----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any advice in this forum.]----
KimYou have already received some good advice from the group. I would suggest you never trust the fuel gauge in the cockpit (if you have one) as they are notoriously inaccurate. I suggest you purchase a fuel calibration dip-stick from Sporty's or your favorite pilot shop. Buy the "universal" model as opposed to one already calibrated for a particular aircraft. Empty both wing tanks. Pump in exactly two gallons. Wait about 5 minutes for half of the fuel to flow to the opposite wing. Now, assuming you are on level ground, you should have one gallon in each wing. Dip the tank and mark on the dip-stick "2 gallons". Add another two gallons, wait 5 minutes, dip the tank and mark on the dip-stick "4 gallons". Keep doing this until the tanks are full. Now you will have a calibrated dip-stick and you will only need to dip one wing of your airplane at every preflight inspection. The dipstick is actually reading the total fuel in both wings with you only dipping one wing. You want to visually inspect the fuel in the other wing, anyway, just to make sure you can see the fuel. Hope that makes sense.
Regarding the radio: The radio will actually come "alive" at a voltage less than is necessary to transmit. If takes much less voltage to receive than to transmit. Therefore, if your battery was not charged to 12-plus volts, your receiver may work but your transmitter will be marginal. I don't know enough about generators and/or alternators to tell you how long it would take to charge the battery, sorry. I can tell you that generators need more engine RPM to get them going than do alternators.
Regarding shut-down: As you have been told already, if you have a Stromberg carb, the correct procedure for shutdown is with the ignition switch.
I have attached a word document with the checklist I use in my Coupe. You will want to modify it slightly for your airplane but it should be a good starting point. Always use a checklist.
If nothing else, you learned some stuff today about your Ercoupe. That's always a good thing.
Keep us posted.
Glen Davis CFII
Grumman Tiger N70GD
1946 Ercoupe N3103H
www.ishootpictures.com
551 358 2600
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Ercoupe Technical Discussion (moderated)" <[email protected]>
To: "Ercoupe Technical Discussion (moderated)" <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, December 04, 2006 3:00 AM Subject: Digest list: Ercoupe Technical Discussion (moderated)
----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any advice in this forum.]----Message list: 1. [COUPERS-TECH] no subject 2. [COUPERS-TECH] Fund For Jessica 3. RE: [COUPERS-TECH] Fund For Jessica 4. [COUPERS-TECH] Kim Blackseth's First Flight Lesson 5. Re: [COUPERS-TECH] Kim Blackseth's First Flight Lesson 6. RE: [COUPERS-TECH] Kim Blackseth's First Flight Lesson 7. [COUPERS-TECH] RE: Blackseth 8. [COUPERS-TECH] Cleveland Brake problem Messages: From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [email protected] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [COUPERS-TECH] no subject test ---------------------------- From: "Gordon & Emma Smith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Ercoupers tech" <[email protected]> Reply-To: "Gordon & Emma Smith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [COUPERS-TECH] Fund For JessicaIs there a fund set up for Jessica? Is this the place to address the subject?Gordon SmithDon't fret too much about your problems. Remember, Moses started out as a basket case.---------------------------- From: "Tommy Terry" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>To: "'Gordon & Emma Smith'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,"'Ercoupers tech'" <[email protected]>Reply-To: "Tommy Terry" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: RE: [COUPERS-TECH] Fund For Jessica I personally see no problem with addressing this on the other site, [EMAIL PROTECTED] In fact I think it is quite appropriate in that forum. The young lady is wanting to learn to fly and better yet she iswanting to do it in a coupe. Let's move the discussion to flyin and toss itaround. Tommy -----Original Message----- From: Gordon & Emma Smith [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, December 03, 2006 2:00 PM To: Ercoupers tech Subject: [COUPERS-TECH] Fund For Jessica ----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any advice in this forum.]---- Is there a fund set up for Jessica? Is this the place to address the subject? Gordon Smith Don't fret too much about your problems. Remember, Moses started out as a basket case. ============================================================================ == To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm ---------------------------- From: Kim Blackseth <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Ctech <[email protected]> Reply-To: Kim Blackseth <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [COUPERS-TECH] Kim Blackseth's First Flight Lesson As some of you know, after making some minor modifications to my Ercoupe to make it work for my disability, today was to be my first flight lesson. I never got off the ground and have some questions. The plane was flown to me by it's former owner and parked in early October. It ran great. We spent 6-8 weeks preparing it for me. New throttle handle, trim tab handle