Fuel Gauge stick increments?

One of the guys in our club made a gas dip stick. He did the measurements by starting with an empty tank and adding gas and taking measurements as he added gas.

The tank has such an irregular shape that I don't think there is any specific relationship of inches to gallons.
 
One of the guys in our club made a gas dip stick. He did the measurements by starting with an empty tank and adding gas and taking measurements as he added gas.

The tank has such an irregular shape that I don't think there is any specific relationship of inches to gallons.
 
CarlG said:
One of the guys in our club made a gas dip stick. He did the measurements by starting with an empty tank and adding gas and taking measurements as he added gas.

The tank has such an irregular shape that I don't think there is any specific relationship of inches to gallons.
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I did the same thing but I marked the stick wrong which resulted in overfilling it twice. Couldn't figure out why....I do now.
 
1928-29 and 1930-31's tank height/gallon markings are different; however, if starting with any vintage vehicle empty gas tank, and adding one (1) gallon at a time, (or adding smaller increments), it is very possible that some guys may provide different fuel height marks on different types of sticks, thus acquiring different gallon readings when making gas measuring sticks.

From experience, if attempting to make your own fuel measuring stick for any vintage gas tank, a few precautions would be:

1. Try to "very slowly" insert the stick into the tank each time while in the "vertical" position.

2. Inserting the stick rapidly, or at an angle rather than vertically, or allowing slight movement of the stick from side to side will cause slight waves in the tank which leads to providing inaccurate height markings & inaccurate gallon readings.

3. Some species of wood have a tendency to "wick" gasoline upwards rapidly just like lamp wicks do when used for kerosene lamps.

4. For providing and marking increments of fuel heights, it is best to use a temporary sealed and/or painted wood stick, a wood stick with masking tape on one side, and/or non-fuel absorbing measuring sticks.

5. Especially when traveling on back roads, (sometimes at night), in remote rural areas, where gas stations are sometimes few and far between, (and some close early near dark), once one knows mpg of a vintage vehicle, one can verify exact gallons available to travel from gas station to gas station, or from one town to another.
 
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Mitch//pa said:
Is your gauge broke?
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Off and on, mostly off. It's on Larry's to do list. As long as I have a properly market dip stick, I'm fine, anyway, people get a kick from seeing me check first to see how many gallons I need before filling the tank. :D
 
In my youth, while working at service stations, the stick the tank truck drivers used was painted black, and after dipping the stick into the tank, the driver or whoever was removing the stick from the tank, went down slow, and quickly jerked the stick up to read the depth so as to minimize the splash.
 
I have an old Sunoco distilled motor oil gasoline gauge. Here are the measurements for the scale for the NEW Ford Model A tank, measuring from the end:
1 gal 1 3/4"
2 gal 2 1/2"
3 gal 3 3/16"
4 gal 3 13/16"
5 gal 4 3/8"
6 gal 4 31/32"
7 gal 5 17/32"
8 gal 6 3/32"
9 gal 6 23/32"
10 gal 7 15/32"
Mark
 
I agree, the best way is to add a gallon at a time and make a record of it. I do that for the airplane as it is critical to know the amount of fuel on board. We never trust the gages.
 
This is from Snyders
Hoping it helps
Note different years of fuel tanks
It does not say Model A Ford but the sales clerk said it was when he gave it to me complimentarily. I have not checked it out.
 

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Stick dry == empty tank of fuel
Stick 1/4 wet == 1/4 tank of fuel
Stick 1/2 wet == 1/2 tank of fuel
Stick 3/4 wet == 3/4 tank of fuel
Stick all wet == full tank of fuel

Your mileage may vary.... :-)
 
Why not jist lurn to gas up without OVERFILLING it? OR, is that TOO EASY???
Do you run your COFFEE cup over, also????
Bill Simple
 
No need to get too technical about this. A million tractors have a million dip sticks. One finger and it's time to fill up.
 
Bring your car downunder to fill it up. Our gallons are bigger. Well, they were until we stopped using them and got with the program like the rest of the world. That was back in the 1960s!
 
Why would anyone make a fuel dipstick for the 'New' Ford? They all had tank inlet thermal flame travel arrestors when new, a feature demonstrated as a great safety improvement. Unless you remove it the dipstick is useless. I would never own an A without one in place.

I know a lot of people remove them, but then I see a lot of people crawl under cars up on a hydraulic jack with no safety stands, spray 2K without a respirator, and text while driving.
 
By the time one ads a gallon at a time and measures it and marks it on a stick the gas gauge could have been fixed.

What species of wood is best for a gas tank stick??? :D
 
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