Here's How I Left My Truck

[magwakeenercew2jh]

I've tried to talk quite a few folks "off of the ledge" when it comes to this hobby...Maybe it's my turn.

The background is that after three years of grease grit and money-pitting, I basically finished (no body work or paint)
RAT 1968 a couple of weeks ago. I was trying to get ready for the C/10 Gathering in Atw$#%r, but didn't make it.

That Saturday (last Saturday), I thought I ran out of gas. Stupid. But, I'd put four gallons in and went for a test-spin.
The gas gage is the big quandry on this one....More on that in a second....

Bogged and quit close to the house. My woman came with tools and gas. I primed the carb, added four more gallons.
Fired up and drove home (1 mile). Did a 6 mi. chore Sunday morning and put almost five more gallons in. Started for the dump.
Fuel delivery problems four miles from the house.

Came home on the back of a "tow truck".

Re-installed the filter up top by the carb, installed a nice one down at tank-spigot level under the cab. Fired some air up the open
vent tube with the sealed (non venting) cap and fuel came flooding out the supply line that I'd disconnected by the fuel pump.

Re-plumbed everything, then put a vented cap on and fired her up. No problem. Drove straight to the gas station and put in $80 of 91 octane (16 gals.).
Drove around the house ....about five miles....about four dollars worth of 91 blew all over the side of the truck. Nice cap, huh? I'm hoping the non-vented cap
wasn't the issue...But I'm going to have to try it again. It's the only one I can find that actually seals.....

My fuel gage is the problem that finally had me hang up the guns. For how long, I don't know. Maybe I'm done altogether.

I have three fuel gages. One installed, and two outside of the dash. I bought a brand new sending unit from Summit....Brass float. The gage in the dash
"tickles" by turning the key on, that is to say, the needle rises from about 5:30 to 3:00 and stops there. BTW, all this is this before I filled up with gas...
Who knows how much gas I had? Maybe six gallons. Maybe a little less.

So, with the new sending unit in place, I ran a new wire straight to the "Fuel" blade on the fuse block. No difference.

So, I made up a couple of leads, attached the left (variable ground - tan) to the back of one of the gages and put it on the floor. Another lead attached to
the 12v + side of the gage, out the window, and directly to the battery terminal. It read full. Swept to full. I know I might have had six gallons in there.
But it wasn't full. I fiddled around with the "tit" on the sending unit. Made sure it wasn't grounding out on the sending unit flange(s), then tried the other
gage the same way. Read full. Swept to full, no matter what. Suggesting 100% ground.

Couldn't be more pure. Clean, new wires of the proper gage Straight to 12v +, and straight to the "tit" on a brand-new sending unit.

Three different gages. Two read full, and the one in the dash swung to 3:00 (I'm guessing that needle is bogus). I tried grounding the two ancillary
gage bodies and no difference. They read "Full" no matter what.

Now, since I filled up to the brim, I can't do anything...so I'm covering up the pig and
calling it quits.

The "hobby" is now a nightmare. So, I'm gonna make it all better by forgetting I own that $%^&(&! Maybe forever. 17 grand in it before paint, ..
probably worth 3. I'd probably sell her for $0.32 tonight.