| Author | Message | ||
     Bill Copeland |
Rick: I suggest you don't spend energy worrying about the "clamshell" leading edges. I have heard of builders with the described problem but have never talked to one of them directly. There are at least 35 to 40 Expresses operating with those wings with no problems at all. In regard to opening up the bottom of your wing(s) at the baffle rib to install a "flapper" or cut a hole through the rib, it's really no big deal to cut out the bottom skin, do whatever you need to do and close the hole using accepted patch methods. Just make certain that the hole you cut is large enough to allow you to fininsh your work comfortably. You should probably center the hole on the rib - which is easily located by reverse engineering the construction docs. Bill C | ||
| Paul Fagerstrom (Paul) |
Rick, I echo Bills sentiments, don’t worry about the clamshell wing. But I believe the number of planes are more like 55-60 with many more builders still to come and they are using the same clamshell wing style. An inspection plate into the tank may be beneficial down the road. Or you can cover the patch and never see it, that is one of the benefits of composite construction. | ||
| Rick Spriggle (Rspriggle) |
I was thinking of the new EAC fuel plates that Tom had mentioned and posted pictures of a few weeks ago. That would let me get in there and remove the probably now rusty finger strainers. It doesn't appear that either wing has return lines either so I could use the outer tank feed line as the return. Any suggestions for fuel level senders? Don't know if I can get a 96 incher through the closed wing at this point in the game. Rick | ||
| John Harlow (Jharlow) |
I have been flying with the 4 tanks setup for close to 2 yrs now and love the utility. I'm using a Lyc engine so no return line is reqd. My fuel level senders are only installed on the inner tanks since the outer tanks are for long trips and I time the usage in that case. With the VMS monitor system it is easy to figure fuel usage. Another plus to 4 tanks is the ability to control roll balance by burning off a portion in an outer tank. You are less effected on roll balance with the inner tanks. Just another opinion John | ||
| John Hobson |
Bill, Thanks for the comments on connecting tanks together. I felt the uneven feeding problem was something that I might be able to overcome by installing a separate equalizing line, but I have to admit I had never thought of the overflow problem. I guess I will have to complicate things with a 4 way valve. Do you, or anyone else see any reason why the header tank should not work for the return fuel on a Continental IO360. It certainly simplifies things. | ||
| Jerry Sjostrand |
John: I'm sure you will hear from others, but "do not use a header tank" for your fuel return. The IO360 (which I have) returns about 23% of the fuel to a tank when the engine is running. You could get into big trouble if you were not very carefull about fuel management with a "header tank". I do not understand the problem some of you are having about return lines into the tank being drawn from. It is the only way to do the job. One of the considerations for the return fuel is to put it into at least the second outer bay so the "air" or "foaming" is not picked up by the main fuel pick up point at the inner rib. Fuel vaporization is a potential problem and must be dealt with. We were warned regarding this when using the Continental engine and return fuel system. If anyone else can shed some light on this subject, it would be nice to "put it to bed" so the TCM builders can get on with other (problems?). How about it Benny, Henri (Walser) and others. Cheers. Jerry Sjostrand | ||
| Rick Spriggle (Rspriggle) |
I now have my other set of wings at my house. Warning!!! Be prepared for an onslaught of pictures and questions in the next few weeks! :-) Rick | ||
| Steve Bussey |
I converted my 4 tank configuration to 2 tanks, and plan to use the existing fuel line from the outboard tank for my fuel return line. It is not hard to cut into the wing near the rib separating the two tanks and then cut some baffle holes in the rib to join the two tanks together. Then I patched the outside skin. I have purchased the andair valve that will switch the return line along with the fuel line. I also put a plug on the vent line for the inboard tank, figuring that it might be below the fuel level much of the time. The vent for the outboard tank is still open. While I was at it, I also patched the drain plug in the lower skin for the outboard tank, and installed a sampler plug on the inboard tank drain, instead of using the one on the inboard rib. | ||
| henri walser (43henri) |
Hello Rick, when I ordering my Conti IO-360, the answer of Continental was around a return of 1-2 gal/hr. with the expirence of Paul 10gal/hr or more , go to the web side of Andair www.andair.co.uk now the are selling an Duplex fuel selector FS 25-25-D2, the same selector that Cirrus installed on the new certifed Aircraft, and wy You used the outboard Fuelline as a return and modified the wing for 2 tanksystem. Sorry for the bad idee. Henry | ||
| Gary Markwardt |
Rick: All I can add is that when I built my Express with the TCM IO-550 I returned the fuel to the same tank(2 tank configuration)because of the experience on the Express demonstrator. I used the Andair valve I mentioned above which switches both the feed & the return. It has a safety that prevents accidental rotation to the off position. It works great. I'd strongly recommend converting to 2 tanks & using the outboard tank feed for a return. Good luck. Gary |