Hmmm... I have to do something about my sender too because my new tank got a new sender too.
What are 59 passenger car resistance values for stock sender?
The new sender might be 240-33ohms.


Hyvinkää, FI

From what I have come to understand: The sender and gauge must be a match. My stock '55 Thunderbird gauge requires ? ohms,  I'm still trying to figure out the stock King-Seeley unit. Found Tanks Inc. 5556 FS which says "Floating Ohm range can be used with original 1955-56 gauges," doesn't mention 6v or 12v requirement, it fits the early Ford 6 bolt pattern. Here's info from Hills catalog: 

Thunderbirds: 55 Fuel Gauge has 11-12 ohms resistance.56 has38-40 ohms resistance & 57 has 13-14 ohm resistance. Measured from Terminalto Terminal.

I am considering adding an AutoMeter gauge which requires 240/33 Ω.

If I use this gauge: https://www.autometer.com/3-3-8-quad-gauge-designer-black.html

I will use this sender: https://www.autometer.com/universal-fuel-level-sender-240-e-33-f.html

with this adapter: https://www.autometer.com/fuel-level-sender-adapter.html

All in all: Thanks to this group no matter which way I go my gauge will work. THANKS!

.150 Stroked Y-Block:327.25 ci @ >1hp per ci

As I understand the King-Seeley, the sender is a contact and heater when the tank is full the contact spends more time closed than open and when the tank is empty the contact spends more time open than closed.

This open/close operation determines how much the heater in the dash gauge heats the Bi-metal spring that is connected to the gauge needle. When bimetal is hot the gauge reads full, when cold it reads empty.   Thats why the gauge settles on E when the key is off (cold Bi-metal)

I guess a pure variable resistance sender could work if it allows the proper current flow at the right levels but I have not seen anyone claim they got 1 that actuality works

I am going to have to pull my sender over the winter cause it went from intermittent at times to mostly dead all the time.
It.s a weird setup but it worked well for years and as mine is a 1 year orphan (56 fairlane) I would like to fix it as there no NOS around

I'm posting this link because a "'56 Fairlane" owner gives this sender 5 stars. Tanks Inc. lists this for 55-56 Fords and makes mention of specific to these two years.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/tnk-556fs

http://www.tanksinc.com/index.cfm/page/ptype=product/product_id=266/category_id=181/mode=prod/prd266.htm








.150 Stroked Y-Block:327.25 ci @ >1hp per ci

Brent

Thank you, I looked at the Summit reviews and it looks like 6 people out of 8 installed the sender and say it works so I ordered 1 and will post back ans do Summit feed back when I install it. 

They do make a note that it is special and only works with 55 and 56 stock gauges so they seem to understand the difference

Please check the ohms if you can, I'm wondering if the sensor that I recently tested matches.




.150 Stroked Y-Block:327.25 ci @ >1hp per ci

Brent

Will ohm it out as soon as it gets here, Looks like a job for the old Simson 260. I will back up the readings with a Fluke digital


Will be a while before I get to install but I will try to wire it in and play for a while

Will report back

In theory, if I add 105ohm resistor in parallel with aftermarket sender unit, I get 73/25ohm sender and original is 73/10ohms

... in theory.


Hyvinkää, FI

Brent,

Reply to your Pix posting: That looks to me as being an original as far as i can tell from the photos.

You should be reading some relatively low resistance between the mounting flange (make sure that it's shiny-clean where you attach the meter probe - oxidized/corroded tin or zinc plating [as original] is a good insulator and will not give good probe contact) and the gauge lead hookup (clean this also as corrosion here has the same insulating effect).  This also points-out that a poor connection (loose, corroded, etc.) between the gauge lead and/or flange-to-tank, and/or tank-to-frame ground can cause all kinds of issues with these circuits. Any time that i re-do connections these days, I use an electrically-conductive anti-corrosion grease called "No-Ox" (or equivalent); this helps prevent future circuit issues.

If  you still do not get some relatively low resistance reading (~10 -- 100 ohms????) and it reads "open" (infinite resistance), then the sender internals are likely "fried" (heating coil burned "open" and/or contact points corroded/"fried"), and the unit is unusable (you may as well open it up to see what's in there for your own curiosity if interested).  I have opened-up the similar temperature sending unit, cleaned points, calibrated, and put back together - works fine; but, it's really "picky" and difficult to do.

Edit: That ? thing connected to the sender is a capacitor (condenser) used to quelch sender points electrical "noise" to help prevent interference with the original AM radio. It's not necessary for gauge operation, though. If you don't use an AM radio, you don't need it.

Good luck - I'd like to hear from your results, if any.

Regards, JLB

55 Ford Crown Victoria Steel Top

LordMrFord,

Your theory doesn't quite work the way that you think that it may - it's probably too complicated to go into here; but, don't expect your proposal to work correctly.

Regards, JLB

55 Ford Crown Victoria Steel Top