Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Fuel Gauge

My next project was to get the fuel gauge working again. Besides a ridiculous amount of varnish build-up on the bobber pieces, the new gas tank is smaller and the bobber wouldn't rotate all the way down. I needed to shorten the rods to make it work. Once again this idiot brutte broke something. The rod was stuck in the small brass piece and broke off when I tried to pull it out.



The other rod was easy enough to cut. I took an even inch off both rods.



After I scraped off all the varnish I found that the bobber was filled with a lot of gasoline. I poked holes in it and drained the gas, then I plugged the holes and sealed the rim with JB Weld



To fix the piece I broke I needed to make a new one. I bought this brass hammer from ACE Hardware and planned on using some of the handle material but it was hollow with screwdrivers inside. There was still enough material in the head to get what I needed.



I cut the head in half and ground off enough material for it to fit in the chuck of my drill press. I turned and cut it with an assortment of files, shaping it to match the original, taking close measurements.



I cut the three steps at the correct lengths to match the original and then a groove for the o-ring to fit in. A notch was made for a screw to hold the arm in place like the original



And finally a hole needed to be drilled for the rod to be pressed in.



Here it is finished and pressed on to the rod of the bobber.



And here is the whole assembly put together. You can see where the brass piece I made fits in.



This is the piece that screws onto the top of the gas tank. You can see the arm with the screw that fits into the notch of the brass piece I made. The arm pulls or pushes the cable, mechanically moving the needle on the fuel gauge.



And Finally here is the gas gauge. It's pretty accurate after I adjusted it!

1 comment:

codycat said...

can you give an update regarding how your seatelts worked out for you - I just bought a set of OG 67 front belts and like what you did with yours - did you have to destroy the OG belt in order to install the new ones? Can the OG belts be put back on if you ever decided to do that without it effecting the quality of their function?? I am considering doing what you did with yours but wanted to know how they turned out for you..