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I use a measuring dipstick to keep from over-filling the tank at the gas station. Problem was that the gas never made enough of a visible mark on most of the ones I made. But I recently tried balsa wood, which is so absorbent that the gas is easy to see. 

I  know this isn't a grand revelation. But, hey, it's the little things...right? 

 

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I use a powder coated piece of wire that is roughed up. I cut a few grooves in it for 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, and full. I keep track of the miles. I just need to get brave and drive it until it dies to get a real feel for what to expect and where to expect it on my gauge. Or just pony up for some real gauges and senders.

I think all nozzles will shut off when the tip of the nozzle gets submerged. They do here in NC.

In California, it's probably illegal to even have a match or lighter in your pocket while pumping gas. It must be in the locked glove box, with the passenger door locked and the windows up.

Last edited by Carlos G
Carlos G posted:

I use a powder coated piece of wire that is roughed up. I cut a few grooves in it for 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, and full. I keep track of the miles. I just need to get brave and drive it until it dies to get a real feel for what to expect and where to expect it on my gauge. Or just pony up for some real gauges and senders.

I think all nozzles will shut off when the tip of the nozzle gets submerged. They do here in NC.

In California, it's probably illegal to even have a match or lighter in your pocket while pumping gas. It must be in the locked glove box, with the passenger door locked and the windows up.

You need a permit and there’s a 10 day waiting period too. 

Yeah, I ran into the reserve once on my Beemer R100. 55mph switching both petcocks isn't fun LOL!

Carlos, don't you have Speedhut gauges? They can be calibrated to your sensor. I can help you with this if that is the case. 

When I first put the old car on the road, I carried a full 1 gallon in the frunk. Once I learned how far I could go, I stopped carrying it. At least bring an empty one with you. It beats walking........

I don't understand this conversation.

I've put about a 1,000 miles on the Speedster in the last 3 weeks and am getting 25+ mpg on the road at 70-75 (GPS). The gas gauge bounces all over the place. When it bounces around 1/4 full I get gas; that's about 200 miles. I have noticed that the only time it bounces to empty is when the key is off. The most gas I've put in the tank is about 8 gallons.

I have 914 gauges. One would think they'd be bounce less. I don't remember them bouncing in my 914 a few years back.

Don't understand the stick thing.

Danny, my BMW's all get 40mpg. The R100s has the CC Products catalog in the engine. Any R100 should go 200 miles before needing the reserve. Maybe it's that California gas.

This subject brought back a funny memory of the first heated discussion my wife and I had after being newly married.  We had just purchased a 10-year-old 1960 Porsche 356B Coupe & I had let her drive it a little bit and it stalled out. I proceeded to inform her that she needed to keep the revs up & that this was a very sensitive highly tuned piece of German machinery and she didn’t know how to drive it right. After about a half hour of me trying to get it started, I realized that it was out of gas and that there was a petcock under the dash to put the reserve tank on. Oops! 

Last edited by IndianBob

Jim, I had forgotten to get gas in the bike. I usually fill up every 150 miles, just to be safe. Then I went on a 75 mile round trip, and ran into the reserve around 30 miles from home. Got gas shortly thereafter.

Carlos, if you get the Speedhut gauges, just get them from Greg. I don't know if Speedhut sells 356/Spyder gauges direct. You'll have to change your temp sensor from the Chinese one and re-wire the dash. Plus open the holes a little. I installed the dimmer knob on the face of the dash, under the steering wheel, to one side. You can re-use and calibrate to the gas tank sender. It has built-in hysteresis, so the gauge needle doesn't slam all over the place.

Jim, I know for a fact 911s use a centroid sender, maybe the 914 did as well? They seem to move slower(less slosh). The Chinese gauges and the VW(VDO) sender slams and bounces all over the place.

Alan Merklin posted:

Kinda like when your running out of gas on a bike,  switch over to the reserve...fill up then cruise another 135 pus miles sputter again instantly realizing you already had the tank on reserve 

 

Had a 61 T2 and can't tell you how many times we had to push it off the road and hike to the nearest gas station. Smoked a lot of weed back then and frequently forgot to switch the reserve lever back...The good old days!

Danny, I'm not concerned with the new gauges looking like what came in the original 356s or 550s. I like the 4 combo gauge with volts, fuel, oil pressure, and temp. Here is a photo shop of  what I was hoping for.

