Fuel Gauges

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face of original fuel gauge restored by Marke Schwartz at airtechinstrument.com. He did a great job and helped me keep my 170B original

[strangebird]

How much was it to have the fuel gauge restored?

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Two hours of shop time for each assembly. About $170/gauge. The entire brass assembly and gears were cleaned. The float was sealed, I am not sure of the coating he used. You can call Marke and ask him. The face and bezel were cleaned. The dial was repainted as was the frame. Dial white and frame flat black. I admit it is a high price but I think it was worth it. I tried to modify a gauge from Aircraft Spruce. That gauge uses a long aluminum rod. it is straight and the float is attached and held with a crimp in the rod. It is not simple to bend the aluminum and when you do it may weaken if you have to make adjustments in the bend. I ended up breaking it. Then I replaced it with a brass rod by drilling it out the of hole it was held in by a center punch blow. After fitting the brass rod I had to recenter punch the fitting to secure it. The float is secured by the 90 degree bend on one side, then on the opposite a small washer is placed on after the float and the 3/16" end of the rod protruding is crimped and flared so the washer, and float will not come off. I was able to make it work and get the indicator to read 'Empty' when it was empty. But the full reading was not quite full. In other words the arm travel was limited in its upward movement. If I did it over and had to use new gauges I would immediately remove the aluminum rod and replace it with brass, but I would not center punch it in place until I was certain I had the length and travel absolutely perfect. All of this would have to be approved. I was happy to have the old gauges restored and continue using them.

I hope this helps someone.

[Hawkeyenfo]

Beautiful!