A common gas tank used in F100 trucks is the '64-68 Mustang/Cougar Tank; you can get them brand new for $129 at http://www.gastanks.com/prodinfo.asp?number=F-28Afficeffice" /><O></O> There are plenty of tech articles explaining how to fit them like this onehttp://www.clubfte.com/users/jniolon/mustangtank/newmustangtank.htm <O></O> My tech is to make the original fuel gauge work with this tank.<O></O> The sender unit for the mustang tank uses 73 ohms empty – 10 ohms full this sender configuration was used on 12volt Fords pre 1987. So a quick trip to the Pull-a-part and I had a almost identical gauge with the right characteristics for the mustang sender (they charged me $2.75) In fact the only physical difference was the fact that the needle on the Ranger gauge was a different length and the insulator is now made of plastic instead of cardboard.
You can carefully replace the needle with the original and then attach the original face. You do need to use a regulator between 12 volts and the gauge you can either swipe that too while at the junk yard or do as I did and built a semiconductor regulator from a 7805 voltage regulator from radio shack and some 0.1 caps and some 100uf caps.<o></o> http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062599&cp<o></o> here is the gauge installed with the F100 face
You may have noticed the LCDS they are for mileage and general warnings they will be run by a microprocessor the speedometer needle is attached to a model servo and will also be controlled by the microprocessor. The microprocessor gets its info from a pulse unit mounted were the speedometer cable use to be on the gearbox. The great thing is I can now calibrate the speed reading to suit whatever tire and wheel changes I make. ffice Its a work in progress When its finished I will put up a complete tech article <O</O
Good stuff bj, the 6V cars had the same gauge guts and the same senders work as well. Looking forward to the speedo tech.
Gauge adjustments...the picture shows these well. There are two. My take is that one on left sts needle angle at rest, other adjusts needle reading position when showing information...is that correct???
I'd love to hear more about the speedometer setup you're using... what processor are you running, etc? I've got the same truck, and although I don't plan on using LCD's anywhere, the speed-o fix sounds pretty cool! Thanks! Ben
If you wanted it more traditional you could use a small 4 wire stepper motor driven by the micro and turning the original mileage wheels.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o> The stepper in this article is the one I got for this and the article shows you how easy this stuff is.<o></o> http://www.instructables.com/id/Drive-a-Stepper-Motor-with-an-AVR-Microprocessor
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