Bill, When you write "my old carb was shot and put on a spare they had and it supposedly ran fine. It has been doing well for about the last 4 hours I've flown it since the annual".
I wonder whether the carburetor is a Stromberg. If so, the fuel level might be adjusted according to the manual. The normal adjusted carburetor can lead to fuel starvation in a nose high attitude at full power, leading to a total power loss. The power comes back almost immediately when lowering the nose that allows the fuel level to reach the nozzle enough to provide a rich enough mixture. One can prevent this behavior by applying carburetor heat, even on take off . The heat enriches the mixture. I experienced this kind of symptom myself, resulting in a total power loss on a steep climbout after take off. I lowered the nose in preparation for an off-site landing straight ahead, but the engine caught on almost instantly with the lowered nose. Then I started some experiments at higher altitude with the runway in gliding distance. I could "extinguish" the engine by holding the nose up high at full power - just like that - lowered the nose and the engine started running again. Did the same with carb-heat on and nothing happened. Engine keeps running. The fix is to adjust the float level a bit higher. That way the main nozzle does not run out of gas so to say. The problem might be elsewhere, but the only new thing your engine has is the carburetor and I would check there first. Hartmut ----- Original Message ----- From: wbuhles To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, May 21, 2008 9:29 PM Subject: [ercoupe-tech] Power failure on take off Hi Everyone; Had the time of my life last Friday. Just had my plane come out of annual where they found my old carb was shot and put on a spare they had and it supposedly ran fine. It has been doing well for about the last 4 hours I've flown it since the annual. During the annual they went through everything forward of the firewall and even had the engine off. All short of an overhaul. Well on Friday AM I loaded it up with full fuel and my suitcase and was going to fly from my home base at Yolo County, CA to Lompoc (KLPC), about 270 miles. Started up, taxied out, did run up and everything was fine, and then sat for awhile as two Bonanza's were doing touch and go's. So the engine was well warmed up. Started the take off roll and the output was normal, about 2200 rpm, felt OK, so I rotated and was about 50 feet in the air when the engine power abruptly dropped to idle, then caught again for 2 sec, then dropped again. I pulled back the throttle and put the nose down and landed, a bit hard because I didn't have a lot airspeed with which to finese, but intact. Luckily we have a long strip and there was plenty of runway still in front of me. Taxied back, put plane in hangar, drove to Lompoc. Before I put it away I did a static run up for about 30 seconds to max rpm and all was normal on either mag, no cough nor sputter, running smoothly. It is hangared, we have had no damp weather at all this time of year, and the tanks were full. I did not drain the gascolator sump in the engine compartment before I left. Thank goodness a past instructor had pulled the throttle on me once at about 100 feet and it was my instinct to lower the nose quickly. Likely saved my butt. Any comments or ideas on what it might be? I am thinking fuel contamination of some sort. One clue, before the annual the plane would start after about 4 pushes on the primer, and now it takes 8 or 10 pushes on the primer before it will catch and start. Cannot figure what might be causing that, but I know you guys will. Thank you in advance. Bill Buhles N94157, 415C
