•Ben Owen-

FUEL SYSTEM HINTS AND TIPS Cavalier Mishap

Getting That Last Drop of Fuel By Roy Clemens EAA Chapter 433 "Slipstream" While talking to Larry Burton of Klamath Falls, OR about his fuel tanks in his Cavalier and the fuel pick up problems long tanks cause, I discovered he had cured the problem. I had thought of the cure for some time and had come up with the same conclusion he did, however, I hadn't got around to building the hardware until recently. Larry has had this in his tank for several years and claims he can drain them down to the last quart regardless of the attitude of flight. As this idea may be of use to the other members in other types of aircraft, here is how he did it. Take an AN834-6D T-flared bulkhead fitting, bore or ream the cross head passage so a 5/16" steel ball bearing will roll freely back and forth inside. Install this in the tank with ball bearing inside, pipe the forward pointing end to the rear of the tank finishing off with a neoprene tube and a finer screen. Pipe the rear pointing end of the T to the front end of the tank using the same type of hardware. The ball bearing will roll forward and back as the attitude of the aircraft is changed, sealing the tube off to the high end of the tank. The seal is made between the ball and the

On takeoff, at about 50 to 100 feet up, the engine sputtered, caught and then quit completely. The pilot turned the aircraft back to the runway, stalled and collided with the ground. An accident investigation included engine tear down. There was no mechanical reason for the engine to quit. There was a small amount of fuel in the carburetor but the inspector did not believe there was enough to make the engine run. There was no engine driven pump installed and the electrically driven fuel pump was in the off position. The strong recommendation of the inspector and the engine manufacturer was that an engine driven fuel pump be used, backed up with an electrically driven fuel pump (turned to the on position for takeoff). This recommendation would be extended to all amateur built low wing aircraft with the fuel tanks located in the wings. (The above information was provided by the FAA.)

Fiberglass Fuel Tank Static Grounding Cloth Development Conventional plastics and fiberglass are poor conductors. There is a new item which is an electrically conductive "fiberglass" type reinforcement material. When used as the last item inside the fuel tank, it helps "wick off" the static charge from gasoline movement within a fiberglass tank. It provides an effective grounding source for otherwise ungrounded fiberglass tanks. The average homebuilt fiberglass tank builder would find fuel tank static protection much better using this material. The company who perfected this is Lundy Technical Center, Division of Lundy Electronics and Systems, Inc., 3901 NE 12th Ave., Pompano Beach, FL 33064, telephone 305/943-1500. They recently received an award presented by the Industrial Research and Development magazine for development of the material. The material is called RoMHOglas(tm) conductive mat. This is a nonwoven fabric mat composed of a dense interesting network of very fine aluminum coated glass fibers.

flanged tube which has a smaller bore

than the bored out T.

SPORT AVIATION 61