on 8/6/04 7:00 PM, Dave Anderson at dja767@charter.net wrote:
Someone mentioned the other day about the thought of fuel injection on these
engines. I would love to here of any intent to do that. I am still wiring
the engine and everytime I look at those rubber tubes I wonder. There must
be somthing better.
Jeff
A258 Getting closer and loving it.
>
> Well, it has happened. The airplane has itself demonstrated its capability for
> safety by having an engine failure - a slow motion failure. I was climbing out
> on the usual profile that provides an easy glide back to the departure
> airport, when I heard a sound change. It was enough to look over at the
> manifold pressure gauge to see 30 inches, when it is normally 36 inches in the
> cruise climb. I throttled back and then increased power to confirm the 30
> inches was not a hallucination. I checked the fuel flow to see if there might
> be some sort of fuel leak - a hazardous condition to be sure. The fuel flow
> was normal, so I throttled back to idle and returned to the airport. I
> considered shutting down and feathering, but it was running OK at idle, so I
> didn't. The airplane arrived over the field at 3500 agl. A circle followed
> with full speed brakes, with a high downwind leg. On downwind, the engine
> started to vibrate in a quite pronounced manner, so with the field made, I
> shut it !
> down , leaving it to windmill. The vibration stopped as soon as I turned off
> the ignition, throttle at idle.
>
> The airplane lands the same way regardless of the power - engine at idle or
> shut down. The landing was normal and I just took the high speed exit,
> coasting to a stop. By that time, the airport people were out there with their
> trucks and flashing lights (un-invited). A brief look over the airplane showed
> nothing obvious and a peek in the engine cowl showed nothing obvious either.
I
> tried to restart, but it would not start so it was towed to the hangar (by my
> Dad, who had just arrived in his airplane).
>
> The problem turned out to be a very simple one - yet a show stopper. The
> engine has two carburetors which are held to the intake manifold via rubber
> flanges. It is really quite a Mickey mouse design that I will be doing
> something about in the future - a back-up to keep this from resulting in a non
> running - or rough running engine. The rubber flange on the left side of the
> engine cracked and split 180 degrees, causing the carburetor to separate
> enough from the intake to let in enough air to essentially kill the two
> cylinders on the port side of the engine. The fix would take about 10 minutes,
> if I had the $75 part that has already been ordered. The glider wings paid off
> making this thing a very easy and almost relaxing event. The only hiccup was
a
> Cessna taking the runway when I was abeam the numbers on downwind announcing
> what was going on. Some people's kids???
>
>
> To quote Forrest Gump "That's all I have to say about that!"
>
>
> Dave
> A227
> mini U2
> 215 hours TT
>
> I'll probably attach the picture of the flange to the Mini U2 web site.....
>
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