Simple and cheap gas gauge solution

mountain80

Active Member
Local time
7:02 AM
Joined
Jun 10, 2008
Messages
315
Location
Red Deer
So after running out of fuel for the first time DOH! I came up with a simple cheap solution besides looking in the gas tank. It occured to me that one of my old snowmobiles had a set of clear plastic tubes on the side that would visually allow me to see yhe fuel and oil levels , as the the gas level drop so does the corresponding level in the tube. Simply teeing off a line just after the petcock and fastening in some manner beside the gas tank would allow you to see at a glance exactly where the fuel level is in the tank!!

Cheers
 
So after running out of fuel for the first time DOH! I came up with a simple cheap solution besides looking in the gas tank. It occured to me that one of my old snowmobiles had a set of clear plastic tubes on the side that would visually allow me to see yhe fuel and oil levels , as the the gas level drop so does the corresponding level in the tube. Simply teeing off a line just after the petcock and fastening in some manner beside the gas tank would allow you to see at a glance exactly where the fuel level is in the tank!!

Cheers

Had a cheap gas gage on my ultralight airplane. It was a float with a wire. The wire stuck up through a hole in the gas cap. The wire was color coded so I knew when I was full - half full - prayer full.:)
 
Good thinking!....I like the plastic tube idea...I would love to find a translucent or maybe even clear gas tank....

Andrew
 
Whatever works, as long as you can get a second line out the level will be shown, absurdly simple but effective, I am going to pickup the line and t fitting this week .
 
Use a piece of clear fuel line, put a small colored bead inside that will float on the fuel, but is too large to slip through the barbed fitting. See the fuel level at a glance.

Or, take the gas cap, drill a hole in the center big enough for a small piece of threaded rod from a crafts store to be be mounted and locked in place, then take a Lego barrel, drill a hole through it that will fit the rod, take a fine (22 gauge or so) piece of wire and mount in the barrel, sticking up through the next gauge size bigger vent hole in the gas cap. Like TwoWalks says, it gives you a visible indicator of fuel level.
 
So, is the Lego barrel the float that bobs up and down with the fuel level and is guided upward and downward by the threaded rod that passes thru the Lego barrel?

Mountain80, my cap has a 1" thick anti-slosh device under it, and the tank has baffles built around that device. This device has four small holes on its bottom and two holes on its side to prevent sloshing. The tank's depth directly under the cap and its anti-slosh device is 3". So I drill the device and lock the 2.5" long threaded rod onto it. Then I drill completely thru the anti-slosh device and thru the cap.Then I attach a 4" wire the thickness of a paper clip directly under the gas cap hole onto the float and poke it thru the hole in the gas cap.

Is that correct, SimpleSimon?

Then I attach a "Jack In The Box" antenna ball or something smaller onto the top of the protruding wire for special effects.:cool:

Since the teardrop tank is mounted on a slight decline, there will be a little fuel reserve when the antenna ball bottoms out and rests atop the tank.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Petty much what I was picturing, yes. I suggested a Lego barrel, but any small float type device will work fine. I have some prescription eyedrops bottles that would work fine. I like the Jack in the Box ball idea as well. Make sure if your wire guide hole is say, 20 gauge, you use the next smaller gauge size wire in it - no room then, really, for any sloshing.
 
Back
Top