Replacing Fuel Level Tank Sender with Sunpro
Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 614
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From: Johnson City Tennessee
Replacing Fuel Level Tank Sender with Sunpro
I took a look at the directions & thought "humm, sounds simple enough" so I already know I'm headed for a lot of trouble!
My car has terrible electrical issues. One of the things Ive done to eliminate big chunks of problems was to replace all the center gauges with aftermarket. (I'm actually getting somewhere on the electrical issues)
All my center gauges are by Sunpro & being so inexperienced, the gauge doesn't match the stock sender because it says full when I know its empty. Who knew? (moving right along)
Anyway, this part swap sounds easy so I know I'm already in trouble & might as well start a thread on it because although the part swap might be easy the taking other parts apart means a lot of other stuff is about to disintegrate & need to be replaced along the way. Thats just the way this car is. Fix 1 thing 2 more break.
Here is a pic of the new sender & a scan of the directions.
What I'm thinking so far is to somehow lower the gas tank with my trans jack to keep it from falling on my head but I'm not real sure about the best way to go about it.
I'm a little paranoid about the safety issues on this one because just last month a guy in a garage here in town with 25 years experience was pulling a gas tank. It shifted unexpectedly pining him under the car, sloshed gas onto a shop light & it burst into flames. I never heard if he lived or not but know the garage was a total loss & 6 others were in the ER. I don't want that to happen to me especially because I've already had a fire & it wasn't fun AT ALL.
Obviously, I'll drain the gas tank first & be referring to my sometimes helpful Haynes book for disassembly. But again I want to be safe & know the handy little tricks that arn't in the book.
My car has terrible electrical issues. One of the things Ive done to eliminate big chunks of problems was to replace all the center gauges with aftermarket. (I'm actually getting somewhere on the electrical issues)
All my center gauges are by Sunpro & being so inexperienced, the gauge doesn't match the stock sender because it says full when I know its empty. Who knew? (moving right along)
Anyway, this part swap sounds easy so I know I'm already in trouble & might as well start a thread on it because although the part swap might be easy the taking other parts apart means a lot of other stuff is about to disintegrate & need to be replaced along the way. Thats just the way this car is. Fix 1 thing 2 more break.
Here is a pic of the new sender & a scan of the directions.
What I'm thinking so far is to somehow lower the gas tank with my trans jack to keep it from falling on my head but I'm not real sure about the best way to go about it.
I'm a little paranoid about the safety issues on this one because just last month a guy in a garage here in town with 25 years experience was pulling a gas tank. It shifted unexpectedly pining him under the car, sloshed gas onto a shop light & it burst into flames. I never heard if he lived or not but know the garage was a total loss & 6 others were in the ER. I don't want that to happen to me especially because I've already had a fire & it wasn't fun AT ALL.
Obviously, I'll drain the gas tank first & be referring to my sometimes helpful Haynes book for disassembly. But again I want to be safe & know the handy little tricks that arn't in the book.
Drifting
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 1,317
Likes: 22
From: Marina CA
2 problems that I notice are your sender is designed to be bolted down to a top of the tank flange. Vette tank senders (I'm speaking from a 68 perspective) are held in place by a twist in cam lock. Second problem if you put the sender in from the bottom (68 perspective again), E will be full and F will be empty because the float arm is working upside down.
Do you know if the gauge you have is compatible with the stock 90 ohm sender?
Do you know if the gauge you have is compatible with the stock 90 ohm sender?
Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 614
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From: Johnson City Tennessee
2 problems that I notice are your sender is designed to be bolted down to a top of the tank flange. Vette tank senders (I'm speaking from a 68 perspective) are held in place by a twist in cam lock. Second problem if you put the sender in from the bottom (68 perspective again), E will be full and F will be empty because the float arm is working upside down.
Do you know if the gauge you have is compatible with the stock 90 ohm sender?
Do you know if the gauge you have is compatible with the stock 90 ohm sender?
http://sunpro.com/product_detail.php?pid=16372
Here is the sending unit I ordered because it said I needed it.
http://sunpro.com/product_detail.php?pid=16355
I never could make heads or tails out of why it didn't actually work right with the stock sending unit.
Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 614
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From: Johnson City Tennessee
I've started taking things apart & fist thing I've run into so far is that I have no key for the spair tire. I was able to get the entire bolt & lock off to get the tire out of the way but I sure don't want to do it that way in the rain on the side of the road.
I've been looking for a new lock on ebaY & it looks like they are going for about $70 for a Corvette/Corvair lock & key & up to 140 bucks for everything. However, I seen some going for about 10 for just the lock, without a key being sold as needing to be "rekeyed". Well, I've got one that needs to be rekeyed now.
Where would I find a place that can reykey a lock? How much does that cost? As opposed to just cutting this lock off & putting another on that has a key.
