Fuel Tanks
These ain't fun at all!
Everything as far as fittings and such goes great but
getting the insulation to stick to the tanks was and is still an on going problem.
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I've seen a lot of ships at fly ins and only a very few had trouble getting that stuff to stick to there tanks.
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and to this day the tape comes loose. My guess is that these tanks expand and contract in different temperatures and that just makes it all that much more difficult to make it all happen.
There is a
notch molded into the back edges of the fuel tanks
to give the
tanks enough clearance around the lower engine mount. That
notch is actually What determines your fuel tank hight so this is
another one of those places you make compromises.
We've seen
some ships where the fuel tanks were low and some that were high,
you'll just
have to wait and see where it comes out in the end.
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Making the lower blocks the tanks sit on is a pain.
We first made them from wood but later got to thinking about how wood not only burns but absorbs fuel and water. We opted for some weird plastic to make them out of. The plastic is heaver and if you keep a direct flame on it does burn but it makes us feel better.
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Fuel Tank Caps
The rear brackets you make to hold the tanks to the frame suck.
If the mount slides down the tube its free to come off so be sure to get that part right and as tight as you can get it. Some guys just use a large zip tie and pull it tightly up to the frame. I don't really like that though because those zip ties decompose and become brittle in time and just snap. With the tank vibration and tank expansion it just doesn't seem like a good idea.
Orv was giving someone flight instruction once
and from what I got out of it the guys rear brackets must have come loose. When that happened it let the RH fuel tank slide back and down which forced the wiring harness down and allowed the pully on the alternator the chew its way through the alternator wiring harness and it shorted it out.
When that big fused feed wire that comes from the alternator shorted out
it took out both FADEC units.
RotorWay has the power feed routed directly to the upper instrument to the back side of another fuse that comes direct from the battery. When the alternator wire shorts out it inturn blows the fuses on both FADEC feeds and brings you out of the air.
RotorWay must feel its ok
because they are aware of this problem but so far as of Dec 04, they have not responded to it so for now it looks like were on our own.
Our ship is a 98 model and we have no idea if all year models of ships are wired like this.
There is more information about this subject in the Miscellaneous Builders section/Bulletins from RotorWay and Beyond section
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The top
clamps don't work much better
but the
tanks are captured so all they can do is slide for and aft.
The
down side is thay can and will rub a hole into your fuel tanks
you must be
sure to keep an eye on them or it will cause some issues.
We tryed
everything short of welding the brackets on but we were afraid to do
that
thinking we might take some strength out of the air frame.
Another aftermarket option out there is a plastic block that fits into that hole in the middle of the tanks. It wouldn't work on ours because that hole didn't end up centered on the bracket in the airframe.
Calibrating our fuel Gauge and Dip Hose
We set the red
warning light on the gauge to come on
when the
ship gets down to two gallons
which
should be 15 minutes of reserve when the light comes on
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Someday we'll make a better looking chart lol
We
did this test 3 times
and
all we could ever squeeze into our fuel tanks is 16 gallons
That
equals 120 minutes which is 2 hours total flight time
and
should equal 127.5 which is 7.5 minutes more than 2 hours according
to the specs Rotorway is putting out.
7.5
minutes of fuel doesn't sound like much but in helicopter time it's
a bunch.
SPECIFICATIONS
Powerplant
RI 162F, 162 cu. in. (2659 cc)
Seats 2
Gross
Weight 1500 lbs. (680 kg)
Empty
Weight 975 lbs. (442 kg)
Equipped
Useful Load 525 lbs. (238 kg)
Pilot and
Passenger Load 425 lbs. (193 kg)
Fuel
Capacity 17 U.S. Gallons (64 liters)
PERFORMANCE
Rate of
Climb 1000 fpm
Hover In
Ground Effect 7000 ft.
Hover Out
Of Ground Effect 5000 ft.
Service
Ceiling 10,000 ft.
Range, Max.
Fuel Cruise 180 mi./2 hrs.
Normal
Cruise 95 mph (83 knots)
Max. IAS,
Sea Level/Standard Day 115 mph (100 knots)
Damn
this thing burns 1 gallon of gas every 7.5 minutes lol
<gulp>
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END
