70 model gas tank to auto meter gauge...

[70-Chevy]

with a stock sending unit on our gastanks that are located behind the seats, can i hook up the wires directly from it to an autometer gauge or is there a special way of doing it? how hard is it to replace a sending unit in our gas tanks if it is bad because i have tried hooking up the gas tank to my gauge before and it never worked? any suggestions? thanks.

[rage'nrat638]

the sending unit in the tank is very easy to replace....there's a slip ring....
tap with a screw driver....in reverse and pop it out.....
any aftermarket gauge will need to be the same ohm's as your stock sending unit.........

[RON WOODGEARD]

Don't hook the stock wire straight to the Autometer gauge, Run the wire from the sending unit straight to the gauge.. Reason being,,,, The stock wire has 12 volts output, and the feeder wire to the autometer has to be straight from the sending unit or, You'll blow the gauge. There is a seperate post on the back of the gauge for 12 volt input. Yep, I found out the hard way !!!!!

[70-Chevy]

so......Im a little confused, sorry. i need to run a new wire from the sending unit to the gauge? what gauge wire do i need? The previous post said something about the gauge has to be set to accept the ohms from the gauge. What gauge wire do i need to run? There is a ground wire and a hot wire right? Sorry that Im a little "off" with working on these trucks. Ive been in Japan for the past year, hehe, so thats why I might need a little more explaining. Thanks for all the help though! Please explain more on what exactly I have to do.

[RON WOODGEARD]

The wire that comes from the stock gas tank is pretty long, it's about 16 gauge. I added enough wire to it to reach the Tank. Then it comes in through the firewall and plugs in at the fuse box. You need to cut the plug end off of it, and butt splice another wire just long enough to reach your gauge. The autometer gauge tells you not to run a 12 volt wire to the "Sender" terminal on the gauge that it will burn the gauge up.. Well I didn't think that the gauge wire would be 12 volt, but,,, it is after it runs through the fuse panel. The stock gauge has only two wire terminals, the autometer has three,,, One for 12 volt, one for the sender unit, and the last a Ground.

So bottom line is, Run a wire from the sending unit "straight" to the gauge, then a wire from a switched terminal ( Hot when Key is on ) to the 12 volt side of the gauge terminal, and finally a ground wire to the ground terminal.

[70-Chevy]

thanks alot ron for all the help. appreciate it!