It's Alive.... Exhaust Temp and Fuel Gauge Question

After 7 years of sitting on jack stands it finally moved today. I installed Cape Conversion HEI, rear gas tank, rebuilt the tcase, and new seals in the tranny. I was disappointed to see the D18 still leaks!

So after the installation of the HEI I got the timing set as well as I know how. The engine temp is around 180 but using a infrared thermometer I checked the temperature of each port on the exhaust manifold..... The passenger side is ~50 cooler than the drivers side. Could that be right?

I pulled the spark plug on each of the 6 cylinders and I can't say it really made that much of a difference.

Should I check spark on each of the cylinders? Why would the temperature of each exhaust port vary so much?

The autometer fuel gauge shows 3/4 full when it actually is only 1/3 full.... It is a new sending unit but an old gauge... are the gauges adjustable???

As always, thanks for the input.

Buick 225 Oddfire V6
T14 Tranny
D18 TCase

 

Thanks for the reply patrick.... I have not messed with the carb since my knowledge of adjustment is limited. Is there a "reset" or starting point for the screw adjustment? for example 1 turn open?

Thanks

 

Thanks Patrick I will give those settings a try.

As far as the fuel gauge goes I found the following on another site. I will have to figure out what autometer I have. I should have tested this before putting the sending unit in the tank and mounting the tank. I think I can add the appropriate resistors in-line to adjust the gauge to work correctly with the sending unit. As of now I have ~5 gallons in the tank and it shows full on a 15 gallon tank.

Jeep CJ sender:
Resistance Reading
73 ohms Empty
23 ohms 1/2 tank
10 ohms Full

 

These readings are for the Stewart Warner gauge and sender combo. You may be able to go to radio shack and get a variable resistor (adjustable) (also called potentiometer) (small one) that reads 0-150 or so and put it in series (straight in-line) and see what you can adjust it to. As far as I know, the autometer gauge is non-adjustable.

 

Walt, Using a pot is a great idea... I have tons of resistors laying around from when I used to work in car audio back in my college days.

The pot will make it easier to fine tune it. If I can't get it to work with the resistors in a few tries I will give the pot a try.

Thanks for the idea!!!

 

I've read here before that with an odd-fire if your distributor is 180 degrees off, one of the exhaust manifolds is much cooler than the other. Might check that.

 

You can use the pot to find the value that you need. Then replace it with a fixed resistor.

Realize that you can put resistance in series and/or in parallel with the sender. One will increase the total resistance, and the other will reduce it. No guarantee that you can make it perfect, but you should be able to get an accurate full indication. You may not be able to get the ideal spec at both ends of the gauge scale (ie both empty and full).

 

Congrads on getting your rig going - seven years is a long time to wait.

My T-case also leaked after the rebuild.

I've never checked the temps on my exhaust manifold - I would have thought that 50 degrees difference would be too much but I think Patrick has enough experience to say it's not a big deal. Does the engine have good power? If so then don't worry too much now. Drive it for awhile and work on it as you have time.

If it's not running good then look at your carb/timing/and HEI more.

GL

 

I see from your photo that you have high-back bucket seats. What are they out of, how do they fit and could you please supply a better picture?
Thank you.

 

Thanks all for the information and words of encouragement!

7 years is a long time to wait to drive the jeep again; life got in the way. I got the jeep while in school and had little money to work on it. They I graduated got a new job, had back surgery, got married, moved into a new house, and all kinds of other things that just pushed the jeep to the back burner. It finally came down to getting it back on the road or selling it, and I wasn't ready to give it up.

AKCJ, The engine seems to have enough power but I have not gotten it over 20 mph because it is not yet safe for the highway (pulls hard left when braking).... and I don't have tags on it. The plan is to try and do a EFI swap on it. I have an old analog projection that has been sitting in a box for many years, but I want to make sure everything is running before I start to do that installation so I can blame the EFI if it doesn't work.

The HEI is getting 12v when it is running and 14v when the engine is above idle. I need to change the plugs and wires (although new 7 years ago) they may be a problem now. I adjusted the idle screws and it caused the engine not to stay running until I opened them 2.5 turns. I would not be surprised if there is a carb issue as well.

I got all the gauges working last night (with the exception of the fuel) so I can keep a close eye on oil pressure and temp. So far the temp is steady at ~180.

Thanks again!

 

The seats are from an older jeep cherokee I will try to get some pics later.

 

Thanks timgr... I need to pull the gauge and find the model number, but I did find this below that should be helpful; if I have model 2316.

 

Thanks for the idea to use a variable resistor. It would have been FAR easier to do all of this before mounting the tank but I made the mistake of assuming the gauge in the jeep would work with the later model cj sender.



***** VIDEO ON YOUTUBE *****

Here is how I wired the trimmerpot....


Back of the gauge....


I placed the pot in a location that I can access it easily. Once I figure out the best setting I will replace it with resistors.

 

Just an update for anyone that looks back at this thread in the future.

The fuel guage accuracy is way off even with the variable resistor. I was trying to avoid dropping the tank but that is what I will need to do to adjust the fuel gauge. Or I may just buy a new gauge that will work with the sending unit.

 

From my experience, the aftermarket sending units are of low quality. When I resealed the tank on my CJ-6, it had a sunk float. So I bought a new sending unit. Turns out it was defective, so I used parts from the new sender (seal, lead, float) on the old sender, because it gave me an accurate reading... and the new sender did not.

Maybe the senders from MTS are better ... they look only slightly different from the ones Omix-Ada ones the Jeep retailers all have.

large image: http://www.mtscompany.com/images/sendingunits/cjsu-1.jpg