Round dowel rod will work fine. Needs to sneak around the fuel return line that points up at the base of the filler neck.

You should be careful when using the dowel rod. Make sure it misses the fuel return line that is at the bottom of the filler neck.

What "other problems" are you suggesting?

This is not my plane, the owner set the plane up with the prop pitch he has because he mostly flies solo. That puts his gross weight with a full tank at about 1060 lbs on a full tank, if that makes any difference.

He usually cruises at 21-22" of manifold pressure and 105-110kts IAS 2500 - 7500 ft ASL, a little faster and in the yellow, if the air is glassy and smooth.

As Scott said, the prop is over-pitched. Full throttle in level flight should easily red line at 5500+ RPM. When pitched correctly ~ 115 kts at 5400 PRM is the norm with throttle pulled about about 1".

Over-pitch can cause serious detriment to the engine - detonation, high heat/wear, not to mention < TBO.

Search forum for setting prop pitch...

And slower cruise speed, and higher fuel consumption...

We will be flying to Copper State Fly In, this weekend. I should have a GoPro Hero 7 Black set up to video what the gauges are showing, so that I can more closely know and speak factually about observations on fuel usage, rpm and IAS readings.

Bob seems to think when he set the props that he would see 5500 rpm at level flight, but doesn't remember the IAS obtained in level flight, or the elevation of flight ASL. About 130 hours now on the Hobbs. He does remember a longer trip from So CA to Oregon and back, and average fuel consumption worked out to 4.9 gallons per hour for the whole trip. No idea how fast he was flying, then.

I guess I don’t understand why so much concern about exact fuel gage readings, or for that matter, differences in fuel burn rates. The gages we have… Moeller, digital EMS, and old sight gage on the side of the tank – all are very accurate at low fuel levels where it counts most. So if you’re burning 4.5, or 5, or 5.5 GPH you still need to plan and maintain sufficient fuel reserve.

I count my blessings that our fuel gages are far more accurate than wing root float gages in and old Cessna or electric analog gages in a Piper.

Jim,

My experience is that the sensor float travel does not span the entire height of the tank, so if you bend the float wire to bottom out at the tank bottom I agree with your statement of accuracy at the low end, but if a builder does not do that the indicated level will not be accurate at low level. My float reaches the upper limit of travel at 17 gallons, but is very accurate below 6 gallons. I usually have to fly about an hour on a full tank before the indicated level drops to 16 gallons.

Rich

My resistive float gauge reads 14 gallons until the level dips below that. It's accurate down to very low levels. The Moeller is useful while filling the tank and double-checking during preflight. I can't see it while flying. The D180 generally knows how much I have left, but it's a little pessimistic -- which I like.

What is the old saying? A man with two watches is never sure what time it is, right? I have three fuel gauges. But if I'm worried about whether I have X gallons or X.5 gallons, I've done something really wrong.

Dale

Why can't you see the Moeller gage in flight? A glance over your right shoulder should be all that's necessary.