seat back modification, new PTT switch, etc. We never started it. Today we tried to start it and it would not turn over. I tried my new Black & Decker Battery device we discussed on this list a week or so ago. I had a sneaking suspicion it might have a low battery after sitting for a few weeks, so after the recommendation on the list, I bought one. I did nothing. After poking around a bit, I tried a traditional jump and it started right up. We let it run 10 minutes or so and noticed the alternator circuit breaker was off. We re-set it. At this point we noticed radio issues. We could hear the tower, but not transmit. If we revved the hell out of it (figuratively) we could weakly transmit, but ground could not understand us well enough to proceed. For obvious reasons we aborted and I'll have FSS Service center take a look tomorrow. My questions are: 1. Could the very low battery do all of this? 2. Even if the battery was very, very low, once it ran awhile wouldn't the radios work just fine? 3. Any thoughts to why the breaker was off? 4. I noticed the "primer" in the cockpit leaked a bit when using it. Is this just a gasket or O ring? 5. My instructor turn off the fuel shut-off under the ignition switch. It continued to run and run and.... He finally used the mags to shut the engine down. He mentioned he never does this in other craft. He usually runs the fuel out and it quits. He was not comfortable shutting it off like this What did we do wrong? Continuing to learn... Kim Blackseth N2332H ---------------------------- From: Sydney Cohen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Reply-To: Sydney Cohen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [COUPERS-TECH] Kim Blackseth's First Flight Lesson Kim, Sorry that you are having so many problems. I'll try to help. 1. If the battery is very low, the alternator will not charge. You should get a regular battery charger and charge it up to full capacity and then try the radio. 2. If you have a Lunkenheimer primer you may be able to stop the dripping by adjusting the cap nut on the front of the instrument panel and then by tightening the locking nut on the back of the panel. 3. Your fuel shut-off valve is not functioning properly, but the normal way to turn the engine off in an Ercoupe or any other airplane with a Stromberg carburetor is to turn the magneto switch off. If, on the other hand, it has a Marvel Schebler carburetor, you can shut off the engine by pulling the mixture to full lean. Best wishes, Syd Kim Blackseth wrote:----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any advice in this forum.]---- As some of you know, after making some minor modifications to my Ercoupe to make it work for my disability, today was to be my first flight lesson. I never got off the ground and have some questions. The plane was flown to me by it's former owner and parked in early October. It ran great. We spent 6-8 weeks preparing it for me. New throttle handle, trim tab handle seat back modification, new PTT switch, etc. We never started it. Today we tried to start it and it would not turn over. I tried my new Black & Decker Battery device we discussed on this list a week or so ago. I had a sneaking suspicion it might have a low battery after sitting for a few weeks, so after the recommendation on the list, I bought one. I did nothing. After poking around a bit, I tried a traditional jump and it started right up. We let it run 10 minutes or so and noticed the alternator circuit breaker was off. We re-set it. At this point we noticed radio issues. We could hear the tower, but not transmit. If we revved the hell out of it (figuratively) we could weakly transmit, but ground could not understand us well enough to proceed. For obvious reasons we aborted and I'll have FSS Service center take a look tomorrow. My questions are: 1. Could the very low battery do all of this? 2. Even if the battery was very, very low, once it ran awhile wouldn't the radios work just fine? 3. Any thoughts to why the breaker was off? 4. I noticed the "primer" in the cockpit leaked a bit when using it. Is this just a gasket or O ring? 5. My instructor turn off the fuel shut-off under the ignition switch. It continued to run and run and.... He finally used the mags to shut the engine down. He mentioned he never does this in other craft. He usually runs the fuel out and it quits. He was not comfortable shutting it off like this What did we do wrong? Continuing to learn... Kim Blackseth N2332H ============================================================================== To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm---------------------------- From: "Ed Burkhead" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>To: "'Kim Blackseth'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,"Ctech" <[email protected]>Reply-To: "Ed Burkhead" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: RE: [COUPERS-TECH] Kim Blackseth's First Flight Lesson Kim, Quick pilot-but-not-mechanic answers: The radios and everything should have run just find moments after it started, I think. My experience was with a generator, not an alternator. Primer - don't know. I've seen primer gasket or whatever kits on aircraft parts websites (Spruce or Wicks). Your local A&P should have one on the shelf. Shutting off the fuel is a common way to shut down Coupes. It does take abit of a while. If some idiot has moved the gascolator to