Guys,
The Sebring light sport expo gave me an opportunity to talk to Dean Vogel a
nd other vendors. Not much new yet from the vendors, but Dean from Lockwoo
d Aviation and I had a chance to catch up.
The 912iS has been having issues with cooling on the ground. It seems it i
s programmed to be lean at all times. On a recent prop balancing exercise,
I found we could only run the 912iS to full power for a minute at a time,
then had to be shut down, as it would quickly run up to 275F and after red
ucing the power to idle was reluctant to drop the CHT. The Pipistrel owner
installed a fan on his radiator and Dean said they did the same on their A
irCam but getting to the end of the runway was always a challenge. Climbs
were tough also, as max continuous could not be maintained. Cruise is outs
tanding as fuel flows are in the 4.5 GPH range with the engine just able to
maintain 240F. Oil cooling is also a bit of a challenge, as a larger oil
cooler is necessary in the climb.
912/914: I recently installed the nitrile float bowl gaskets made by Wahoo
Products in Tennessee, for the Bing carb users.
I bought them from the manufacturer rather than ebay. These gaskets are qu
ite good. Anybody need paper gaskets?
DO NOT OVERTORQUE THE FLOAT BOWL WITH NITRILE GASKETS!
Those of us who have the older 914s, we used to have to soak the paper gask
ets, torque them, then 24 hours later, torque again and safety wire. After
a few weeks of sitting, the paper gaskets would shrink some more and a re-
soak and re-torqued was required. Dean Vogel and I discussed carb bowl tor
que of the 914 with these nitrile gaskets: Install the bowl on the carb, u
se just the nut with its O ring/washer (new carb vs old) and pull down to j
ust snug. Do not torque to 5.5 N (49 in lbs). If you need a number, use h
alf that. You are done. Leak check as normal, but I have been amazed how
well they seal over time. These nitrile gaskets are reusable so there is
no excuse not to pull the bowl and check it on an annual, or more often if
using ethanol. And finally, there is less of a chance of bending the float
pins.
On the subject of floats, I have found another float set that didn=92t pass
the weight test. EGT was 200 degrees higher on the left and fuel flow was
.4 GPH higher than new. Sure enough, the floats weighed in about .4 grams
heavier than spec.
New floats solved the problem.
Regards,
Bud Yerly
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