On 08/03/2011 11:41 AM, Martin Olliver wrote:
> Any one know of this company in Germany? Web.
> www.silent-hektik.com/ul_912_1_htm
This is the corrected URL:
http://www.silent-hektik.com/UL_912_1.htm
I didn't know them, thanks!
However, there is also an Italian company making a FI-retrokit system.
The good news here is that they use the original carbs as throttle body
for the fuel injection. You just get two new intake manifolds with
injector ports molded in. The nice thing is that if the fuel injection
fails, you can just open the fuel valve to the carbs and continue your
flight. The have a demo movie where they switch back and forth between
carbs and fuel injection without the engine stalling.
I wouldn't just fit in fuel injection without fall back. There is no
reliability data on the electronics for the fuel injection, nor enough
data to make sure the engine doesn't run lean on *any* combinations of
density, altitude, rpm, prop load, throttle setting, etc. If the engine
runs too lean you risk burning holes in your pistons...
And it makes your engine utterly dependent on electricity (unless you go
for the Italian solution).
What worries me too is that the German site makes false claims, like
"Trouble free on ethanol". If there is any trouble with ethanol (and
there is), it is not so much carb related but due to the behaviour in
combination with moisture from the atmosphere. Ethanol binds water and
can keep lots of water suspended in the fuel, until the temperature
drops (typical at higher altitudes) where suddenly the water simply
falls out of suspension, creating a pool of water at the bottom of the
tank which wasn't there when you performed your pre-flight checks. Bad
to find out about this while flying over the Alps... And no fuel
injection, no matter how advanced, keeps the engine running on pure
water either.
BTW the main benefit of fuel injection is improved fuel economy. It
isn't going to do miracles to the power. It will help a bit but I'm
afraid not enough to make a real noticable difference. The improved fuel
economy though might be worth it, if you care about fuel economy
(improved economy, or improved range, or less fuel weight).
Frans
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