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Bill Strahan
Joined: 20 Aug 2008
Posts: 145
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 Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 7:46 pm Post subject: Rotec TBI Update - It's on and waiting for a test flight |
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Wow, that was a lot to piece together. Yesterday I was getting anxious to see if the dang thing even worked, and a pilot buddy dropped by the airport so I just installed the TBI and hooked up the fuel and air intake intending to work the throttle standing next to the engine.
He sat in the plane and cranked the engine, and even without hitting the regulator override (equivalent of primer) the engine fired right up. It idled smoothly, and I moved the throttle by hand and it sounded great and response was good. We shutdown and started the engine 8 or 9 times and it fired up immediately every time.
I also used the mixture control to shut off the engine, and it took a few seconds but at idle cutoff the engine did shut down.
Ah...gave me motivation to get back to work.
So today I finished fabricating all the brackets to hold the ends of the mixture cable and regulator override (primer) cable and got the entire assembly ready to install. Then I installed the new throttle cable, the new mixture cable, and re-purposed (grin) my choke cable to be my primer control. I put my mixture control next to the throttle where my choke was, and put the primer down on the console between fuel valves.
It all took about 5 hours, but by late tonight I had it all hooked up and even got another pilot friend to come by and lend a second set of eyes to check for anything out of place.
It was very nice to see that bright red knob next to my throttle control. Ah, the way it's supposed to be. Wish there was a blue knob as well, but I guess that would be overkill. 
I turned on the master and then the fuel pump and let it run for 30 seconds and checked for leaks. Bone dry. Let it run another 30 seconds, and checked again. Everything checked out okay. Then I hit the regulator override and fuel came spraying out the back of the TBI!!
I had not connected the scat tubing to the back of the unit, as I did not intend to start it yet, and the mixture was full lean. If you look at the design of the TBI you'll know that means the holes that let fuel come out were pointing straight backwards. So when the regulator was overriden, the fuel pump just pumped the fuel out the back of the intake in a fine spray!
I don't think I'll have to use the override often, especially since it fired right up without it in 45 degree weather, but lack of fuel will never be the problem. If it needs to be primed, I'm thinking that 1 second will do it in the coldest weather you'd want to run the thing in. I considered just not installing a control to the override, in fact, but decided that if I ever had some air in the lines from running a tank dry I'd want the override just to be on the safe side.
And that's my long winded update. Next update will be a flight report. And then I'll grab my O2 bottle and who's up for a time to climb contest?
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Bill Strahan
Joined: 20 Aug 2008
Posts: 145
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| Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 11:28 am Post subject: Re: Rotec TBI Update - It's on and waiting for a test flight |
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My personal rain dance apparently looks a lot like working on the plane. It's done nothing but rain since the Rotec was installed.
This type of thing has happened so many times that when farmers have their crops dry out they call me and ask me to work on the plane and get it ready to fly.
As soon as there's a break I'll post the outcome.
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Bill Strahan
Joined: 20 Aug 2008
Posts: 145
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| Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 9:09 pm Post subject: Re: Rotec TBI Update - It's on and waiting for a test flight |
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I sent some pictures to a request for details, so I decided to make some notes and put them here as well. So, here goes.
This picture just shows the Rotec TBI and the regulator, attached in a way that I decided would fit within the confines of the motor mount on the lightning. The 90 degree elbow is an AN-6 to AN-6 fitting. Then an AN-6 to 1/4" NPT goes into the regulator. The fuel input side of the regulator is fed with a 1/4" NPT to barbed fitting. I found the AN-6 to AN-6 elbow and AN-6 to 1/4" NPT online. The 1/4" NPT to barbed fitting was acquired at NAPA. I saw an installation that did something similar and relied upon the 90 degree elbow to support the weight of the regulator. I did not like that idea since vibration would work harden and most likely crack the aluminum elbow. Not good with fuel under pressure, so in later pictures you'll see the bracket that prevents this vibration.
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Bill Strahan
Joined: 20 Aug 2008
Posts: 145
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| Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 9:10 pm Post subject: Re: Rotec TBI Update - It's on and waiting for a test flight |
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This is a shot of the adapter plate I made. It is 1/4" phenolic with a 2.25" aluminum tube epoxy/flocked into place. The holes are match drilled to the holes on the flange on the TBI. With this plate in place, the TBI is a drop-in replacement for the BING. The other side of the TBI already matches the Bing, and will slide into the rubber intake coupling on the Jabiru. With this adapter I can attach the SCAT tubing that previously attached to the bing. The length front to back ends up identical. The tube I used is slightly larger diameter than the bing, but the SCAT tubing still fits just fine.
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Bill Strahan
Joined: 20 Aug 2008
Posts: 145
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| Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 9:13 pm Post subject: Re: Rotec TBI Update - It's on and waiting for a test flight |
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Two different angles that show the adapter plate on the TBI with the whole assembly in place on the engine. You can also clearly see the aluminum bracket that reinforces the regulator from fibration and bolts on top of the phenolic plate and connects two bolt holes on the regulator. You can also see the regulator override control. The cable end is affixed to another bracket that picks up two of the regulator holes. The cable attaches to a piece of 1/8" aluminum which pivets off of two aluminum angles and a 1/16" piano wire. When that cable is pulled it pivots back and presses the regulator override. You can also see another 1/8" aluminum angle at the bottom of the block of phenolic. This angle provides an attachment point to bolt a cable clamp that holds the mixture control cable. In the first image you can just barely see the mixture control cable curving from the bottom right corner of the picture and peeking just below the motor mount before it is clamped in place.
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Bill Strahan
Joined: 20 Aug 2008
Posts: 145
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| Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 9:15 pm Post subject: Re: Rotec TBI Update - It's on and waiting for a test flight |
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Sorry this is so blurry, but it shows the previously mentioned mixture control cable and mixture control in idle cutoff. Also you can see the throttle cable that curves straight up into the throttle control slide on the bottom of the TBI.
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