Fuel gauge access panel

[Kain]

so I made this last knight and painted it. Had to get some 18 teeth saw blades.
the ones I had where distorting the metal and chewing it up.

I know its not perfect but it will do the job, and it wont be seen when done. more pics to come. as soon as the sun comes up ill get started.

 

[Kain]

Well the feed tube broke away from the main housing and bounced around takung out the sending unit

 

[Kain]

got it done was a learning experience

 

[Kain]

from the rear of the bed to the center of the sending unit 15 1/2 and drilled a hole after eyeballing it and made a second to be off center just bit to have access to the hoses

 

[Kain]

measure out 6 inchs of the hole each direction to mark the outside of the hole 12 x 12. I marke it with a paint marker and drilled some holes to get the saws all in the hole to make the cut. HOLD ON. when this thing got to the end of the cut it jumped around like crazy

 

[Kain]

here is the hole

 

[Kain]

the feed line busted loose and took out the unit and the filter or sock fell off and was in the botom of the tank

 

[Kain]

here is the test fit and the finished patch

 

[Kain]

used silicone to seal under the tape and should keep out fumes and exhaust fumes

 

[BlazerFarm]

Nice write up. Sure wish I would have had something like this in place the last time I had to replace my in-tank fuel pump.

 

[diesel4me]

In my opinion every vehicle with an in tank pump that can be accessed via an opening in the sheet metal, ,should have one factory...some cars have access to the pump under the rear seat--no good reason why the factory cant make a mechanic's life a bit easier...so they saved a dime by not putting in an access panel...whoppee..

 

[Kain]

thanks, it wasnt that hard only took 4 hours took my time measured twice cut once. i did clean up the edges of the hole with a file cause it will cut the crap out of you in a heartbeat if you dont.

 

[Kain]

I agree dieselforme, sometimes they suck. and on another note i stood on the patch after and bounced up and down with no flexing so i dont need to strengthen the access pannel

 

[rampage]

Is there a reason why you didn't flip the panel upside down so the ridges would line up better? Seems like those gaps will fill up with mud and debris and you'll also feel a high spot in the carpet now because the ridges are pointed upwards.

 

[Kain]

when flipped over there was a bigger gap.That's why i used an entire tube of rtv to seal it.
and when you seal it don't put the rtv on the patch panel put it on the edge of the hole.

i get what your saying but i would have had to trim it to fit and lose coverage.

 

[Kain]

CRAP CRAP CRAP!!! filled up this morning and still only reads half full!!

any sugestions on what to look for. new gauge and sending unit

 

[diesel4me]

Only things left then,are the ground wire for the sender unit might be corroded or not grounding well enough,or the wire from the dash cluster to the sender is failing..or you got a bad sender right out of the box,which isn't too uncommon today,unfortunately..Both Mexico and China seems to be good at making parts that LOOK good,but often dont function correctly..

Perhaps the float is getting stuck on something in the tank ?..

One warning about RTV,it can eat away body metal rather rapidly in some cases--it releases acetic acid (vinegar) while curing,which can corrode steel --I used some of the black RTV on my '72 K5's windshield leak around the rubber gasket to the body,and less than 6 months later I had a nice rotted "slot" where the RTV was ,and it leaked a lot worse..

I was told by a body shop to use only urethane or butyl rubber caulking (like used on house gutters and metal buildings) to seal body panels..
Or "seam sealer".which I hate,it causes more rot that it prevents in my opinion--its no good on the exterior either..

 

[disenough]

There is a fuse on the back of the gauge that will make them read half a tank when full if its bad. You can get a new fuse but it is easier and cheaper to just swap the gauge.

 

[82355]

Someone did this to my Blazer before I owned it. I have still not forgiven them.

Martin

 

[Kain]

well that has to be the fuse on the gauge, ill look into it thanks