When I picked up my car I was told that the fuel sender was not accurate below 1/4 tank. The sender is the float and reostat system. Has any one used the Centroid sender, no moving parts, cand be easily shortened, very accurate, should be a direct swap.
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just fill up at 1/4 tank, problem solved
@R Thorpe posted:When I picked up my car I was told that the fuel sender was not accurate below 1/4 tank. The sender is the float and reostat system. Has any one used the Centroid sender, no moving parts, cand be easily shortened, very accurate, should be a direct swap.
Never heard of that. Do you have a link?
http://www.centroidproducts.com
They work great and programable used one in my 911 Fuel Safe tank.
@R Thorpe posted:http://www.centroidproducts.com
They work great and programable used one in my 911 Fuel Safe tank.
Very interesting. Neve seen one. would be curious to know if/how well it'd work in our cars.
You can order what you want measure the depth of the tank minus 1/2 inch and the type of original sender I believe ours are VW 73-10 ohm. Talk to Mary at Centroid I would also mention our gauges VDO replicas. Mine has a spare light could be used for reserve tank light I believe.
I've seen the Karman Ghia/914 senders used. They run about $40.
Wolfy those use a slide contact like early BMW 2002's the centroid uses capacitance between the two tubes no moving parts.
That's the type the boat tank place is going to use on my aluminum tank. They showed me their catalogue. They are available in just about every length and impedance, from 6" to 2'.
The Centronics sender is made up of two concentric tubes you can use a tubing cutter to cut them to any lenth, there are adjustments screws on the top to set the full and empty after you connect it and watch the gauge on your dash. I believe they sell modles with reserve warnings too.
I use the Karmann Ghia sender. It keeps the needle more stable. I had Palo Alto Speedometer calibrate my fuel gauge for this sender.
I believe the Gia sender is better but it still has moving parts, it’s a float inside a tube.
@R Thorpe posted:When I picked up my car I was told that the fuel sender was not accurate below 1/4 tank. The sender is the float and reostat system. Has any one used the Centroid sender, no moving parts, cand be easily shortened, very accurate, should be a direct swap.
Fill up a 1 or 2 gallon gas can and have at it driving until you know where empty is. I ran out twice after I let it get under 1/4 and went around a sharp corner.
After that I just filled up at 1/4 tank and never ran out again. If full is full and you get gas at 1/4, you're all set.
Why complicate things?
I agree with @barncobob 100% on this one.
After having my car for 13 years the fuel gauge is probably one of the things I worry about the least. As long as the needle bounces around the fuel is fine. I worry more about keeping the fuel clean.
I'm with Al.... After 20 years, when my tank is "full" the gauge needle stops just below the "4/4" line, like a needle's width.
When my tank is low, the needle bounces around from just below "R" up to about 1/8 tank. That's when I get worried and fill R up. That usually takes 6-1/2 gallons or so to fill and it's a stock 1969 VW tank so whatever they hold, 8-ish gallons? So far (knock wood) I've never run out on the road, even the couple of times it was waaaay down there and hardly bouncing the needle at all - Then I was trying to make a lot of right turns to at least show something on the gauge!
I made up a bunch of gas gauge needle dampeners a while back. They don't completely stop the needle bounce, but they slow it down somewhat - maybe cuts it in half. You can't do much better than that because the gas tanks have no internal baffles to moderate the level for the gauge. I was going to donate a few to the East and West Coast gatherings this year but that didn't happen. I still have a few if anyone is interested. 5 minute installation right on the gas tank sender.
I'll attach the installation instructions for anyone interested.
On my original IM the needle did exacly what Al mentioned and I could have used Gordon's module.
I think it was Danny who tested the empty level of his tank but I seem to do it on most cars at least once it seems. And yes the tank being clean is often a challenge. I got stranded with dirt in my tank. I discovered a whole lot of metal filings in my new tank on my new build but it was too late, it ended up passing through the filter into the fuel pump and ruining the pump. Fortunately, someone was looking after me 
as it happened at my mechanics garage when I went to leave with a low tank.
We had to have a pump shipped from Chicago so my car was in their garage actually for 2 days due to the shipping of the pump, needless to say I bought TWO, and have my spare in my car at all times, and spare filters as well.
I'm in the fill up at 1/4 tank camp. The needle seems to go crazy after that mark. I would love to replace the sender with a more accurate system. Has anyone actually tried another system and what model did they buy?
I was all ready to ask why this comes up all the time when I looked at the link. If you must have a gas gauge, that's the one to get. It solves all the issues.
However, I'm in the extreme minority of people who see no point in a fuel gauge at all. I have my sender modified (by taking out a bunch of windings) so that when the fuel level drops to about 1/4 tank, it hits a light in my gauge cluster. I have no fuel gauge at all. The space where the fuel gauge was is now oil pressure, which is of infinitely more value to me.
I use the trip odometer and look for a station at about 250 mi.
Maybe people can retrofit the reserve lever that was used on old VWs with no fuel gauge.
I use a callibrated stick tied with string to the gas cap, very accurate, no bounce, unless I have the shakes, at night I use my lighter to read it. 100% fool proof.
in the Navy in 68 Hawaii(before shipped to Nam) I had a 60 VW, no fuel gauge, just a lever to pull up to release another 1/2 gal,,used the write mileage down at fill and when it ran out,,pretty accurate really,,gas stations on east side of Oahu were very remote
My first VW was also a '60. I liked having that lever. You knew exactly how much gas was remaining.
My 59 356a had that auf and zu handle under the dash and yes it was handy I did think of getting that in my build at one time.
I learned a few words in allemand at the tIme
My 64 C had an on off and reserve in the footwell the valve and small filter were on the bottom of the tank, an actuating rod went from the valve to just under the dash. A very cool feature. My C also had a key locking gear shift, another nice touch.
After searching and failing to find a tang for the standard VW setup with screen, I decided to simple go with a common HD petcocock for my aluminum talk and I'm contemplating make a 50's like reserve lever in the passenger footwell.
Cool
Most folks have a stick to check the fuel level. I can drive 200 miles at 75mph on a tank. When the gauge bounces between empty and 1/4 tank get gas. Get used to it.
x2 For the Karman Ghia/914 senders. They run about $40.
I’m going to order a Centroid no moving parts sender and get the reserve warning light feature, all programmable. I will report back to the forum.
Same as period BWW sender, a float in a tube, better but still moving parts. The sender in my 2002 got stuck all the time. A tap on the top of it would fix it.
Most folks have a stick to check the fuel level. I can drive 200 miles at 75mph on a tank. When the gauge bounces between empty and 1/4 tank get gas. Get used to it.
Good one, Jim!
Ditto for my Spyder, but I get gas at 160 miles when driving locally. Spyder tanks won't take as much fuel due to the central fill.
@Gordon Nichols posted:I made up a bunch of gas gauge needle dampeners a while back. They don't completely stop the needle bounce, but they slow it down somewhat - maybe cuts it in half. You can't do much better than that because the gas tanks have no internal baffles to moderate the level for the gauge. I was going to donate a few to the East and West Coast gatherings this year but that didn't happen. I still have a few if anyone is interested. 5 minute installation right on the gas tank sender.
I'll attach the installation instructions for anyone interested.
In all seriousness, Gordon's needle-dampener thingy is simple, cheap and effective. You don't need to understand how it works, just put one in and forget about it.
mee meep... argh...
