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My son & I took delivery of the TR-82, a visible frame roadster, from our fabricator, PooK, last week (See thread entitled "Mako Exo Style Car").
So as not to hijack PooK's thread, to document the continuation of the build, we decided to initate a new thread.

The V8 powered car came with many parts installed, but much work remains to make it operational (axle fabrication, install shift linkage, add body pieces, wiring, etc..) We'll be looking to you folks for advice.

We have already made some good progress this week on the TR-82.

We ordered and installed the radiator, center coolant tubes, and a fuel sending unit. The gas tank, however, is a bit constricted so that the float would hit the wall of the tank if the manufacturer's instructions were followed to the letter. We made some minor adjustments.

Also obtained a slave clutch cylinder for the tranny, put in the driver's seat and adjusted the steering column height.

Hope to finish off the fuel and cooling systems when the hosing for each comes in mid week.

Looks great! Of course near empty is much more important than near full.

I'd set the pivot point as close to the middle depth, between the bottom of the tank and the bottom of the U shaped top, with the float arm extending across the wider section. You may want the float to contact the bottom corner of the U so a full tank, acting against the float, does not try to bend the arm against the bottom of the U. It is pretty thin and bends easily. A longer arm will provide better resolution.

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Thanks for your words of wisdom. Unfortunately, I already made the cut. I'll give this a shot and if it dosen't work well enough, I'll yank the unit and put on a new float arm per your recommendations. Thanks again.

I used a regular float set up as follows in the pics attached for the prototype. It worked very well and when the Koso gauge read empty I had just about .5 gallons of fuel available. It was mounted diagonally so that the float could have a slightly larger arc from full to empty.

BT

Thanks BT. That's what I am hoping for. Mine is mounted diagonally as well.

Can't wait to see this project completed!

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After lots of research thanks to locostusa, its time to join the fun.
Build Thread Coming 2011. Turbo? powered +442

Just so you know, you have to reverse the swing of the float arm for the Koso unit (pull the arm out and change it 180 degrees). As you are showing in your pics the gauge will read full when the tank is empty, and empty when the tank is full. Koso units are made for an ohm range of 0-100 or 0-500, and the unit I used was a 90-0 ohm range model that I modified to get closer to 100 ohms, and reversed so it registered correctly. Just hook itup to the koso unit before putting it in the tank and you will see what the gauge reads with the float in the up and down position.

BT

They're just floating along at the moment.

Ohm going to keep tabs on this project.

BT

Can I groan now or do I have to stand in line?? Not gauging the discussion, merely searching it's depths.

Cheers!

K "sorry I couldn't resist" S

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Must resist... the urge to respond ........

The sending unit I have is the:
VDO 226001 Fuel Tank Sender And Gasket, 10-180 Ohms Resistance

The KOSO indicated that the fuel resistance setting was 100 + 500ohms (not sure what that means)

Did I get the wrong sending unit?

I would recommend the 0-90 Ohm unit. With your unit you can still use it, it is just going to show the following:

Set to the 100 ohm range - when the tank is full it will show full, when the tank is 5/8 full it will show full, when the tank is empty it will show 1 bar. I would use this setting if you are keeping the 180 ohm sender.

Set to the 500 ohm range - when the tank is full the gauge will show 3/8 (roughly). When the tank is empty it will show 1 bar. This gives you less indication in my opinion, so I would not recommend it.

Basically the tank will have to go down to about 4.5 gallons when set to the 100 ohm range before the gauge starts dropping, so just consider it that size when you start to see movement. Or go find a 0-90 ohm sender and it should be pretty close to accurate. If you just hook the fuel gauge wire form the instrument to the resistance lead on the sender and test the swing you will see what you get and then you will know if you need to reverse it.

Sing with me now...

Ohm, ohm on the range....


BT

You could always wire in a 220 ohm resistor in parallel with the 10-180 sender. That would change the resistance range to be 9.6-99 ohms and closer match the 0-100 range the gauge is looking for.

Thanks folks. I'll try this sending unit out for now (at the 100 setting). If I don't like it, I can always swap it out or try the suggested mod later on.

Just so that you folks don't think I'm slacking off. I installed most of the coolant hosing tonight. Took much longer than I though it would due to the tight, confined area near the bottom of the radiator and routing into the tunnel chase. Will need a two foot extension to complete the upper line near the engine.

Tomorrow I hope to work on the fuel line. Have most of the parts. Anybody know how to get from a AN12 tank fitting to a 5/8" hose? The AN12 fitting with nipple adapter that I bought is much too large on the nipple end (I can see the comments now)

I also had the windshield frame powder coated this week & rec'd the Bugpack windshield rubber. Do I need any adhesive, caulk, whatever to install??

Thanaks for the advice.

Awesome work guys! The garage bonding is something I can not wait for with my son and myself!!!
What shifter did you end up deciding on and do you have a link?
PooK

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dpook317@att.net