[Healeys] fuel gauge calibration

Healey Bruce healeybruce at roadrunner.com
Thu Nov 7 13:05:34 MST 2013


John, you may want to verify if you have an original sending unit or a
reproduction.  My gauge was horribly inaccurate when I bought my car in
2000.  After consulting with Norman Nock, I pulled the sender and the
windings looked like they had been done by a 6 year old with ADD.  Or
perhaps a Labrador puppy.  Understandably, Norman could not give me a core
credit for this cheap POS reproduction unit and I exchanged it for a rebuilt
original.

Now, to the issue of calibration, I put 1 gallon of fuel in the tank and
bent the float arm until it read empty.  Completely full (i.e., up into the
filler tube), it reads about a needle's width shy of full, but that is
acceptable; I would rather have it accurate at the low side than the full
side.

I also carry a dipstick with gallon markers on it, and know that my range is
about 200 miles and reset the trip meter at each fill up.  Hence I have a 3
tiered system for monitoring fuel level.

Bruce
Brea, CA
1960 BN7


-----Original Message-----
From: healeys-bounces at autox.team.net [mailto:healeys-bounces at autox.team.net]
On Behalf Of john spaur
Sent: Wednesday, November 06, 2013 10:27 PM
To: healeys at autox.team.net
Subject: [Healeys] fuel gauge calibration

There have been quite a few posts on this issue but none seem to really
solve the problem. When I first owned an Austin-Healey it was
6 years old and the gauge was fairly accurate as I recall.

The gauge on the healey was professionally calibrated but it was way off,
tending to stick at the full side and then rapidly dropping down to near
empty. Recently I calibrated it by removing the sender and adjusting the
gauge on the bench but it still sticks toward the full side. When the tank
is below 1/2 it will start to read towards the
1/2 and 1/4 marks.

What's the issue with getting the gauge to read more accurately? I think it
may have to do with the coils and magnet alignment. I think the coils may be
out of plumb (due to bending of the case at the nut
attachment) which causes the magnet to be too close to the armature
assembly.

Has anyone investigated this? Has anyone been able to get their gauge to
read more accurately?

John Spaur
'62 BT7
$12.75
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