I need to make a new float for the gas tank sender on my dad's 1923 Franklin. Any ideas for local sources of cork? How about a synthetic replacement?

Steve; google for "cork" or cork suppliers. There you will find a couple of mailorder suppliers with cork stock ranging in thickness from 1/8 inch, up to three or four inches in thickness. Some of the cork material listed by these suppliers is also in block form such as 2x3x5. Good luck;
regards; jerry janson

McMaster-Carr, your one stop shopping center for old car restoration.

Steve , What size do you need? I have plenty of cork left over from my recent purchase. I will be glad to cut you off some.

Steve,
Harold Sharon suggested using wine corks glued together with superglue. Cheap and fun to make.

And fun getting the corks too...haha...B

I'll post some photos later, but the float slides up and down on a sort of a track, so the shape is important. There is a brass do-hickey wrapped around the float. It's too hard to describe without a photo.

Wine corks are very easy to find, I have an actual winery as my next-door neighbor

Actually it was Crazy Glue (cyanoacrylate glue) that Harold recommended. And, it works with modern gasolines. Just use a belt sander or grinding wheel to make flats on wine corks and glue tem together until you have enough cork to make what you need.

The mechanism you described will require a metal slot at each end of the float and one or two guide rods so the helical twist in the flat metal spindle will cause it to rotate the indicator.

Steve,
For cork materials, check the web site for McMaster-Carr.
Grandpa

Ok, here are some pictures. McMaster-Carr has tapered stoppers, which I guess I can cut to shape. This float is 1.5" in diameter and 1" tall.

Steve,
I think that the cork stoppers offered by McMaster-Carr will solve your cork material problem. McMaster-Carr does not have a minimum order size.

You can also purchase 4"x8"x3" cork blocks (for floats) from the Restoration Supply Company (RSC) in Escondido, CA. Visit: http://www.restorationstuff.com/

The floats that I have replaced were coated with (as I recall) vanish to seal them.
Grandpa

Thanks Grandpa,

I didn't think of Restoration Supply. I've dealt with them in the recent past, and they are great. They have all sorts of neat stuff.

Steve,
Here are some photos to encourage you to drink some wine and make up the cork you need.

The cork aside.....That is an interesting design to the Franklin sending unit. How does it work???

It's a mechanical thing with the gauge right on the tank. Very simple. There is also a reserve device built in. Harry, your series 11 should have had the same thing.

I'll post another photo tomorrow.

Steve:

I've been told that the varnish was not necessary, but used it anyway on both our '17 Franklin 9A Touring, and our '34 Buick when re-doing the gas tanks.

I found all kinds of cork at a local FISHING / Sporting goods shop, but had just bought some from our local ACE HARDWARE - even less expensive.

Does VFMA and Al Braverman make a connection?

Marty Roth
Aura Vincit

Thanks to Harry J, I got my cork. He saw this post and agreed to send me a block of cork free of charge. This is the greatest club!

Hopefully the '23 will be back on the road soon.

Hi Steve
If you buy a bottle of good Australian "Sparkling" wine. remove cork and having enjoyed the wine put the cork in your microwave oven for 15-30 seconds and you will find that its diameter expands remarkably. Watch and hit the stop button when it has reached the required size.
Believe me it works!

oldcar

They sell all sizes of corks in my local hardware store. Check there. It may be that simple. Might be able to find them in Home Depot or Lowes, who knows. A hobby shop or a craft store like Michels may have them too.
Dave

There are some craft stores or places like Pier One that sell a wide mouth potpourri jar with a big fat cork in it that can be trimmed down and shellacked.