Fuel Gage

Danr55 · #1 (**permalink**) 07-28-2016, 05:10 PM

Does anyone recognize this fuel gage?

I need to calibrate a sender but want to be sure that this calibrates like the other gages that I've seen. 20 and 222 ohms.

strictlypersonl · #2 (**permalink**) 07-28-2016, 05:19 PM

That also could be a 90-0 ohm gauge. See the fuel gauge section of the ERA wiring guide to test yours.
http://www.erareplicas.com/427man/wiring/wprimer.pdf

Ivygreen65 · #3 (**permalink**) 07-28-2016, 05:27 PM

Looks exactly like the one in my wife's MGB, which is 20 - 222 ohm.

Danr55 · #4 (**permalink**) 07-28-2016, 05:31 PM

Ivygreen, are you sure? This one is F on the Left and E on the right. Is the one in your wifes car the same?

Ivygreen65 · #5 (**permalink**) 07-28-2016, 05:57 PM

Oops, my bad. Didn't pay attention to the E-F orientation. Her's is the typical E left and F right. Sorry for any confusion.

Danr55 · #6 (**permalink**) 07-28-2016, 06:21 PM

THat's what has been bothering me all day.. I need to find out. THanks for the shot.

Ron61 · #7 (**permalink**) 08-01-2016, 05:15 AM

I am sure that you have already did this but could you look up that gage on their website and find out what you need to know?

Ron

CSXRacer · #8 (**permalink**) 08-01-2016, 07:58 AM

Maybe my vision is worse than I thought, but I do not see any kind of needle on this gauge. How does it work?

Mongoose930 · #9 (**permalink**) 08-01-2016, 10:44 AM

I can't be 100% sure, but if you look closely at the gauge, you will see that the "E" on the left has been changed to look like an "F". Same thing on the other side. For some reason, Contemporary ran their gauge backwards. I will pull out my old manual to see if I can find more details but I believe this started out as a standard gauge.

spdbrake · #10 (**permalink**) 08-01-2016, 10:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mongoose930

I can't be 100% sure, but if you look closely at the gauge, you will see that the "E" on the left has been changed to look like an "F". Same thing on the other side. For some reason, Contemporary ran their gauge backwards. I will pull out my old manual to see if I can find more details but I believe this started out as a standard gauge.

Good eye! If true...Now I'm thinking of the possible back story where the assembler of the car was so hardheaded he could not admit it was possibly wired backward. Must be the gauge....lol

Mongoose930 · #11 (**permalink**) 08-01-2016, 10:58 AM

I went into my old Contemporary manual and it references a GM sender #6428845. Attached are the instructions from the manual - Not very helpful I'm afraid. I would call Peter Bayer at Nisonger Instruments (Smith's dealer) as I am sure you already know that he used to own Contemporary.

Mongoose930 · #12 (**permalink**) 08-01-2016, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spdbrake

Good eye! If true...Now I'm thinking of the possible back story where the assembler of the car was so hardheaded he could not admit it was possibly wired backward. Must be the gauge....lol

I actually used to have a Contemporary with the same exact gauge which is why I am pretty sure that is the case. You can also tell by the bezel shape. Contemporary had a different bezel shape on their Smith's gauges than the ones that were on the original Cobras or that you can buy now.

patrickt · #13 (**permalink**) 08-01-2016, 02:56 PM

OK, that strikes me as rather strange.

Why did they go to all that trouble to make the gauge go backwards?

Mongoose930 · #14 (**permalink**) 08-01-2016, 06:44 PM

Hi Patrick - I am sure there is a good reason for it but trust me, the Contemporary gauge worked backwards and if you look close, you see they blacked out the bottom of the "E" to make it an "F" and added a white line on the bottom of the "F" to make it an "E". It would drive me nuts thinking that I was just about out of gas when the tank was full. The attached picture isn't really clear but it is a picture of the gas gauge out of my old Contemporary and it is reversed.

patrickt · #15 (**permalink**) 08-01-2016, 06:56 PM

Well I suppose the sender that "had to be used," for whatever reason that might be, went from no resistance to high resistance, or vice versa, which was the opposite from what the gauge wanted and it made the gauge run backwards. So Bayer made the decision to just flip the E and F.

That's one of the stranger Cobra trivia tidbits that I have heard in a long while. Most people would have just whipped up a little circuit board, with a transistor, to flip it around the other way. In fact, ERA does just that to get the wipers to park properly when you turn off the switch.