Pilot Dan
Fuel Sending Unit Float
Thread Starter
Race Director
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 11,032
Likes: 2,587
From: Del Boca Vista FL
Fuel Sending Unit Float
Just replaced the sending unit in my 63. Upon removal of the unit from the tank (a replacement unit from one of the usual vendors) the float portion of the unit had split and expanded in diameter from the original size to approximately two and a half times the diameter. Anybody else seen this?
Thread Starter
Race Director
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 11,032
Likes: 2,587
From: Del Boca Vista FL
I'm thinking along the ethanol route. Just was wondering if anyone else had experienced this. As far as permanent repair I was changing the sending unit out for a C3 unit so my Autometer fuel gauge would read correctly instead of in reverse.
Drifting
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 1,946
Likes: 28
From: Long Beach CA
I was peering into the gas tank with a flashlight the other day. I don't know if the sending unit is original or a repop, but it's been in there a long time bathed in the stuff California calls gasoline, and the float looks normal.
Thread Starter
Race Director
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 11,032
Likes: 2,587
From: Del Boca Vista FL
Mine didn't have a ground problem. Ordinarily a ground failure will result in the stock C2 sender causing the gauge to constantly read full. At least that's what they did when I was working as a mechanic for Chevrolet in1969. Mine simply caused the after market Autometer gauge to read in reverse. Indicating empty when full and full when empty. C3 sending unit cures the problem.
Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 6,158
Likes: 395
From: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada NS
I've been having similar problems with those brass/cooper fuel tank floats. I've gone through 2 in the last couple of years. They develop a hole and fill up with gas, sinking to the botom...
It appears the one in the tank is now starting to sink as well.... I have one of those Stewart Warner floats brss/cooper with cork inside on order from Summit Racing but they are out of stock....
It appears the one in the tank is now starting to sink as well.... I have one of those Stewart Warner floats brss/cooper with cork inside on order from Summit Racing but they are out of stock....
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Le Mans Master
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 9,015
Likes: 331
From: Southeast Missouri
My Fargo replacement just installed apparently has some type of synthetic float material. I'd think since it's of recent manufacture that it would be compatible with ethanol gasoline, not sure I could say the same about the original.
Different matter, but I bought some see-through float bowl screws for a Holley carburetor a couple or three years back (Holley brand, as I'm recalling) and the ethanol gas turned them soft and gummy. You'd have thought Holley would have known better, and more importantly, would have cared . . . . . .
Here's the Fargo replacement . . . . .
Different matter, but I bought some see-through float bowl screws for a Holley carburetor a couple or three years back (Holley brand, as I'm recalling) and the ethanol gas turned them soft and gummy. You'd have thought Holley would have known better, and more importantly, would have cared . . . . . .
Here's the Fargo replacement . . . . .
Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 6,158
Likes: 395
From: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada NS
My Fargo replacement just installed apparently has some type of synthetic float material. I'd think since it's of recent manufacture that it would be compatible with ethanol gasoline, not sure I could say the same about the original.
Different matter, but I bought some see-through float bowl screws for a Holley carburetor a couple or three years back (Holley brand, as I'm recalling) and the ethanol gas turned them soft and gummy. You'd have thought Holley would have known better, and more importantly, would have cared . . . . . .
Here's the Fargo replacement . . . . .
Different matter, but I bought some see-through float bowl screws for a Holley carburetor a couple or three years back (Holley brand, as I'm recalling) and the ethanol gas turned them soft and gummy. You'd have thought Holley would have known better, and more importantly, would have cared . . . . . .
Here's the Fargo replacement . . . . .
Drifting
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 1,469
Likes: 329
From: Southold New York
Last time I had a float problem I scavanged a replacement from a pile of broken sending units at a local boatyard. If it floats, it works. Very few NCRS deductions for what is inside your gas tank.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 9,015
Likes: 331
From: Southeast Missouri
Several vendors sell them, but it's sometimes difficult to tell from the vendor's site what you're getting. I got mine from the "TruckandCarShop" in Orange, CA. They have quite a nice catalog which identifies many of the repro parts they sell as being "Fargo" items. They were also quite competitive on price, about half of what some vendors ask for the unit.
You'll have to do an internet search for them since they're not a forum sponsor . . . . .
I also had a recent thread on the installation of my unit, and it contains several germane comments from forum members as well. You can find it with a forum search, I'm sure.
You'll have to do an internet search for them since they're not a forum sponsor . . . . .
I also had a recent thread on the installation of my unit, and it contains several germane comments from forum members as well. You can find it with a forum search, I'm sure.
Last edited by Ron Miller; Jul 24, 2012 at 03:11 PM. Reason: Info on Recent Thread
