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fuel level sight tube?

zjtrey

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2011
Messages
648
Location
North Carolina
Been thinking about putting a sight tube on my fuel cell for a while using -4 or -6 an bulkhead fittings. Anybody done this? will the teflon washers that most come with hold up to gas? thanks!
 
I have an alum. RCI cell in my Jeep. I drilled and installed bulkhead fittings to help feed the pump better and used the teflon washer like you are talking about. I got them from Summit Racing. Two years in and no leaks. The tube used to make the gauge from obviously needs to be fuel rated and heard the stuff that is tinted yellow works well, but have no proof.
 
i did it on my old cell, workes fine, there's a thread on pirate about it with all the summit part numbers, and info about the hose too.....search in gen4x4

the thing i didn't like is that once once your tank gets around 3/4 empty you can't see the level anymore because of the fittings, so it's really only good for about the middle 2/3 of your tank.
 
cell2.jpg
 
sweet thanks for the info, figured it'd been done but wanted to know how well it held up. I've got a tall and skinny fuel cell, its the 18x30x6 on from RCI. I really just need to know a ballpark fuel level and its sorta a pain in the arse to climb up on the rig to look down in there and guess how much fuel I have.

I'll post up some pics when i get it done..

What do you guys use to seal the filler neck back on to the cell, i've tried a few different things without great success, i know i'll need to pull it off for this little project..
 
rockwhore said:
what if you placed your bottom fitting on the bottom of the cell, or turned the bottom fitting on its side?
thinking about doing this upgrade also

Even at the very bottom of the cell the fittings stick way up, Sideways would work good if you could find tubing flexible enough, the stuff i used was really stiff seemed has like it had a glassine liner in it (got it from mcmaster, it's listed in the pirate thread)
 
Yeah I thought about putting the bottom bulkhead on the bottom of the cell and using a 180 fitting so you can see fuel a bit lower but then If i'm that low on fuel I need to be finding some more. The way mines mounted in this rig it wouldn't work well, but if you've got the room for it i'd say go for it.

I've been pricing out the fittings and it looks like the cheapest way to go is 90 deg bulkheads like this http://www.ebay.com/itm/PRE-60633BLK-6-Male-Male-90-Degree-Bulkhead-Fitting-Nut-Black-USA-/260933997593?pt=Race_Car_Parts&vxp=mtr&hash=item3cc0e0d419 (btw that seller on ebay has been great on pricing and service, even called me when I ordered some oddball stuff to make sure i was getting what i needed) Looks like a $50 project by the time you buy the tubing from mcmaster or similar.
 
Hate to sidetrack/hijack,

but I have a leaking bulkhead fitting on a plastic cell, I need to know what part of the fitting is mesured to determine dash size? -6, -8, etc. It my just need the teflon or poly washers, but i dont know what size they are.

Im just not used to working with these fittings, and I need to order one as I was also thinking of making a sight tube.
 
The fittings are sized by the inside diameter of the fitting or hose it fits. the dash number refers to the number of 1/16'ths in the ID so a -3 is 3/16 ID -4 is 1/4 ID and -6 is 3/8 and so on... hope that helps
 
So I added a sight tube this weekend.. used the tygon tubing from mcmaster and -6 fittings. All together about $50 in parts. I could have used smaller fittings and tube to save a few bucks but I couldn't find teflont washers for smaller fittings and I didn't feel like making them.

5A7D8EB5-F47C-4076-802B-F9E7256D162F-9019-00000B39BFEB6F01_zpsfda351a8.jpg
 

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