Gauges 3

Having a horn button as cool as Gordon's would be cool too. I did remove my button, sanded the inside, and painted it black.

Too many things to tweak, but too little time.

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Carlos,

It’s a Celtic Skirt pin (popular with the ladies, and some “Men in skirts”) with the pin removed and glued onto a Momo horn button that happened to be flat in the first place.

IIRC, Kathy bought it at a shop in Kenmare, Ireland, and never used it much and then donated it to Pearl when I mentioned I wanted something different....You know, IRISH in my car.  I didn’t want a Porsche horn button and couldn’t justify a “Celestial Lady” one, so that’s what I ended up with.   Actually, it is similar to our wedding bands, just more of a true Celtic Knott.

1DF58480-E3FE-4986-9CD6-EB6F45CA5B9B

FDA0F8CE-E6F1-4CEF-9D99-A3B3A792049E

I also have a Mickey Mouse pin on the top of the central tunnel, with the three stripes of the German Flag.  The car is becoming very International.....

9AFF084D-55F5-4DBA-82EA-026AFDDC1756

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Last edited by Gordon Nichols
Gordon Nichols posted:

And if you have a workin’, friggin, gas gauge, you don’t need to worry about whether your trip odometer works!!!!!!!!!!!!

It’s way cheaper to get your gas gauge working right than having Palo Alto Speedo fix your trip meter (for a while, til it screws up again). 

Suit yourselves. I like having an oil pressure gauge where the useless gas gauge used to live. Having an actual gauge instead of a "full, full, full, 7/8, <1/4" gas gauge seems like a better use of dashboard real-estate to me, but what do I know?

What also vexes me is why everybody has so many problems with the trip odometer. After I broke mine in the JPS, John Steele told me to never push the reset while I was moving. I haven't since, and it's worked consistently.

It was the only true thing John ever said to me. 

 

That’s what I love about these cars.

Here we are 120 years after the car was invented.

Most other cars have gps navigation systems, 360-degree monitoring cameras, eight-speaker blue-tooth stereos that connect with our cell phones and satellite radio, and cruise control that looks out for how fast the guy in front of us is going.

But we’re trying to figure out if the best way to know how much gas we have is with a gas gauge that doesn’t work, a trip meter that doesn’t work, or a wooden stick.

 

 

I prefer simple set ups. Idiot lights. One for oil and one charging. Light comes on we have a problem Houston. We instalI many gauges for customers,but I always advise watch the road not the gauge!  We been using digital gauges with dual purpose. One gauge monitors two features. Such as oil pressure and temp on the same gauge.

i tell all our customers that having multiple gauges only causes you to watch them and worry. 

TRP posted:

I just use a match or a lighter...

In California the nozzle shuts off if the fuel gets anywhere the end of the nozzle. Annoying but effective.

I have been there with my roadster and it was a real pain to use on my tank...at the time the nozzle would not match up with the opening and it was giving me issues and only allowing the tank to be filled part way so it felt like we were stopping at every corner.

Have you tried to buy a simple car these days.  They are now forcing all sorts of tech on you you do not want. Auto stop start, lane change avoidance or lane tracking, keyless, etc etc. how about the Cherokee without a gas cap which allows you to only put in a little gas before it triggers a full signal so it takes 20 mins to stop fill, stop fill etc till you get it done. 

We might have to go back to buying older daily drivers to have more sanity. 

Last edited by IaM-Ray

@IaM-Ray  I feel your pain, Ray.

Shopping for a new car is like going to an Apple store.  All they push is all the electronic crap that's meant for those drivers who shouldn't be on the road in the first place.

I am close to buying a Subaru WRX STI.  No electronic driver aids, six speed manual, gauges that work (if you ignore the digital displays that can be ignored), non-electric steering, etc.  I've made this decision after a lot of research, trying to find 'an older daily driver' in a modern car.

The SRI feels like a real analogue car that you control, rather than the opposite.

It's about the only new car that gives a manual transmission and no electronic driver assists.  Plus, it's a hell of a car to drive...

No wing, Ray.  That's the last thing I need.

You can get one with just a small lip spoiler that is almost invisible.

And the WRX does come with a CVT transmission if you can't buy a manual one.

Mitch/Stan:  As for checking gas level with a wooden stick, that's how it was done in my 1953 MGTD.  Who needs a gas gauge when a simple wooden stick will do?

Last edited by Bob: IM S6

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