1953 fuel gauge

R

rglosem

Junior Member
Hello all,

This is my first post on Ford Barn. I do not own a vintage Ford vehicle, but I am posting on behalf of my 80-year old friend/neighbor who recently purchased a 1953 Customline Victoria (I think that is the right terminology).

I am trying to help him solve an issue with his fuel sender/gauge system. The car has a Dennis Carpenter part number 99A-9275 fuel sender, installed by a PO. Also the PO installed an Equus fuel gauge in the dash where the clock would normally be.

Also the PO converted the car from 6V to 12V.

The fuel gauge works backwards with the sender. I am assuming that the gauge and the sender are not matched properly.

It appears from the web site that the Carpenter 99A-9275 sender is only for use with the original dashboard fuel gauge in this car.

The fuel sender description says that it is for use with 6V or 12V systems. So does that mean that the 99A-9275 sender can be connected to the original fuel gauge in the dashboard instrument cluster as is (i.e., with the 12V system)? Does it need a 12V --> 6V reducer somewhere?

Thanks for any inputs you can give me. My friend/neighbor is not very computer savvy so I am trying to help him out.

Thanks, Ron G.
 
OK, so using the 99A-9275 fuel sender with the original dashboard fuel gauge requires a 12V --> 6V reducer? The original fuel gauge will not work with the 12V system "as-is"? In other words, we cannot just connect the fuel sender to the original wire from the dashboard gauge and have it work?

Also forgot to mention (sorry) that the fuel gauge the PO installed is an Equus model and it reads backwards, which I take as a mismatched "ohms range" between the sender and gauge.
 
The 99A-9275 fuel sender will only work operates on 6V and will only work with the original matching King Seally 6V fuel gauge.
The EQUS gauge will not work with the 99A-9275 sending unit. If you want to use the EQUS gauge you need to install a 12V gas tank sending unit that is compatible with the EQUS gauge. Keep in mind that your 6V gauges will burn out if fed directly by 12V.

When I converted my 40 to 12V I installed a Constant Voltage Reducer
(RON FRANCIS VR-1)that is powered by 12V and reduces the 12V power to 6V so I could
still use my stock 6V gauges. However, the BATT gauge would not read accurately so, I isolated it from all the other gauges and installed a 60 ohm resister in a separate 12V line that feeds only the BATT gauge. Then, the BATT gauges worked fine.

A Fordbarn search will reveal lots of info on this topic.
https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/search.php?searchid=60953232

BE SURE TO READ ALL THE INFO IN THIS THREAD:
https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48622&highlight=12+volt+conversion
 
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As an alternative to the Carpenter sender and the original fuel gage, does anyone know of an aftermarket sender/gage combination that will work in this model car?

Thanks again.
 
That Dennis Carpenter fuel tank sending unit 99-9275 WILL NOT work with the original 1953 Ford fuel gauge because the Dennis Carpenter fuel tank sending unit operates on the Ohms Law Principle AND THE 1953 FORD FUEL GAUGE OPERATES ON THE KING SEALLY BI-METALLIC PRINCIPLE. THEY ARE NOT COMPATIBLE. You need to find a 1953 or earlier King Seally gas tank sending unit and then adjust it so it gives accurate readings. You will also have to reduce the incoming voltage that powers it to 6V.
Read about it here along with photos .
https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=258983&showall=1

Also read this:
https://fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=259843

Just curious. Are the rest of your dash gauges still operating on 6V.

Your friend can easily solve the problem by installing the 12V fuel gauge under the dash and installing the matching 12V gas tank sending unit.

I am 99% sure this NOS gas tank sending unit will work in the 1953 Ford if you reduce the voltage to 6 volts. You will find these to be expensive because they are rare. They are not the same as the Dennis carpenter unit.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/3896316921...DL2cXjfKgGPGZjMjw+Ysj5MOX/|tkp:Bk9SR-Kj9NfXZw

For 1953 Ford Passenger Cars (Mainline, Customline, Crestline): The original Ford OEM part number sequence is FAA-9275-A or B5A-9275-A.
 
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rglosem said:
Hello all,

This is my first post on Ford Barn. I do not own a vintage Ford vehicle, but I am posting on behalf of my 80-year old friend/neighbor who recently purchased a 1953 Customline Victoria (I think that is the right terminology).

I am trying to help him solve an issue with his fuel sender/gauge system. The car has a Dennis Carpenter part number 99A-9275 fuel sender, installed by a PO. Also the PO installed an Equus fuel gauge in the dash where the clock would normally be.

Also the PO converted the car from 6V to 12V.

The fuel gauge works backwards with the sender. I am assuming that the gauge and the sender are not matched properly.

It appears from the web site that the Carpenter 99A-9275 sender is only for use with the original dashboard fuel gauge in this car.

The fuel sender description says that it is for use with 6V or 12V systems. So does that mean that the 99A-9275 sender can be connected to the original fuel gauge in the dashboard instrument cluster as is (i.e., with the 12V system)? Does it need a 12V --> 6V reducer somewhere?

