How much fuel is in my tank? Indication idea help?

[scouttster]

Hey guys-
Ok, the back seat is out of the car and will stay out.
The sending unit is shot - so that will stay out too.
I replaced the sending unit with a piece of glass so I can look into the tank and see how much gas is in there.. I was trying to think up ways using wire and float system to judge the depth of the fuel in there when I look in. Then I figured why bother with wire and making a guage.. Why not just throw 5 or 6 bright orange float type corks in there..
So, my question is what could I buy thats readily available and cheap and that wont degrade from the gasoline? Bobbers? Orange ping-pong balls? Gas will eat styrofoam peanuts, right? Any ideas, much appreciated...

[skyerunner]

Yes, gas eats styrofoam and then chemically turns into napalm. While this can be a fun experiment, it may not be what you're looking to have in your gas tank.
It seems like all of these ideas are much more complex than simply using your trip odometer and roughly knowing how many miles you can get out of a tank (mine's about 350 for a '83 4wd in pretty good condition). Though the idea of having a view port into the gas tank is pretty cool...

[splatterdog]

Some foam is fuel resistant. Look at a snowmobile fuel cap/gauge. They do come in various lengths. Just need to get threads on the tank. An outboard fuel tank could have what's needed too. OMC tank gauges are bolt on so mounting might be easier. I'm sure google could find other forms of these gauges ready to go and cheap.

That would be my recommendation for a "gomer" gauge.

[scouttster]

yes, will be going with the trip odometer log from memory, BUT.... As you know the time will come when I will forget or just really want to know how much fuel is in there at any given time.. I will look into the snowmobile cap - thanks.. If I cant find anything there - I'm thinking small white pine 1" x 1" blocks should suffice.. Wood is ok to use, right?

[Typrus]

Issue with wood would be that it gets overly saturated then sinks. Who knows how long it "wood" stay floating. And wood can also break apart and let small chunks get caught up in the strainer.

[takza]

Couldn't you clean up the old sending unit or find a used one? Having to go back..open the hatch...look at the gas tank to find out how much fuel might be a pain? If you run the trip odo up to 300 or so...you should be OK? My gauge really isn't much use till it gets near empty...so I use the odo.

[scouttster]

I cleaned up the old one and never got much out of it. The feeler arm that rubs on the accordian type winding of wires has a hole in it from wear. I tried bending to contact on the reverse side, but still got nothing. I ran in ohms test on it and I get a buzz sometimes and then sometimes nothing. I was going to modify it with a wire feeler arm, but had some reservations about modifying anything that uses small amounts of current inside a gas tank. In any event, I have the Tercel hatchback so its really just a lean and look over my right shoulder ( while sitting in the drivers seat ) to see what the tank status is. I pulled the back seats out of this " around the town car " and plywooded it over for home-depot runs or the dog.

Happy Haloween
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWTD-nXadaI

[Jarf]

just pray to god you never have an accident, a set-up like that is sure to void your insurance. They can be real funny about jury-rigged fuel systems.

[Dryfry]

Get another sender unit. You should not muck around with fuel tanks like that .