Last night my Alon was sold to a successful e-bay bidder ending over 25 years
of Ercoupe/Aircoupe ownership and involvement. I will continue to be
interested with the Day to Day here on the internet, and maybe a fly-in or two.
My reasons for selling out are personal and singular. On my Sisters Birthday
in November of 2008 I suffered a heart attack, I was tended to by the Dr.'s and
sent home.
I never really got my energy back and have curtailed many of my activities. I
still am involved in local politics, and am still involved in the activities of
my Grandson, Cody who is now 18. Given enough time I can still bring in the
groceries for Grandma.
While we were getting the coupe prepared for its first annual in two years, we
discovered that slow seepage had emptied the header tank. I filled it up with
$4.79 cent gasoline and went through all the starting motions, however, I could
not get the engine to run continuously until I bled the fuel lines to the input
to the carburetor of air. Once again I wish to remind folks with Alon's or any
Coupe with a firewall mounted gascolator to be sure and keep this option in
mind. The fuel line routing is such that portions of the line between the
bottom of the tank and the input to the carburetor can develop isolated air
bubbles and these bubbles can migrate resulting in strange engine behavior at
the moment of takeoff and maximum angle of attack. I have been preached to in
the past that great modifications must be done to the Aircoupe fuel system to
prevent "Vapor Lock" and other mysterious behavior on departure, but the truth
of the matter is A.) Make sure that there is not air in the fuel lines by
bleeding them, and B.) never run the header tank out of fuel.
Rather long, but nice having this chat this morning.
Wayne
D. Wayne Woollard CPBE
o--iii--(