Thanks for any inputs you can give me. My friend/neighbor is not very computer savvy so I am trying to help him out.

Thanks, Ron G.
Click to expand...

Ok Ron. Here's the go.
That Dennis Carpenter sender will work with with the original gauge.
But you will need to install a 12v to 6v reducer for the gauge. In fact the reducer will need to supply volts to fuel, oil and temperature gauges. 12 will eventually cook the gauges. You can purchase a"Runtz" branded reducer or find one on the rear of any 12v Ford from 57 to the late 70's.
The correct resistance for the sender unit is actually 10 -73 ohms, but 100 ohms is close enough. (73ohms will read empty when it's not completely empty - which probably isn't all bad).
Don't use that other aftermarket fuel gauge. Whip it out & stick a 2" tacho in there if you can't find an original clock. 🙂
 
Mickd said:
Ok Ron. Here's the go.
That Dennis Carpenter sender will work with with the original gauge.
But you will need to install a 12v to 6v reducer for the gauge. In fact the reducer will need to supply volts to fuel, oil and temperature gauges. 12 will eventually cook the gauges. You can purchase a"Runtz" branded reducer or find one on the rear of any 12v Ford from 57 to the late 70's.
The correct resistance for the sender unit is actually 10 -73 ohms, but 100 ohms is close enough. (73ohms will read empty when it's not completely empty - which probably isn't all bad).
Don't use that other aftermarket fuel gauge. Whip it out & stick a 2" tacho in there if you can't find an original clock. 🙂
Click to expand...

Sorry... when I say you can find one on the "rear", I meant to say the rear of the dash gauges cluster.
 
It would be great if some one would post the fuel gauge readings along with the corresponding amount of fuel left in the tank when using the Dennis Carpenter gas tank sending unit.To do this, empty the tank and then record the gauge reading after each additional gallon of gas is poured in. It tanks a little time but, it's worth it.

I still contend that the Dennis Carpenter gas tank sending unit WILL NOT give accurate readings even if the input voltage to the OEM gauge is 6V.
 
Look for fuel quantity gauge sender trim module information. These modules are a fairly recent thing that may work for quantity system modification where the sender is a rheostat type and the gauge is still a King Seeley type that used their pulsed current type sender. A runtz or cvr type electronic instrument voltage regulater can be purchases from several sources or fabricated locally to drop voltage for dash instruments that need 6-volts.
 
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19Fordy said:
It would be great if some one would post the fuel gauge readings along with the corresponding amount of fuel left in the tank when using the Dennis Carpenter gas tank sending unit.To do this, empty the tank and then record the gauge reading after each additional gallon of gas is poured in. It tanks a little time but, it's worth it.

I still contend that the Dennis Carpenter gas tank sending unit WILL NOT give accurate readings even if the input voltage to the OEM gauge is 6V.
Click to expand...

Well, I've got to agree with you there. I bought one from Carpenters some time back and it was way off. That's when I turfed it and bought one off evilbay.
I must admit, I never did measure the resistance of the Carpenter unit and now I have no idea where it ended up. But as I've mentioned somewhere else, the 10 - 73 ohm unit works ok.
Maybe Carpenters might have been made aware that their senders were inaccurate and have lifted their game? Dunno... don't really care now that I've sorted mine out.
 
Switch out the dash gauge with one made for the 10-100 ohm range of the Drake sender. Sounds like the gauge you have is made for something like the SW range of 240-33 ohms.
 
There is zero chance that the Dennis Carpenter fuel sender #99A-9275 will correctly operate your modern gauge...or really any gauge at all because the sending unit operates "Full:17-19 ohms Empty:138-141 ohms" (as listed on their website) which does not correlate to any mainstream fuel gauge manufacturer spec
 
I have found many used senders in the past that can be made to work properly with a little effort, i.e. cleaning the points, recalibrating them, and swapping the float arm as necessary. It's easy to fit a 1960's ford gauge regulator in series with the gauges for the 12V conversion, but I always stick with 6V, with a good (Optima) battery, Halogen H/L bulbs, correct size battery cables and good earth/ground connections 6V can be just as good as 12v.
 
rglosem said:
As an alternative to the Carpenter sender and the original fuel gage, does anyone know of an aftermarket sender/gage combination that will work in this model car?

Thanks again.
Click to expand...

If you want to use the aftermarket gauge that’s in it now you need to find the ohm range for that particular gauge (start with their website). Then find a universal sending unit that will bolt into the tank hole and then you have to adjust the sending unit to match the tank (sending unit will come with instructions).

Or you can try those fuel gauge matching units. I’ve personally only used the Autometer fuel bridge (9109) to match my stock gauge with a Stewart Warner sending unit. It worked because I was able to program the unit at specific points on the gauge (E,1/4,1/2,3/4,F) and it uses those readings to get the spaces in between.
 
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