----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any
advice in this forum.]----
My 2 cents, it's worth what you've paid for it.
Make sure you have a fully charged battery, it will make a difference in
your radio and other electrical devices.
Alternator or Generator? A gen may need to be polarized if it's been
sitting too long and it won't start charging until about 1200 rpm. If
there's no batt power (but you said it was a new one), an alternator won't
excite and charge. Regulator may be on the fritz, too. A thorough prebuy
may have indicated some trouble. Popped breaker isn't a good sign, whether
automatic or manual.
O ring on the primer, usually. Follow instructions previously given for a
Lunkenheimer (sp?). These can be rebuilt.
Fuel feeds from the wing tanks to the header tank via your fuel pump, then
by gravity into the engine. The most important gauge is your little wire
header tank gauge. If it's not all the way up, there are problems.
Good advice on the killing of the engine. Pick the one that's right for
you. Most of us will turn off fuel so that it doesn't drip out of the carb,
not to kill the engine.
Keep us posted.
Al DeMarzo
Visit the Ercoupe Swap Page - Free and Easy
http://www.ercoupeowners.com/swap/swapbook.htm
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ed Burkhead" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "'Kim Blackseth'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Ctech"
<[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, December 03, 2006 10:07 PM
Subject: [COUPERS-TECH] RE: Blackseth
----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any
advice in this forum.]----
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
gauge
in 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 wing
tanks after your gauge bottoms out. KNOW that amount! Determine your
fuel
consumption at high speed cruise near sea level and use that to keep track
of fuel remaining in the main tanks so you'll know about when the mains
run
dry.
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
the
guys 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
at
a 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 there
to the top, a gallon at a time, marking the glass tube (if you have one)
for
each 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
vertically
when 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)
and
average 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 nice
sunny 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 "???")
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