Re: [DML] repairing OEM fuel sender & Tankzilla

["Walter Coe" <Whalt@xxxx>]

Now that I have had a few people tell me that the OEM fuel sender isn't
worth repairing and to buy a Tankzilla instead, I'll say that I was doing
just the opposite -- replacing my Tankzilla with the OEM! Crazy? Well,
I'll explain.

When I first bought my Tankzilla it had 3 problems: A leaky gap at the top
where fuel would slosh around the gasket and out of the tank, a gasket that
was made of the wrong kind of rubber and got very hard in a few days, and
too large & too many holes in the bottom of the sender allowing the float to
move too quickly giving me a continually wild bouncing fuel gauge every time
I turned or changed speed.

The vendors involved (DMC Joe & PJ Grady) eventually told me that it was
defective and asked me to send it back so that they could send me another
one. But first I was told by DMC Joe to just goop it up with Form-A-Gasket.
I liked JB-Weld better, so used that to neatly fill the voids. When I
mentioned this on the DML, then the (well something) hit the fan and I sorta
upset some people by badmouthing a product that should have been replaced
under warranty. Anyway, in a long discussion with Rob Grady, he explained
that to address the too-sensitive float problem they were filling some of
the holes in the bottom with rivets, but stopped doing this because it was
labor intensive, didn't look professional (enough to suit Rob anyway :-) and
made it harder to fit in the tank. Rob sent me a new gasket of better
material BTW. These guys really stand behind their products (if you let
them :-) Nonetheless, I think it is good to mention these things on the DML
so that people will know to look for these problems on older units, but on
later made ones I'm sure they worked the bugs out. (Not withstanding that I
am the sort of guy that will find a problem if there is one to be found.)

While I had the epoxy mixed up, I filled the two bottom holes in the
aluminum and also filled the upper hole, but re-drilled that with a smaller
bit. The results were worth the effort, but I still saw room for
improvement. That was more than a year ago. Recently I removed the
Tankzilla to fill two of the three slots in the blue plastic piece at the
bottom to further decrease the float's response time. I was also curious to
see how the epoxy held up to being soaked in fuel for more than a year.
Well, JB-Weld is excellent.

While I was working on the Tankzilla, I needed something to put back in the
DeLorean since it is my only drivable vehicle. (Oh darn, the Suburban blew
a gasket; looks like I'm going to have to drive the DeLorean again today.
Well, I would rather drive that anyway :-) So that is why I repaired the
OEM sending unit. I'm going to play with it for a while longer before going
back to the Tankzilla because this tinkering is just plain fun! I'm taking
photos & will write up a tech page on it when I'm done. I believe that the
OEM can be made reliable, but there are several parts that need soldering.
John Hervey's low fuel switch reworking is a good idea too. I think I'll
try making something up out of flexible copper strips that skid by (or rub)
each other at the bottom. Or maybe a weak magnet to hold it down when it
reaches the bottom, but the float may not be buoyant enough for it to
unstick afterwards. The Tankzilla could use something like this too, but
it's not quite as bad. The electronic module that makes it compatible with
the DeLorean has a delay built-in, but this could stand to be lengthened a
bit (at least on mine.) Maybe newer ones are different.

If you want to hear the beginning of this story, check the DML archives from
last year where I mention Tankzilla in the subject line.

Walt Tampa, FL