I have been running a fuel cell in my last three cars,Not one ever told the right level.I installed a sender from a boat tank and a gauge ,now when the cell is full to top it reads full and when it reaches empty I still have 4 gallons .It sounds like a lot left but it will take me that to get to gas station.I do like that I have a gauge.
No gauge in the 46 Ford- so far haven't run out- in my 39 I ran out of gas 6 times one Summer and a friend bought me a sending unit and gauge- didn't work well still in the box in the trunk-
I don't know if its luck or the lack of my mecanical skills... but right now I have 4 cars that the fuel guages don't work in. Two I drive by the odameter, and the others with a (vw) fuel guage, a paint stick marked off for 1\2 1\4 ect. Not the best but its working.
Thanks for posting about the tractor gauge. I got mine from Ebay about 2 days after I posted. It works great. When I have a full tank, the indicator is inbetween the last mark and "F". When empty, it's on the mark just before the "E". However, I still have about 2 gallons still in the tank, which is enough to get to a service station. 2 thumbs up. A longer one would read dead on, but I like having a little reserve. On the down side....... I miss my chrome gas cap.
notched wooden stick here, but it also holds my trunk up for fueling. glad to see i'm not the only one. hah
You can actually run a fuel gauge with one but the sender will ugly it up. That said I have two things in my cars that seldom function peoperly the heater and the fuel gauge. The heater is cake, put on a coat. The fuel gauge is also easy always have a functional odometer. Figure out how far you can go on a tank and keep track of your mileage. You may need to carry a gas can until you figure it out. Animal, I have used this process as well. Once when I was headed for the border when I lived in southern mexico my fuel gauge quit working just before I left. My speedo hadn't worked in months. I knew I could go from 3-4 hours on the open road and that was a good time frame to get out and stretch my legs anyway. worked like a champ. I used to do the same thing on the hawg, I could look down the tank but about the time I was ready to stretch my legs I was about of gas. Right at 3 hours was perfect, but I did make it 4 hours once on a 3 gallon tank in Utah. I think I got lucky on that one, it didn't quit but it took a full 3 gallons to fill it that time.
My 48 has not had a working gas gauge since the mid 70's. Not to say that I haven't run out of gas a few times but a guy has to know his gas mileage and know if he puts X gallons in the tank he needs to put more gas in the tank in X miles. On road trips, almost all major highways in the US have mile markers every mile. The ones that run East/West start their numbering at the west end. The ones that run North/South start their numbers at the south end. The exits match the closest Western or Southern mile marker on interstates. Those numbers change at the state lines and start over so you have to recalculate there but if you get 300 miles to the tank and you are at exit 64 you know you will have to get gas before mile marker 364. In about 1990 the then owner of this car Wouldn't drive it because the gas gauge didn't work and he couldn't buy a sender though local sources. The car ran and drove and he kept it up pretty well but he didn't drive it on the road. He was in his late 70's early 80's then and wanted to drive it back to Missouri or Arkansas to visit family but was afraid to without a gas gauge. He couldn't grasp my concept of fill it up, drive it 200 miles, fill it up and figure out the gas mileage and then figure out when you needed to fill it again. Several years later I saw the car go by on a trailer and now it shows up at local shows with it's new owner.
Greyhound Scenecruiser buses and early VW bugs never had fuel gages either. The driver used the odometer.
Me for one. I bought my 50' Ford with out any of the gauges working, I ran a temp gauge myself just to make sure I wasn't going to blow up the engine and beyond that I just carry a 5 gal Jerry can in the trunk and generally know when I'm getting close to empty. It's just like how many motorcycles didn't have gauges either.
slick idea. lotta bike guys run that. obviously youd have to get out and check. but better than nothing i suppose. im sure you could make the fittings nicer than this but this is a general idea
my best running cruiser has a bad spedo and no fuel gauge , usually run 2 GPS on long trips and take the wife with to run them, sure get a lot of questions about thew 2 GPS!!! also in most cars on trip carry 5 gal in back seat for back up
I have one in the '58 but it's about as accurate as a $2 watch. When it gets close to the dot that represents empty I add fuel...
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