so on friday i was so happy with how the first one turned out, i thought i'd start on another one. this one is also going in a 60 but into a long range tank. whoever installed the tank originally put a friggen autometer ( well, rebadged by them anyways ) sender in the tank so the gauge would'nt work properly. i grabbed my spare 60 sender and another late model 2nd gen vortec sender and did some more cobelling. did'nt get a chance to finish it and i had the kids this weekend so the project had to wait till today.
the long range tanks are a little more difficult because the boss for the sender is thicker by about 1/8" so everything that hangs down in the tank needs to be a little lower or the sender won't bolt back up. i bet i spent 4 hours trying to make the combo work. i finally got it to fit thru the hole but that's where i screwed myself. once it was installed i could not get it back out. so it somewhat self distructed when i finally got tired of monkeying with it. oh well, another half a day written off to R & D. the story of my career as a shop-owner....
anyhow, i'm somewhat stubborn or at least that's what i've been told a few times. so i started on my third dual sender right after lunch. sent my apprentice to the local auto wreckers ( luckily we're friendly with them ) and he was allowed to dig thru their shelf full of sending units. the first time he came back with one that looked great at first glance. the sender was the right size, the connector on it looked oem, same basic shape and size as the other one we tried,.....and then luckily i had the bright idea to ohm it to make sure it was good. turns out the readings were completely different. did some part # cross referrencing and it turned out to be from a chrysler. close call. back to the wrecking yard with junior mint. another two hours written off.....who says shops make nothing but money, right?!
this time he came back with an even better unit and it was from a gm. s i sent the fluke meter with him in anticipation of another mix-up.
the last spare oem 60 sender was now junk but i had one in a good used tank so that was an easy call.
i was able to take the float/rod from the junk sender and combine it with the replacement 60 sender to make a long enough rod to work with the long range tanks.
made another slide-in style bracket for the gm sender and then an angled piece with one threaed hole to hold it in place. not too tough, but drilling and tapping the 4-40 hole was a pita.
a little clearancing, sanding, trimming and it looked like it outta fit. not too tough.
first test; it fit! now onto the linkage between the two. that was'nt too difficult either, had to make another small "gate" and weld it to the oem sender rod. then bent/welded another rod to tie the gm sender rod to the oem unit. not too tough, as long as you turn the heat on the welder way down. fun with a 220 machine.
turns out that these two senders worked better together than the first one i built. they both ended up readying empty and full at their respective stops. bonus!
then i decided to re-wire the late model gm sender. the oem wires were tiny and would'nt have sealed well with my gromets. so i removed them and soldered on a pair of slightly larger wires than the first gm sender i had used. this would make for a better seal going thru the gromets i hoped. not too tough but you gotta be careful with the soldering iron. that plastic sender and the tiny contacts don't react very well to too much heat or solder. :nuke:
last but not least, i drilled the two holes in the top for the wiring, trimmed the gromets and installed them. fed the wires thru, nice and snug and then it was time for test-fit #2.
perfect! by this time it was 7pm and i decided to call it a day on a good note. i did'nt want to go home without knowing it was going to work so that made my day.
the sender we used was out of a 2005 trailblazer. not sure what engine size but i don't think it matters.
long story short, i made it work before i closed the shop down for the night. smaller sender, much easier to trim and install and should work very well. here are a couple of pics, one at empty and one at full. pretty simple as well.
hth
georg @ valley hybrids
