Sunday, 5 June 2016

Fuel system makeover and engine rebuild.

Well its been a fair amount of work to get the plane back running again. I have been busy adapting the new Rotec tbi to the aircraft and doing a new fuel line system.  I have basically copied the fuel system off my other plane and fitted a one way valve and a fuel pump in parallel. Essentially it runs on gravity most of the time and the fuel pump can be used for takeoff and landing if desired and perhaps one day aerobatics.




There seems to be adequate clearance between my foot on the rudder pedals and all the components so hopefully all will be good. Obviously I still need to wire up the pump but I thankfully put all the wiring in place just in case long term I had to fit a pump. I honestly didn't think I would need to be fitting one at 1.4 hours but that's how it goes. 

I've had to make up all new controls, cable brackets and air cleaner spigots as well in the drawn out process of changing the carby over.  The new tbi also requires a primer so a 3rd cable was also required to be fitted to the aircraft. The controls were all ordered from Spruce and were here in a very short time after ordering. 



My dash looks a little like this now. Conventional throttle and mixture controls with an added 3rd cable for the primer. 





So it turns out I forgot to take photos of the brackets and spigot I had to make up to adapt this carb to the aerovee. You can see the TBI all fitted but the details of the brackets are a bit hard to see properly.   It all seems to work fine so a test flight I think won't be too far off.  I carried out a flight attitude gravity only fuel flow test after all the work was done just to be sure. Results were fine so not much to hold me back now. 

Let's hope this is the end of all the major issues and from now on it's all smooth sailing.  I'm really after that big grin after a successful flight. 









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