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I got a couple of responses to my last set of
pictures about building the header tank for a 320. There are still folks
out there laboring away on the 320's so maybe a little amplification and
clarification will be beneficial regarding the header tank.
The low fuel level float switch I put in my header
tank was useless. Note the red low fuel warning light I put in the panel
near the fuel gauge. It (the little float) bobbed around and the red light
kept blinking on and off no matter how much fuel I had in the tank. The
float arm has to be longer by six inches or so and can easily be done by adding
a metal rod with another float device -- wine corks?
The long vent tube (1/4 in. aluminum tubing), shown
in the previous set of photos, must be supported out near the end of the
tube. I supported it where it went through the baffle (see photos) and
over time, about two years, vibration and sloshing fuel broke that support loose
and subsequent chafing wore aluminum away and a hole in the vent tube. I
had metal shavings in the tank and fuel spilling out the vent tube. It was
a mess. I had to drill out the vent tube, get a new one in there plus
support it properly. Then just flushing out all the metal shavings from
chafing and drilling and repair was a super mess.
The curvature of the tank and the curvature of the
top of the tank, of course, were not close to being the same. You can see
in the photos that I cut a piece of foam to fill the gaps in the curvature
difference, glassed it on the tank edges and, after curing, covered those
bonding surfaces on the tank with tape. After marking the bonding lines, I
globbed on a bunch of epoxy/flox, pressed the tank onto the epoxy/flox in the
position it was to be when done. After cure I popped off the tank, the
plastic release tape did its job, and so there was a custom bonding
surface. I used a Makita die grinder to clean up the edges of the bonding
surface (flox) lines.
The fuel probes I put in were/are outrageously
inaccurate, like useless. I think they were a Skysport item. I
finally installed a visual fuel level line, see photo. Works good,
lasts a long time. I know some folks take serious issue with fuel lines
going around the panel like that, but, that's the way it is.
Lastly, the inflight photo is what it is all
about. We have a great cruising machine, looks good, goes fast, draws a
crowd.
George Shattuck
LNC2, 1500+/- hours
Greensboro, GA
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