom of the tank because I have it oriented correctly and listened carefully for the float to contact or not contact the bottom of the empty tank as I tried different positions. With the powered stud forward, it definitely did contact the bottom when put in place. With the stud pointing aft it did not. So right now, I know that when it reads empty I have between a gallon and a half and 2 gallons in the tank, which is fine by me. This is based on my putting roughly 12.5 gallons back in the 14.5 gallon tank when it was drained by siphon. Some day I'll use the fuel pump to set the empty point, but not today ( yeah, OK, probably never). Talk about the easy way really being the hard way.