the firewall, it might have to use all that fuel, too. I remember it taking a bit of a whileto shut down from fuel shut-off the few times I did that, but not forever. Shutting off a Coupe using the mag switch is the common method. That's because most Coupes have the Stromberg carb which has no idle cutoff ability. Running it out of fuel and then shutting off the switch is extra safety and also can keep the nose tank fuel from leaking out if the needle valve isn't seating perfectly. Personally, I used the switch and only hadfuel leak once in 23 years. Listen to the advice of experts on which way tobest do this. Also, after using the primer, make sure the primer is closed AND LOCKED.Experts should give you quality answers soon, but this is a beginning answerto give you some comfort. Ed Burkhead http://edburkhead.com ed -at- edburkhead???.com (change -at- to @ and remove "???") ---------------------------- From: "Ed Burkhead" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>To: "'Kim Blackseth'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,"Ctech" <[email protected]>Reply-To: "Ed Burkhead" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [COUPERS-TECH] RE: Blackseth Kim asked:How do I tell how much gas was in the plane? The former owner flew it down and parked it. My instructor's a big guy and we decided to fly with less than full tanks, but had a hell of a time figuring what was left in the tanks. Thoughts?Kim, Compliments on being careful about this. Some of the models have a fuel gauge in the wall of the cockpit - if you have one, calibrate it by emptying the tanks and filling them one or two gallons at a time then noting the fuel level.If there's no fuel gauge in the cabin wall, then you may want a float gaugein the wing tank. Use the same method to calibrate it. With both gauges, you'll note that there's a lot of fuel left in the wingtanks after your gauge bottoms out. KNOW that amount! Determine your fuelconsumption at high speed cruise near sea level and use that to keep trackof fuel remaining in the main tanks so you'll know about when the mains rundry.Most of us never use any of the fuel in the nose tank - we keep it all as a reserve. It's a full hour at high speed cruise and almost two hours at low speed mush. KNOW your fuel consumption numbers. Figuring these things out lets you play (really, BE) a test pilot doing the same kind of stuff as theguys at Edwards but doing it for the safety of your own skin.Drain the nose tank via the valve on the gascolator. Fill it one gallon ata time using the fuel hose of the FBO for (supposedly) really accurate numbers. Note how many gallons you have before the nose tank float gauge comes off the bottom, usually 2-3 gallons or so. Then, measure from thereto the top, a gallon at a time, marking the glass tube (if you have one) foreach gallon. Make a really firm resolution to get on the ground before the float gauge wire gets to the bottom of its travel.For measuring the wing tank level, some people use a glass or plastic (fuel resistant) tube which they calibrate during the fill/calibrate cycle. Hold the tube on the down (inner) side of the filler hole and hold it verticallywhen you measure the level. Due to the tilt of the tank in the wing, there's still some number of gallons left when the dip tube comes up dry.Measure both wing tanks with the dip tube (if that's what you're using) andaverage the results unless the ramp is perfectly level, left to right.An alternate method of calibrating the tanks is to fill them completely and have super-clean recepticals to drain the fuel into. Accurately measure the fuel as you drain it and make your calibration marks or notes appropriately.The tank calibration provides an entertaining :-( hour or two on a nicesunny day. But what you learn is really valuable, especially if you need to fly with partial fuel due to weight considerations, such as in your lessons.When you go for a checkride, having rigorously calibrated numbers and methods will look good to the examiner. How's that for a simple answer? Ed Burkhead http://edburkhead.com ed -at- edburkhead???.com (change -at- to @ and remove "???") ---------------------------- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [email protected] Reply-To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [COUPERS-TECH] Cleveland Brake problemI have a problem with the Cleveland brakes on my 1946 415C. I have removed the floor board several times but have never checked what kind of master cylinder I have. The left side brake twice in the last two days has locked up or at least got so tight that I could not taxi even at high RPM. In both cases, the brake got tight after landing and using the brake extensively trying to make the first turn off. Also, in both cases I solved the immediate problem by bleeding a few drops of fluid out of the left brake; then the brake seemed to release and operate normally. Can anyone advise me if this is a master cylinder problem or should I investigate something else. I added brake fluid several months ago, could over filling it cause this problem? Thanks. Dennis Hatfield N2738H.Dennis ---------------------------- ============================================================================== To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm
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checklist.doc
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