Ditto mine , although I took the vent upto the roof vent used for the
normal forward sight gauge (ie not the tank vent) to avoid any possibility
of a slug of fuel from the tank upsetting things.
It would be useful I think to have a bead of "something" floating in the
sight gauge tube as its difficult to see the level during flight; even with
a flexible non-geriatric spine.
The idea of a fuel resistant float has been discussed before. Cork I think
would probably survive in the long term, but needs to be brightly coloured;
with what?
Duncan McFadyean
On Wednesday, August 07, 2002 11:49 PM, Mansfield
[SMTP:M@nsfield.screaming.net] wrote:
> Brian,
>
> FWIW I did almost exactly the same as Nick.
>
> My sight gauge goes up the port side of the seatback front (if you see
what
> I mean!) It is protected at the bottom by a 15mm copper elbow joint
(used
> for plumbing here in the UK - cost about 15p), reduxed into the corner
> formed by the tunnel & the pilot's seat back (the same as Nick's).
>
> This puts the tube just behind the pilot's right elbow & means the bottom
6
> ins (150mm) is probably out of sight behind upholstery, but by then
you're
> into the reserve side (i.e. below the saddle) so should be looking at
> landing, not the fuel gauge!
>
> The top differs, however - another 15mm 90 degree elbow takes the tube
> through the seat back at the top, where it is fed back into the top of
the
> tank. To do this I reduxed one of the 90 deg stainless vent tubes
(designed
> for the roof vents) into a bulkhead fitting I got from a hydraulic
supplier,
> sawed off the excess tube and the unused portion of the fitting, leaving
2
> in (50mm) of ss tube to clamp the clear tube onto, and sealing the
fitting
> with Blue Hylomar (a brand name for fuel, oil & heat-proof sealant).
>
> The tube & joint is accessible via the same hole in the headrest floor as
> the sender for the electric gauge I bought from LTS (now also sold by
> Europa). Caution was taken to ensure the tube runs down from the point
it
> enters the top of the seat back to where it enters the tank, to prevent a
> slug of fuel remaining in any low point - i.e. the low point is the entry
to
> the tank.
>
> This makes the sight gauge a sealed system, not needing its own vent in
the
> roof (or floor etc).
>
> Sorry if this sounds complicated, but it wasn't really - took longer to
> think out than to build & fit - I'll send some pics off list if you like.
>
> Paul
>
> XS Mono 383
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: newforum-owner@europaclub.org.uk
> Subject: Re: Seatback sight tube
>
>
> Brian,
>
> FWIW I have put it on the front of the seat bulkhead between the seats.
The
> tube is routed through a hole drilled in the port horizontal surface of
the
> tunnel, aft and inboard of the access hole for the rudder cable pulley.
It
> goes vertically through a rigid plastic outer tube into a foam/bid "nose"
> bonded to the top of the seat back, then across the top of the tank to a
T
> connector in the vent line.
>
> Looks OK but be warned that I'm still a year or two of actually testing
it
> by flying.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Nick Hammond
> XS Mono 418
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> Subject: Seatback sight tube
>
> I know that a number of people are putting the sight tube on the seat
back.
>
> How do you deal with it getting crushed by luggage? I was thinking of a
> plexiglass tube over the soft one.
>
> How do you route the line? Presumably from the fuel fitting through the
> tunnel
> and then through a drilled hole? How do you eliminate fretting? Where
then
> do you route the exaust tube? Under the upolstery but on top of the seat
> back?
>
> I was also thinking of putting the sight tube on the seat back and all
the
> way
> to the filling side - this seems neater, and still easy to check when
> getting
> in the pilot seat. This can't be checked when filling, though.
>
> Brian Rauchfuss
> #A072
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