The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Swapping gas gauge to 12 volt

Was curious to see if anyone had ran into this problem. I'm restoring a 53 chevy 3100 and I bought a 12 volt gas gauge to replace the 6 volt in my dash. I bought the gauge from classic truck parts. When I tried to install it in the gauge cluster the replacement sets up higher than the original so it hits the glass bezel. The needle can't move freely because of this. Is there a fix for this or do I need to try buying from a different manufacturer? Thanks for your help.

https://www.stovebolt.com/ubbthread...;Main=93671&Number=650039#Post650039

Read this members blog

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He ground on the bezel so the needle would clear

Good luck

If you're adventuresome you might try connecting your 6v gauge as you normally would with a 6v system. I converted my 55.1 panel to 12v years ago and did nothing with the gauges other than change bulbs. It didn't occur to me that I might have an issue. As they say ignorance is bliss. I put over 100K on the truck after the conversion and never had a problem with 6v gauges running on 12v.

The 12v gas gauge for my '54 sits higher than the original 6v gauge, too. Mine came from the Truck Shop and is their CounterParts brand.

I tried to bend the face of the gauge back a little. Don't know if I succeeded very much - I was afraid that I would pop the rivits holding it or that I would damage the gauge mechanism. Luckily, the needle did not touch the glass or bezil.

I lightly sanded the face of my new gauge, painted it flat black, and attached new decals to all of my gauges so that they would match. I painted the needles after attaching the decals. The gauge faces on your '53 may require a different base paint than my flat black.

Here is a link to my PhotoBucket album of my gauges. Shows the original color and pattern inside the speedo and gauge housings. Also shows the original color and pattern of the back of the gauge bezils.

By the way -- The needle on my 12v gauge does not return to "E" when the ign is turned off. Gravity pulls it past "F" when the ign is off. My gas gauge also responds slowly. Don't know if it is the new Truck Shop float or the gauge. It takes a couple of minutes of driving for the needle to register Full after filling up the tank. Even so, it's still better than having to carry a 2-gal gas can in the bed when my old gauge didn't work.