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Re: Europa-List: 914 Fuel Injected Update & Opinion

Subject: Re: Europa-List: 914 Fuel Injected Update & Opinion
From: Frans Veldman <frans@paardnatuurlijk.nl>
Date: Wed, 13 May 2009 22:27:18

Curtis Jaussi wrote:
> Lots of good questions.  I can address some of them.  Jason is well aware of
> the problem of potential air in the fuel and has designed the fuel flow
> through the system and back to the tank so that any air should be pumped on
> through quite quickly.  This part makes sense to me.

Yes, but it is still possible that some air will make it into the
injectors. And then? Furthermore, it doesn't has to be air, it can also
be vaporized fuel. Although any engine hates that, a fuel injected
engine especially hates it. With the tight and warm Europa cowling, and
high altitude capability, and the use of Mogas, I think some fuel vapor
can hardly be avoided.

Also, this system will make it impossible to run a tank dry, before
switching to the reserve side. So, this poses the problem that one has
to decide at what level to switch over. 5 Liters at least remaining
seems to be the minimum to me, and one should not forget to switch over
in time. (if the reminder is in the form of a sputtering engine, like it
normally is, it is probably to late for the fuel injection system). With
5 liters, one has about 10 minutes left (considering the fact that the
very last liter will probably have so much air in it that it will be
unusable anyway). This will cut the usable amount of fuel considerably.
Any fuel savings due to the fuel injection is offset by the fact that
you can't risk to run the main side of the tank dry, so effectively you
can't increase the endurance.

>  As for redundency, it
> is totally redundant with two complete systems: two fuel pumps, two sets of
> injectors, two sets of sensors,separate electrical systems, etc.  Only one
> system is in operation at one time and you manually switch from one to the
> other if needed.

Ok, sounds good.
I think that Jason will probably draw more customers if he puts all this
kind of information on his website. I could do with less pictures.

Some more information about an upgrade kit for existing 914's would be
great as well.

-- 
Frans Veldman



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