To cut or rekey, that is the question.
I've been looking for a new lock on ebaY & it looks like they are going for about $70 for a Corvette/Corvair lock & key & up to 140 bucks for everything. However, I seen some going for about 10 for just the lock, without a key being sold as needing to be "rekeyed". Well, I've got one that needs to be rekeyed now.
Where would I find a place that can reykey a lock? How much does that cost? As opposed to just cutting this lock off & putting another on that has a key.
To cut or rekey, that is the question.
Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 614
Likes: 0
From: Johnson City Tennessee
2 problems that I notice are your sender is designed to be bolted down to a top of the tank flange. Vette tank senders (I'm speaking from a 68 perspective) are held in place by a twist in cam lock. Second problem if you put the sender in from the bottom (68 perspective again), E will be full and F will be empty because the float arm is working upside down.
Do you know if the gauge you have is compatible with the stock 90 ohm sender?
Do you know if the gauge you have is compatible with the stock 90 ohm sender?
Empty: 240 ohms
1/2: 130 ohms
Full: 33 ohms
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 1,223
Likes: 174
From: Fort Wayne IN
Here is what I did when my original sender died - http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-t...r-17-99-a.html
Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 614
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From: Johnson City Tennessee
I started to get back into doing this today because Ive recently had a slew of electrical problems solved by an expert & its time to look at this sender again.
I pulled out the Haynes book & it's obviously over simplifying the removal of the gas tank but I expected as much & was fully prepared to drudge along blindly anyway.
I start going down the list of things to do & notice after puling my rubber anti gas slosh thing-a-ma-jig that the stock sending unit is hooked into a completely different looking setup from what Ive got to reinstall into the hole.
Needless to say after 1 look at it, it was time to pack it up for the day & put off the actual tank removal until I could find some answers.
I really don't want to cut a hole in the tank if I can do anything else & that got me to thinking, the sender thats in there works, why not fix it electronically?
Granted I'm not great with that sort of thing but it looks to me like all I need to do is wire a resistor or some other gadget into the gas gauge circuit to change the ohms to the correct range & it would work right if not pretty darn close & pretty darn close is alright with me.
What is your thoughts on this?
How does one change ohms accurately?
Is this an idea thats electrically possible?
I pulled out the Haynes book & it's obviously over simplifying the removal of the gas tank but I expected as much & was fully prepared to drudge along blindly anyway.
I start going down the list of things to do & notice after puling my rubber anti gas slosh thing-a-ma-jig that the stock sending unit is hooked into a completely different looking setup from what Ive got to reinstall into the hole.
Needless to say after 1 look at it, it was time to pack it up for the day & put off the actual tank removal until I could find some answers.
I really don't want to cut a hole in the tank if I can do anything else & that got me to thinking, the sender thats in there works, why not fix it electronically?
Granted I'm not great with that sort of thing but it looks to me like all I need to do is wire a resistor or some other gadget into the gas gauge circuit to change the ohms to the correct range & it would work right if not pretty darn close & pretty darn close is alright with me.
What is your thoughts on this?
How does one change ohms accurately?
Is this an idea thats electrically possible?
Last edited by MrGoFaster; Aug 27, 2009 at 05:58 PM.
Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 614
Likes: 0
From: Johnson City Tennessee
Here is what I did when my original sender died - http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-t...r-17-99-a.html
I can certainly fabricate the two together like that & get the same result. This is an excellent plan B if the electrically change the ohms idea I was talking about above doesn't pan out.
Last edited by MrGoFaster; Aug 27, 2009 at 06:01 PM.
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Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 614
Likes: 0
From: Johnson City Tennessee
Well it's been a few YEARS but I finally got around to doing this project. It took about a day to rework all the parts from the stock sending unit & the Sunpro but I think it's gonna work out just fine. Got it all together & its already in the tank.
Now, I'm having problems getting the gas tank back into the car. Is there some kind of trick to it? I currently have it strapped to a trans jack & tilted way back so that the gas cap is level & at the top but if I didn't know any better I'd say it's too big to go in there.
Now, I'm having problems getting the gas tank back into the car. Is there some kind of trick to it? I currently have it strapped to a trans jack & tilted way back so that the gas cap is level & at the top but if I didn't know any better I'd say it's too big to go in there.
Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 614
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From: Johnson City Tennessee
https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=47a40...B654AA9%211424
I'm not sure if this will work, it should be pictures.
I'm not sure if this will work, it should be pictures.
Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 614
Likes: 0
From: Johnson City Tennessee
Quick video of the sending unit. I had to pull it back apart to get the gas out of the tank anyway. The tank took a lot of man handling but its in. It's not perfectly straight to fill but I don't really care. If it works, I'll be happy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giE3Z...ature=youtu.be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giE3Z...ature=youtu.be
