Actually, the sender unit is accessible from the trunk of the Spitfire.
Clean out the trunk and remove the hardboard cover at the "front" of the
trunk. This will expose the gas tank. Before you try to pull the sender,
make sure the tank is nearly empty, as the sender hole is about halfway up
on the tank.
On the 1500 (and almost all the earlier Spits, can't speak to the Mk 1 or
2!) the sender itself is held in with a locking ring that rotates to clamp
the sender tightly to the tank. It will probably resist being removed
(normally a good thing, after all :-)! I've found that a flat blade screw
driver appled to one of the tabs and gently tapped with a rubber mallet will
remove the lock ring without causing real damage. Before you pull the
sender out, make note of where the "top" was.... it'll help when you go to
re-install.
I'd heard that there was a thread last year on how to test the guage (ground
out the lead from the tank sender ????)... hopefully someone else can supply
that answer.
Jim Gambony
'73 Spitfire (undergoing mechanical restoration... to move again someday)
'76 Spitfire autocrosser
'78 Spitfire (waiting in line)
Plus all kinds of other lbc's
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bill Kelly [SMTP:kelly@dss.com]
> Sent: Monday, April 27, 1998 11:33 AM
> To: spitfires@autox.team.net
> Subject: Re: gasoline gauge on Spit 1500
>
> Ken Tharp wrote:
> > When I fill the tank, it reads a little less than 1/2 full. It rapidly
> > slides down to "E" from there - by the time I've driven 50 miles on my
> > new tank of gasoline, it says it's empty.
>
> Yup, it sounds like your float has sunk. It could be electrical, though.
> There are some things you can check on your way to removing the float
> mechanism. In particular, the electrical contacts on top of the float
> mechanism might be filthy, or the ground wire might have fallen off.
> Similar problems might exist at the guage end.
>
> Don't know exactly how much disassembly you need to do on a Spitfire to
> get to the top of petrol tank, but that's where you need to go. Check
> those contacts before you remove the float from the tank.
>
> Bill Kelly
> '62 Herald
> '68 TR250
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