The Stovebolt Site Forums Project Journals Project Journals 1952 Chevrolet 3100 Project

10/2/20 (afternoon) Awhile back I ordered a new 12 volt gas gauge to replace my 6 volt with a shunt. My gas gauge, sending unit and wiring has plagued me since I bought the truck. Since my new master cylinder hadn’t arrived, I decided to install it. I have been putting this job off for awhile dreading the grueling task before me. As anticipated, this was not easy. Removing the cluster from the dash went fairly well but I had no clue how to get the gauge out of the cluster. Trying to minimize the work involved I didn’t completely remove the cluster from the truck so I could work on it at a bench. This later proved to be a mistake. The bezel is crimped in several places around the perimeter and I carefully pried at the crimps with a screwdriver and managed to separate the bezel from the cluster. To my surprise, the fuel gauge has lips on both sides that go under the adjacent gauges, requiring their removals prior to releasing the fuel gauge from the cluster. All this while the cluster was hanging under the dash, making working on it fustrating. I did manage to get the new gauge, the adjacent gauges and the bezel reinstalled only to find that the fuel gauge did not move. I had tested it outside if the cluster so I knew it worked. I had read on “Stovebolt” forum about this exact issue. Some of the Chinese made gauges are a bit higher and hit the inner frame of the bezel and that was indeed the problem. I did not find the issue immediately and it took a couple of times removing and reinstalling the bezel before I realized. I remedied the issue by gently pressing the interfering frame toward the glass in the bezel. Now the gauge responded as expected.

Reinstalling the cluster into the dash went as expected, grueling and punishing to my back. I did however stumble into a little better way to install the tiny nuts that hold the cluster to the dash. Having trouble getting my hand on a deep socket and having the ability to turn them, I thought an extension would be the answer, only to find some braces blocked getting the socket straight. I tried a flexible extension and that worked perfect. I was able to get the socket on the nuts and tighten. I only used my hand to tighten as I’ve heard some horror stories about cracking the glass. I did not want to take that cluster out again.

I previously had removed the sending unit so I could test full movement on the fuel gauge. After inserting it into the tank the new fuel gauge went right to empty. I expected an 1/8 of a tank or better. I removed the sending unit and found the float had gas in it. More Chinese reproduced crap. I’m running about 50% good vs. bad with the parts I’ve received. The float is made of brass and soldered together. I removed it from the arm, inspected it and found the seam leaking. The float was half full of gas so I used a small drill and reopened the previously drilled hole on the end to drain the gas. Leary of applying heat to the float that was just submerged in gasoline, I decided on using epoxy to seal it. I sanded it with 220 grit paper, cleaned it with degreaser then mixed enough to just cover the seam and hole in the end that I just drilled. I set this aside to remount allowing 24 hours to dry.

10/03/19: I reinstalled the float on the sending unit and installed it in the tank using black gasket maker to seal it to the tank. I went to turn the ignition on only to discover that I had left it in the on position he night before. dammm! I’ve done that before and know the consequences. I popped the distributor cap off and sure enough the points were closed which burned the points and drained the battery. Who knows what else I destroyed.

I placed the charger on the battery and left for the day.