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Good afternoon all.
The engine on my Coupe was running rough and dirt contamination was suspected by
John Wright and myself. The tanks were clean so I removed the carb and the "new
and improved" gascolator ( you know, the one where the approved braces don't fit
without modification ). Upon tipping the carb and gascolator on its side a nasty
concoction of what appeared to be muddy water came out. Well, that told me we
were on the Wright track, so I took everything apart. I expected to find dirt
under the needle because sometimes if I left the header tank on, it would drain
before the next days flying, and it was coming right out of the carb. I took the
carb apart and found a good deal of very fine brown powder throughout the bowl
and all the jets, it is a Stromberg. I made a special large screwdriver from an
old wide chisel and that worked fine to remove the main jet, add another
specialty tool to my collection. Then I took the gascolator apart, it was not
pretty. When I mounted my gascolator I mounted it vertically after checking with
a couple of other Coupers and reading all the stuff on it. This left the drain
higher than the bottom of the gascolator, I know, I know--It sure does not look
that way from the outside but it is. The brown powder was corrosion caused by
water sitting in the gascolator which could not be drained out. I would estimate
it to be about a tablespoon in volume. The inside of the gascolator was pitted
from corrosion, this is in less than a year, it was this corrosion which was
causing the needle not to seat properly and the engine to run rough. I have
reassembled everything and put it back on the engine, however I made one change,
I mounted the gascolator at an angle so the drain is vertical and at the lowest
point in the system. I strongly urge those of you who mounted the gascolator
vertically, as I did, to remove it and the carb and clean the whole assembly. I
get all my fuel from the fuel truck which has two filters and I drain some fuel
from the wing tanks before every flight, but this apparrently is not enough. I
always leave my Coupe with mains 2 inches down and the nose full to cut back on
condensation as much as possible.
Here is the sobering part of this whole mess, It is my guess that within a
couple of years the corrosion would have developed far enough to completely
penetrate the gascolator wall and then fuel starvation or and in flight fire
would result. Not a pretty sight, take a look at your system folks, I don't want
to read about you in Folded Wings. Pete
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