In a message dated 12/6/2007 4:12:14 P.M. Central Standard Time,
colyncase@earthlink.net writes:
Gami jectors are great. I don't know of anyone having
any creep on the ratios. I don't know of any other way to do
it.
Colyn,
There is another method.
0. Check that you have a piston engine where each cylinder equipped
with an EGT read out and the fuel system is fitted with an accurate fuel flow
indication. If not, skip the rest of the discussion or upgrade the engine
monitor.
1. Do the GAMI lean test at WOT, 75% power or slightly less (go to
http://www.gami.com/, enter the site and click
on "GAMI Lean Test"). If the fuel flow spread of EGT peaks is .3
gph or less, do nothing if you wish to do nothing. Skip the rest of this
discussion since you are currently operating an engine with each
cylinder probably producing similar power. Running LOP should not be
rough.
2. If the engine is turbo charged (or supercharged) and the spread is
greater than .3 gph, follow the GAMI recommendations and skip the rest of
this discussion since, theoretically, your non-electronic injectors are
already receiving upper deck air equally. If you think not, check the
integrity of the injector shrouds and lines.
3. If the engine is carbureted, and the peak spread occurs
at greater than .3 gph, definitely consider the GAMI recommendations
(whatever those might be). There may be an imbalance of A/F ratios at
cruise that may be cured or bettered by adjusting
cruise fuel flow to each cylinder by using GAMI
injectors. Carbureted engines are notorious for induction air imbalances,
especially at different throttle settings.
4. If you are reading this line, you are operating a naturally
aspirated, injected engine with a peak spread of greater than .3 gph.
Think about the effect that different cowl location air flows
and pressures have on the injector bleed hole (hiding behind a fine
mesh screen) and the associated air flow that helps with the
atomization of fuel leaving the injector for that cylinder. If those
thoughts hurt your head, consider GAMI - otherwise, read on.
5. It is possible to influence each cylinder's A/F ratio by using
shrouded injectors and supplying a commonly sourced, equalized air
flow/pressure to each injector shroud. There may be additional benefits
(other than low cost) since such a configuration may solve the A/F
imbalances before changes to injector sizes. Such a modification is
independent of any changes that are made to alter engine cooling by messing with
cooling plenum air flows/pressures. If ram air is being utilized, feeding
the injectors with such a ram air source ensures that the atomization air is
equal to or higher than the MAP similar to a turbo/super charged engine
(this certainly eliminates the possibility of forcing fuel back out of the
injector bleed hole because the MAP is significantly higher than the
cooling cowl air pressure).
How such a system is implemented is left to the builder/experimenter after
considering such things as the consequences of blocking the air flow,
water, ice, filtering, etc.
The following is
and
should be considered as such.
Below are pix of an implementation that uses a separate pitot-like tube for
ram air pickup and a small plenum to equally distribute the pressurized
air. The first picture is of the pitot-like pickup. These
pictures were taken before the Lightspeed electronic ignition replaced the LASAR
system. Double click on the pix to expand them to 600x480 for more
detail.
Scott Krueger
AKA Grayhawk
Lancair N92EX IO320 SB 89/96
Aurora, IL
(KARR)
Darwinian culling phrase: Watch
This!