V8S Fuel Tank Sender Unit

[v8s4me]

I received THIS today and it’s got me puzzled.

It looks the same size to my existing one but the design of the back plate is different. This is mine.



By the look of it, the Defender one has been designed for a vertical fitting. I’m assuming the higher resistance will be when the sender is registering “Empty” and the lower when “Full”. See photos.

"Empty" position.



"Full" position



If that’s the case then with the unit fitted horizontally in the middle of the side of the tank, and the float wire straightened, surely the gauge is going to read “Full” until the tank is half empty and then start going down to “Empty” from there. Some of you have fitted this unit so how have you got around this?

Incidentally, although the advert says you need to order a lock ring and seal, the unit does come with these. Or least mine did – so now I’ve got spares.

Thanks in advance.

[v8s4me]

phillpot said:

Wire it up temporary (out of the tank) to the gauge and see what it does?

Buer! Why didn't I think of that earlier! The resistance increases steadily when I move the float arm though.

phillpot said:

.....Is there an "issue" with the seal being too thin? Thicker one available from Adrian @ (Exactly TVR)?

Don't know yet. I've leaving this job until near the end of September so if I can't get it to seal I've got the winter to sort it out. For the time being I'm just trying to work out how it will go together.

Edited by v8s4me on Wednesday 24th July 21:33

[v8s4me]

I’ve got a copper drift and a hide hammer and shall make every effort to avoid blowing myself up. I’ll still do this outdoors with the fire extinguisher handy though.

[v8s4me]

I'm wondering if the metal one will seal better than the plastic one anyway as it's probably more rigid than the plastic one. Do you remember if the float arm travel was the same as the one in my picture above? Don't suppose you have a photo of it side on?

[v8s4me]

Here’s the latest update on this. The replacement unit arrived this morning; it’s plastic and it judging from the shape of the back plate and terminal block is the same as the one which is in there.

This is the arm in the “Full” position.





And this is in the “Empty” position.





If you compare this to the unit pictured above you’ll notice there is a greater arc of movement with this plastic one. Hopefully this means that once I’ve altered the bend in the wire the unit will register across the full depth range of the tank and not just from half full to empty.

I’m going to do this job next month and will let you know what happens. Wish me luck – tally ho chaps

[v8s4me]

Hopefully this will answer your questions

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

If not let me know - good luck