Fuel Petcock - Which length for a 1963 car

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MarioManzo
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Fuel Petcock - Which length for a 1963 car

#1 Post by MarioManzo »

Apologizing in advance for the use of a non-metric ruler and the "length" jokes that are about to come, but which length is correct for a 1963 car. Conversely, what's the purpose of the different lengths of the tube....and this isn't an anaomoly as I have several of both lengths.
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Wes Bender
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Re: Fuel Petcock - Which length for a 1963 car

#2 Post by Wes Bender »

Can't say which is correct for your car, but the different lengths determine just how much reserve fuel you have. Longer tube means you switch to reserve sooner.
Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints.....

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Greg Bryan
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Re: Fuel Petcock - Which length for a 1963 car

#3 Post by Greg Bryan »

Mario - is it possible that the bottom one has been repaired? Looks like braze on the pipes. As Wes said, the long tube draws on the 'normal' position and the shorter one on the reserve. I had a VW where the longer one rotted off at the bottom so it was shorter than the reserve! Not a good situation .... I mention this because water will collect in the lowest point, which is the area where there appears there might be a repair that resulted in the somewhat shorter long pipe.
Another thought, is the '62 bottom sender tank different in the shape of the tank in the petcock area requiring a different unit?
Greg Bryan

Erik Thomas
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Re: Fuel Petcock - Which length for a 1963 car

#4 Post by Erik Thomas »

I did encounter some of this when fitting an 80 liter fuel tank to my T-5 coupe. Because the larger tank is longer in the front, it requires a shorter reserve tube. Not sure if the short one shown in the picture above is short enough.

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