Met Waynestiles again today and....

[JeepBountyHunter]

Wayne showed up at the house today, and was driving his GW...he did a great job putting the TAd rack on and having the engine put in he got from me...sounds great!

Anyways we were talking away about Jeeps of course and the thought got pushed out there about how there must not be a baffle in our large plastic coffin gas tanks...hence going up and down hills the gas guage needle swaying back and forth...

I have a few around here, so I dissected one today..

Nope no baffle...so if anyone was curious about the inside of a tank...oh..and sorry I forgot to even think about getting pic's of Wayne and his Jeep....

[Geeeep]

Good to know/see. My gauge was going up an down a 1/4 tank today. I need to do some experimenting to see which is accurate.

[waynestiles]

'twas really nice visiting with Aaron again, (and picking up a few more goodies---guys he really needs help cleaning that garage out so he can get to his own projects-- ). I figured that there weren't any baffles moulded in and without them that long narrow coffin of a tank would slosh like hell explaining the wildly fluxuating needles at less than a full tank. Aaron said he'd slice one of his bunged up ones open and see. i imagine thay are relatively consistant based on vehicle position and motion. I know that if I refill mine when the needle is on the 1/2 mark--when setting level and in park it takes about 7 gal to fill. at about the 150/160 mile mark consuption wise. however it'll run nearly 100 miles before the needle moves off the full peg. I've never run it down past the 3/4 consumed mark where it takes 11/12 to fill.

We made the wing tanks for the RV-7 airlplane I'm working on down in TN and there are all sorts of pierced and slotted baffles in each tank. I've pondered building an aluminum one for a GW--sometime/someday when I've got nothing else to do--and putting baffles in. It'd be basically just a big aluminum box made of flat skins material carefully bent on a break to get good overlaps at all corners and seams, then carefully rivited together (like the rest of the plane) and then sealed. Probably way more trouble than its worth though, easier to just get used to a fuel needle acting like BoJangles Robinson most of the time.

Had a loooong day with the GW. 440 miles by the time I got home. running hot-----really hot, just short of the redzone when pulling the camper for the last 60 of the trip. I just picked up a new 180 degree thermostat and a new rad cap at the NAPA store and will put them on in a little bit.
Aaron didn't have an extra of the one part I really need though. A fan shroud. Somehow a PO lost the original.
I've got a call into BJ's eastern number and will try the westcoast one when they open. Are there any other sources? I really need to be able to call an order in somewhere and get it shipped out Priority Mail--hopefully yet today.
I'm leaving on another trip Monday morning and it'll be a good 1500 miles. A lot of it will be down in TN and I really do need to get some of the temp issues solved before I head down there.
Fortunately I'm NOT dragging that aero-brake of a camper. On the way home yesterday evening I had to stop twice to let the engine cool down

[JeepBountyHunter]

Sorry to hear your heating issues, sounds like you have the right solution...with getting a fan shroud and going to the 180 degree thermostat...
They also make a coolant that is cooler to run I've heard???

Good luck.
Aaron

[waynestiles]

I picked up some "water wetter" today when I got the stuff to do the flush'n fill. I imagine its some sort of surfectant (detergent) that will help water stay in contact with the metal surfaces a little bit better for more complete heat transfer. then again maybe its just snakeoil. Probably accomplish the same thing by adding a very few drops of Dawn liquid dishwashing detergent to the radiator.