[Richard]

It’s always a neat concept on how to incorporate newer and better technology into our rigs. I do not want to come across as Debbie Downer, but there a couple of things to consider here and a few additional inputs given my recent replacement of the fuel sender unit.

The newer technology senders require more than one wire to the gauge. Our existing setups are two wire, but one of the wires is ground and is attached to the frame near the sender. The point is that running additional wire from the fuel tank to the cockpit would be required. Then of course, you have to have a gauge that is compatible with the new sender. All of these are achievable, but work and cost involved in pulling this off.

The big issue with the existing sender is it’s antiquated design. The float rides on two thin wires, which change the resistance of the sender as the float moves up and down. They all eventually fail. VDO no longer makes this style sender. Instead they have replaced the sender with technology that has a number of discrete magnetically triggered reed switches. Those switches have different resistance as the float moves up and down the tube.

If you source this sender from VDO you still have the challenge of how to get it into the tank without bending it and rendering it inoperable. I have down this and it’s really a challenge even with removing the door mounting frame. The hole in the tank is ALMOST big enough to pull this off.

There is a company in Florida, KUS that makes a very similar sender except the float is on the outside of the tube, making the tube much smaller in diameter. Small enough to make the almost hole large enough to permit replacement with the tank in place.  https://kus-usa.com/product/sss-ssl-send...W8QAvD_BwE    This is just a pic to illustrate the sender. If you decide to go this way, you will need to specify to KUS both the length and resistance required. This is going to be unique to each fuel tank  AND the gauge style Newell chose.

Again, I am not trying to discourage anyone from adopting the new technology, just making you aware of alternate tech to solving the problem of inaccurate fuel readings.