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Float Wires

asw20c

Well Known Member
Hi All,
This weekend I will finally close-up the fuel tanks and be done with that miserable gorilla snot. But that's not why I'm writing. I was just curious whether everyone else had to do some serious "adjustments" to the float wire bends to get them to fit per the instructions. I was pretty proud of my initial bends, having made them almost exactly as the diagram indicates in the plans, but quickly found that that configuration doesn't come close to the clearance requirements inside the tank. To get full travel out of the fuel sender sweeper and 1/16" clearance top and bottom I had to significantly change the configuration of the float wires. Did y'all have to do the same? Just curious; I'm not changing anything since it is now just about perfect.
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I had to add a "v" to each one - even after shortening the second one a bit - to get the right fit. Lot's of trial and error but easier the second time around.
 
Post on 5/5/16 - RV14-Fuel Sender Float Wire Bends

I found the same issue and posted a diagram and notes re this on 5/5/16 Titled "RV14-Fuel Sender Float Wire Bends".
 
Take a coat hanger and use it to make “templates “ for your tank float wires. Better yet go to a lumber yard and see if you can find some softer more bendable wire for the template. We used to get a wire called “black” wire. It was used for fencing, holding concrete forms or holding the old car door on when vice grips would not do the job. Almost impossible to farm without black wire.
 
Take a coat hanger and use it to make ?templates ? for your tank float wires. Better yet go to a lumber yard and see if you can find some softer more bendable wire for the template. We used to get a wire called ?black? wire. It was used for fencing, holding concrete forms or holding the old car door on when vice grips would not do the job. Almost impossible to farm without black wire.

I pull the ground wire out of spare romex - nice and bendable. But didn't use it for floats.
 
I found the same issue and posted a diagram and notes re this on 5/5/16 Titled "RV14-Fuel Sender Float Wire Bends".

I remember reading this now that you point it out. Yup, looks like everyone has some issues with the float wire that require some fairly significant departure from the prescribed bends shown in the plans. I had my senders in and out of the tanks at least a dozen times each before I got everything right.
 
I, too, had to put an additional "V" bend in the middle, there's a thread around here somewhere with some pics on how I did it. Like others, it probably took me 10-15 times fitting and adjusting.
 
Bend Lengths Wrong

You're not alone. Spent hours on these #!*% things (QB Wings). Had to order replacement wires. Vans dwg. dimensions swing the floats right into the rib on opposite side of sender base. Search this folder for another builder's "corrected" dwg. and bend lengths. Also, it will be much easier to see what's going on before you close the tank. Good luck!
 
It's a real dichotomy isn't it? I've been building for a year and a half and I'm still stunned every time I see how well holes and edges line up on the parts that Vans fabricates. By contrast, the fiberglass tips, and these float wires don't fit at all and require hours of finessing and dozens of iterations. I think we 14-builders have been spoiled by such a well made kit because things like this, the float wires, are what builders of earlier kits, and kits by other manufacturers have to deal with as a normal course of business. I try to keep that in perspective but it's hard not to be aggravated when everything else usually goes so smoothly. Now that I think about it some more, every step in the build so far where something didn't fit right it was a part supplied by someone other than Vans: One of the wiring harnesses in the fuselage was too short, HS fiberglass tip that was delaminating upon arrival (plus none of them fit), and now the fuel sender sub kit. I think I see a pattern here...
 
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