Job done.......almost. Hole cut Out with the old, in with the new. It does stand a little high, but hopefully it won't dig in our backs too much in the night. Might actually keep Mrs M from rolling over my side ;D Just got to get some M4 nuts and bolts to fix it, and a bit of silicone for sealing. Before taking out the old sender, I connected the wires to the new one, and with it laying on a piece of wood to keep it away from the body, I turned on the ignition. When operating the float by hand the gauge on the dash went from empty to full, then back to empty. Perfect. After fitting into the tank I tried it again. It showed just under half a tank. I have only done about 60 miles since filling the tank. But I am parked on a slight forward slope, although with the shape of the tank I wouldn't have thought a downward slope would make that much difference. Guess I will have to take the newly purchased cover back off and try it on the road :- One other thing. I found this in the bottom of the tank. Anyone know what it is?
I have an inspection hatch like that on my sailing dinghy. Doesn't really fit too well with the floor profile does it? Anyway you could cut out the highs to the outer size and let it in a bit?
look what I've made a new one of :....... the old one has been removed from the cargo floor all exept for a thin strip at the back where I am going to weld a bit more onto the cargo floor. I'm going to make the hole the same size as it was before ....but this time moved forward ;D
eventually I decided to welded back a strip of the load floor for the fuel sender hatch made a new landing plate for the hatch and a new hatch and welded it all back in, theres a little surface rust as it spent most of the winter witout any paint : :-[ but the hatch is now a better fit and should look great one it has a coat of body coloured paint Once the bus has been painted I'm going to make a thin gasket probably from some gasket paper as I dont want it making the hatch sit too high. As Im changing all the fuel hoses and tank breathers I dont think there will be a problem from fumes .........If your going to copy me, make sure you cut it in the right place first time ;D ;D and a big thanks to lhu1281 for the original idea and sorting me out some off cuts to repair the mess I made on the first attempt ;D
When I worked as a metal window and door engineer we used to draught seal Crittal (steel) windows in council houses with silicon sealant. Either apply vasoline or a shiney low-tack tape to the side you don't want it to stick and any other areas to protect from "squidge out". Apply silicon sealant and close. Leave 24 hrs Open, trim off excess. Might be neater than a bit of cardboard. Silicon
@Diddymen can you tell me what the dimension of the hatch panel itself please, just so I know how much spare panel I need cheers....
I don't think it is particularly important size wise, just as long as its big enough to get your hand through I'll measure later on if I get the chance
Nice idea, but for me its too complicated and welding if the tank is in place must be a risk. Mine is much simpler, cut out a rectangle as you did. Drilled 6 holes in the cut out piece, made an air tight gasket seal and used self tapping screws to secure the lid. It works for me, I like simplicity and its simple to remove the hatch, which is not going to be often is it. Cost pennies.
Could you use a metal hole saw, drill a hole in a piece of ply fix the ply in position with 2 self tappers, hole in ply at cutout position. Use the hole saw without the pilot drill as the ply will keep it centred. Drill out the hole. Collect circular cut out. Use 2 self tappers in the holes to fix a length of flat bar to span the hole. File cut out and fix back with self tapper in the centre. Apply sealant around the hole. I’m more comfortable drilling big holes with hole saws than using grinders. My fuel only ever shows quarter full so just thinking ahead!!
