Adding a fuel gauge?

[stryker]

As you well know by now I have a FZR600.

I was wondering. For all those of us with no fuel light or gauge, is there any way at all of easily adding a sender in the fuel tank for either a light or gauge?

I thought someone by now would of developed one that simply replaced the surround of the standard gas tank cap. I could live with a sender wire running from that across my tank.

I've searched the net and found nowt.

[iCraig]

Well I've never heard of one, maybe you could invent one or develop one?

Or just do what I do, reset the trip meter to 0 when you fill up and as soon as you get to know the bike and how many miles it does to a certain amount of petrol then you fill up again and so on.

[carvell]

The reason bikes don't have fuel guages generally is because of how inaccurate they are.

On a car a few litres out doesn't make a difference, but on a bike that is a significant percentage of the tank. You could fit one, but there wouldn't be much point it would be so inaccurate.
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Yamaha TDM 850

[Lone-Wolf]

Wotcha.

Ah, the good old fuel gauge problem. . . well, it ain't so much a problem with bikes, seeing as you normally have a reserve setting on the fuel tap.

As with most things, the simpler, the better. The simplest, and most accurate 'gauge' I've seen is a transparent pipe, fitted from the bottom of the tank ( or from a "T" piece in the fuel line ) back to the top of the tank. You simply look at how high the fuel level is.
The 500cc, Rotax engined "Armstrong" that the army use has this system fitted.

Or, if you fancy, fit a 'sight glass' to the tank - I've used old sight glasses from off hydraulic oil tanks before now, and they seem to work. Snag with this one, is getting inside the tank to fit and tighten the nuts that hold the sight glass.

My trikes use a 'normal' car type sender unit which is mounted in the top of the fuel tank - this ain't really practical on a bike tank.

Another idea, which I've used before now, is to fit a 'float switch' inside the tank, and when the fuel drops to within a few inches of the bottom, the switch operates and illuminates a low fuel light.

Make sure that any wire you use is petrol proof - kind of obvious, but I know folks who used PVC covered wire - this results in not only the insulation dissolving, but the PVC then proceeding to block the jets in the carburettor.

I'm quite surprised that some enterprising manufacturer hasn't come up with something that fits on the outside of the tank and measures temperature thus determining the fuel level. The only snag I can see with this one is very cold weather would cause false readings.
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Cheers.
^..^
L.W. - www.moonshiners.org.uk

[mr.z]

I was wondering the same, can't say i like the idea of electrics in petrol really (even though it should be perfectly safe, if its been fashoned diy stylee then it might be bad news....)

[Kickstart]

Hi

Had a few bikes with fuel gauges (1987 and 1988 model Aprilia AF1 125, FZ750, 1200 Bandit), and they can work fine. If Yamaha had fitted one to the FZR600 it would have been fairly easy to make it accurate due to the shape of the tank.

The sender units on the bikes I have had would be difficult to fit to the FZR as they would require cutting the tank.

The Cagiva Freccia has a fuel light which works off a small sensor in the fuel pick up. Something like this would probably be possible, but it does mean running wires into the fuel tank and that leaves you with problems sealing it afterwards.

For those who do not know the FZR600 "tank" that you can see is just a dummy plastic cover going over the real fuel tank and the airbox. The real fuel tank is quite a simple shape, little more than a cube.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[loply]

What happens to the float when youre getting your knee down?

[stryker]

kickstart, I'm only getting about 150 miles off a full tank! is that normal?

I like the idea of checking the pressure of the fuel as that would not require tank modification, however it would only read accurate while the engine was off

Maybe it is something I will get used to in time, doesn't mean I have to like it

[iCraig]

[Kickstart]

Hi

Only time I went onto reserve it was after 163 miles. Last tank was 152 miles and I had not hit reserve at that stage. Seems to be doing about 50mpg, and is probably running a bit rich. You should be able to get more than 150 miles to a tank.

That said we can also consistantly get over 200 miles to a tank from Charlottes GPZ500 without going onto reserve.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[Josh]

Just while people are talking about tank ranges, and Craig is here, what was your range like on the GS?
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04 Suzuki GSX-R 600 K4 - Sex on wheels :>
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[iCraig]

[stryker]

Yeah, I was on 150 miles and not hit the reserve just tonight. Thing is the tank is exactly 18.5 litres and I filled it right back up which took 16.7 litres. My reserve must be around 2 litres.

I think my carbs are running a little rich but most probably down to worn jets. I wonder how much a garage will charge to replace them for me?

[Kickstart]

Hi

They will charge silly money, as Yamaha want silly money for them.

However they are probably not really worn. I would say that as it runs OK give it a few weeks and a good few tanks of fuel and see how it goes.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[Josh]

[stryker]

It occurred to me that as the FZR600 fuel tank is sitting under that cover, maybe a similar tank but with a float could be made to go in its place. I mean its all under cover, so long as its secure?

Also I read the electronic switch on the likes of the yamaha xv1100 is only a bypass for a cutout that turns off the fuel pump when the petrol gets to what they consider the reserve, so there is no electronic valve I could use in place of my on/reserve tap?

Thoughts or ideas anyone?

[Kickstart]

Hi

The tank would still need to be a fairly close match to fit without rattling round.

The FZ750 and FZR1000 also use the electric reserve switch, as does the Bimota. They work in different ways though. On the 750 I think it is wired into the fuel gauge, and when it reaches a certain level it cuts the fuel pump. With the FZR1000 it does much the same, but it is controlled by the CDI unit and does not have a fuel gauge. On the Bimota they have set it up with 2 fuel taps, one a normal manual one and one electric one. The manual one gets it fuel from about 2" above the bottom of the tank while the electric one pics it up from the bottom of the tank. When it runs low you press the switch which opens the electric tap.

I think it is unlikely that the FZ750 set up could easily be fitted as you would need to start welding the tank to put the sender unit in place. The FZR1000 set up might, but is not really much of an improvement (yes it is better, but I would not bother going to a hell of a lot of effort just to upgrade to it), and all it gives you is a reserve switch which is easier to operate.

The reserve switch on the FZR600 is not that convenient, but with the electric fuel pump and no vacuum tap it doesn't really matter if you have to stop to switch over (unlike the Divvy with a vacuum fuel tap, which is so pathetic that you land up killing the battery cranking it over trying to get the fuel through).

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[binge]

Ok. well on the same subject as gagues. The other day I replaced my clock Surrounds from the peugeot ones to malossi ones because they look nicer and the also have the 70mph and the 80mph marks on them. I had to remove the needles to put it on, and when i was putting my termostat needle back on, i missed the hole and pushed it straight through the copper coil around the gague. This has obviously broken my temperature gague BUT! is there a way of replacing the gague with a overheating light and just taking the needle off the clock surround and replace it with a light??? Im selling the bike soon and i dont wana reduce its value! HELP!
Ben...