John. The generator kicks in at around 1500 rpm. Until then you won't see much charge on the ammeter. It is actually the regulator that kicks in, but we spare us the details. All carburetors do have a flat spot where when you open the throttle fast the sudden more air provided to the carburetor will result in a lean mixture. This is due to the fact that the idle fuel system that feeds until around 1000 rpm is not in demand at higher rm and the main jet starts providing fuel. But the main jet is calculated for full throttle rpms , at lower rpm, the suction in the ventury is not that great that the fuel can suddenly feed the high air demand. At this rpm, the stromberg carburetor runs a little lean. See also http://www.ercoupe.info/?n=Main.Carburetion Click on Stromberg diagram. So how can you get a bit richer mixture then? All cars used to have a pump that sprayed extra fuel in the throttle when the lever was actuated. The accelerator pump. Most Marvel Carburetors do have that pump also. But such a pump adds complexity to a system. So Stromberg let it out because there are other means to enrichen the mixture. In our aircraft one can also simply turn on carb heat to enrichen the mixture. That way you can overcome the dead spot with ease. It is generally not a bad idea to use the carburetor heat on cold days as often as you feel it is needed. I usually don't apply carb heat on the climb out, since I like all the performance that I can get, but I do not hesitate to apply carb heat on the first sign of trouble . Rather less performance than none. I read your carburetor had been overhauled. It seems like they replaced the needle that sets the float level and if its done right, the Stromberg is a bit on the lean side. I had that on my overhauled carburetor too. If you are used to a richer level setting, as it might have been before, you need to learn how to deal with the new carburetor. The new needle explains also the fuel dripping, that is because the needle is not sealing properly in the seat. It might adjust itself for a good fit, maybe not. Read through the article on the page mentioned. And your battery might be dead or not. Put it on a charger and see if the battery holds the charge after that. By the way. Here in cold Germany we sometimes leave the primer plunger out when starting the engine. That provides a trickle charge of extra gas to the primer nozzle. This extra gas is sometime the only way to keep the engine running for the first minute or so until one can take usage of the carburetor heat. >From what I read, I think you are still in the green , no need for an extra >mechanic. But you are the pilot in command. You need to do what you think is right. Hartmut
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Mon, 8 Dec 2008 10:46:08 -0600Subject: [ercoupe-tech] Several Questions... As some know, I had my engine overhauled and added the 0-200 crank under the STC. The first post-overhaul problem I had was with fuel spraying out of my fuel cap vents. This seems to be fixed after adding the fuel restrictor on the fuel pump line. At the same time (but not mentioned earlier), I had fuel dripping from the carbureator. My A&P/IA explained that this is common (the carbureator was just overhauled too). It did not leak before. That one is solved by shutting the fuel valve off when the aircraft is parked (at least I no longer find all my fuselage tank fuel evaporated after sitting two days). I assume it may still be leaking during flight. Here is my new problem... Yesterday morning I planned a flight early in the morning (beautiful weekend here in Austin, TX area... calm winds and severe clear skies). When I got ready to go, I could not turn the engine over. The temperature in my hangar was 50 degrees farenheit and the plane sat in the sun for about 30 minutes (it was probably 40 degrees outside). I hand propped and got the engine going. After preflight and a warmup at 1000 rpm (fuel pressure was in the green), I tried to do my run-up, it seemed go through fuel starvation and the engine died... Outside again for another hand prop. During run-up same thing. All my fuel valves were open. By the way, my amp meter showed no charge during the brief period the aircraft was running so I assume the battery went completely bad or my generator (also overhauled) went belly up. My A&P came out to the house later in the afternoon. Now the plane was sitting in about 70 degrees of heat. We had to hand prop and this time the engine kept running. The run up went fine, mag check, carb heat... all went well. If this were the result of my morning attempts, I would have flown. I did not after this as I did not want to have the engine stop at 200 feet during takeoff). My A&P believes the carb needle may have been stuck due to the cold and sitting. That sounds too simple to me, but I want to throw this out to the group. At this point I would like to fly a great Ercoupe mechanic to Austin to do a good once or twice over. Ideas? Offers to make a holiday trip at my expense plus fees? Thanks, John _________________________________________________________________ You live life online. So we put Windows on the web. http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/127032869/direct/01/
