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Looks so easy...
The tube is bend with several angle, going down and sideway out of
the center console, coming back forward at the fuselage side and
then, forward down at the fuel pump level. |
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... but I needed to practice a bit
I bought a roll of copper tubing from the local hardware store to
make sample parts. It took me quite many trials just to get
the first two bends right. |
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Quite good result
One thing I believe is important with the routing of fuel lines is
to avoid "low" areas. My fuel line goes
"up" at the pump and then "up" again at the
valves. It will get out of the console straight and go
"up" again to the boost pump on the firewall. Then
it will go "down" to the gascolator. |
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A view of the fuel pump installation
The pump is installed on the first nose rib at about 45 degrees (as
specified in the instruction manual for the pump). The rib is
reinforced with a channel riveted to the other side. |
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Ouch... interferences
I initially installed the firewall fuel pump in front of the brake
pedal. Not good. The parking brake valve is also not
properly installed and the bend in the cable is too tight. |
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Talking about not good stuff
Initially, the fuel line from the front pump to the gascolator was
installed like this. My mentor did not like that as he says
that I should reduce the length of line behind the radiator (in warm
air). I then installed a 90 elbow and a new line coming
straight down. |
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Way to go! |
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Fuel pump test
I tested my three fuel pumps and they work find and noisy.
Especially when pumping air. I get more than 25 gal per hour
of fuel flow from each pump. Even the firewall pump which is
pretty high (12" from the floor") has no problem priming
itself up from the tank on the floor. Each pump will put about
3 to 4 psi of pressure (at 11.9 volts from the battery). When
I turn on the firewall pump with a wing pump, the pressure comes too
high at around 9 psi. I may put a switch cover on the firewall
pump switch. |
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Fuel pump check valve test
I checked how much gas was flowing through the system in the
opposite tank. Well, there is a leak. The fuel pump has
internal check valves, but they are not perfect. I tried
putting a check valve in series with the fuel pump and the result is
worse! Instead of about 0.5 to 0.8 liter per hour, I get 3 to
4 liter per hour of cross-transfer. This may be explained by
the fact that two check valve in series somewhat cancel their capabilities
(there is no flow to push the ball or diaphragm in the check
valve). I removed the check valve I put in there (and had to
replace a segment of fuel line). |
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