62 Falcon - $5k challenge, how will it rise from the ranger's ashes?

[STINEY]

I have a nice wooden stick that shows fuel tank levels?

On the sandrails I run a twin fuel tap system.

One has a standoff pipe that draws a couple of inches higher in the tank than the second. Leave the tall one open/second one closed until you run out of fuel, then close tall one and open second one. Run to gas station ASAP. Be sure to switch back to tall open/second closed after fueling.

Okay, okay, those aren't quite what you had in mind.

Is the tank unit you have new? Or is it original to the car? I've seen lots of floats become saturated and nonresponsive/inaccurate.....also seen arms become bent to the wrong angle causing misreadings. Sure neither of these scenarios is causing your problem?

[milner351]

New tank, came with new sender, and thankfully - 3/8" diameter supply tube. The problem is - the sender is new - for ford gauge, the gauges in dash are aftermarket - and set of for a different sender - need to get out the ohm meter and see what's what. I've used the drain on the tank to fill gas cans to fuel the tractor to plow all winter - so I know the tank is very near empty now - knowing that - I can pull the sender assembly if I have to.

[TheSilverBuick]

I thing most after market sending units are calibrated for the GM standard, which I think is 0-90Ohms.

[STINEY]

Found this...more oriented to trouble shooting, not necessarily mismatched scenario.

http://www.autometer.com/tech_faq_an...x?sid=1&qid=36

And this has some helpful info.

http://www.classicinstruments.com/in...lgaugesandtank


If starting from scratch this is good too. Might be useful if you have to reengineer things.

http://www.hotrodhotline.com/installing-fuel-gauge-and-sender#.UysefvldXbk

Its not looking too good. Sounds like the only cure is to have a matched set?

[STINEY]

I thing most after market sending units are calibrated for the GM standard, which I think is 0-90Ohms.

And classic industries says early Fords '86earlier are 75- 10 ohms

Methinks you are going to be having a bassackwards reading guage that is off to boot.

[milner351]

well thanks for the research - I may just have to pull the factory sender and see about swapping over to the one that came with the dash/guage kit, using the factory float arm if possible since it's already set up to fit into the tank.

[MoparBilly]

First attempt at new pics on the "Upgraded" site...ugh! Just trying to give John a little motivation!

[milner351]

Yowza! I'm not worthy to compete with that battle wagon!

[milner351]

guys - work is at a pace I have never before witnessed - nights, weekends, call in meetings on Sunday - stupid nuts.
I hope this pace will be over by the end of April - seeing guys out on Harleys and dusting off their hotrods is killing me knowing the Falcon is close to mission capable, but I have no time to work out the bugs.
I picked up two new tachs at the Columbus swap, two different sizes, both cheap ($25, $30) - one should work with the space constraints in the car. I'm going to find the old proform dial adjust shift light I had in the '90 mustang, mount that separately from the tach. I'm hoping with the smaller size - I can sneak one of these tachs onto the steering column and not have it hit the dash when the tilt column is lifted to it's highest position (every time I get in and out of the car)

[milner351]

Anyone see a downside to a trunk mounted "street fuel cell" ???
I see a few benefits:
1. no more stock tank = trunk floor = rear end collision hazard
2. more room for tail pipes, fuel system, trailer hitch
3. no more fuel leaks out the rear mounted fuel cap
4. aftermarket sender = aftermarket gauge

Only down side I see is a bit of fabrication to make brackets to hold the tank between wheel wells near the rear seat bulkhead - and a through the quarter panel flip up gas cap.

[1badmonkey]

just have to put in a solid firewall between the trunk and cabin

[STINEY]

Only downsides I see are taking up (potentially valuable) trunk space. I was going to say having to open the trunk to fill, then I saw where you specified the through the quarter fuel fill.

Would that fuel fill run from the quarter to the middle-top of the fuel cell? Most of the ones I see are like that, but most of the ones I see are on off-road machines with no body work.

[milner351]

Here's the fuel cell I'm looking at - from Rhodes they are $285 shipped - potentially save a few bucks here.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/291117359940...S:3160&vxp=mtr

I already have 18 gauge steel across the package tray and rear seat opening. I would mount this as close to the rear seat bulkhead as possible - then put a piece of sheet metal across the current fuel tank opening.
Open the trunk to fill is an option, with the eventual ~$100 investment in a nice looking cobra style top of quarter mounted flip up fuel cap - and filling in the tail panel completely where the stock fuel cap resides now.

[squirrel]

Interesting, I decided to use the stock tank with a modified pickup for my Chevy II. I pretty much looked at the same considerations, and drew the opposite conclusion.

[TheSilverBuick]

I personally like trunk space. A new OE style tank replacement would probably contain fuel just as well as a cell in similar rear ending accidents. If you are getting hit hard enough to seriously compromise the OE fuel tank, you're probably getting hit hard enough to plow through the bumper and attached tin metal to impact the fuel cell in the trunk space. I don't ever recall stories of exploding Falcons.

I also prefer rear fuel necks. I'd think it easier to find a new tank and a sending unit that matches an aftermarket gauge than building brackets, building a new trunk floor, cutting a hole and plumbing a filler neck around the trunk hinges or across a 1/3 of the trunk area, and of course building and sealing the firewall.