Today my goals were to install the fuel selector and gascolator, and to run as many fuel lines as time and supplies would permit. As I mentioned last time, locating the fuel selector has been tricky. The best location interfered with the little trapezoid-shaped tab that came from the factory. That tab is made out of some pretty sturdy steel, so I called Bob to be sure that it wasn’t a structural concern. He said that it was not, so I removed most of it. I might need to remove more of it, though another challenge with the fuel valve is that the incoming lines must clear the cabin floor tubes. The valve may need some standoffs or shims to get the inlet fittings low enough, though the more I lower the valve, the more the bottom outlet becomes a problem.
I also had a thought to try making some shims for the fuel T fittings out of some plastic that I had on hand. I decided after the fact that I didn’t really like the way it turned out. I’ll look for some 1/4″ aluminum somewhere instead.
I started to mount the gascolator, but realized that it was threaded with coarse threads. I wish it had been threaded with fine threads instead, so that I could just use one a couple of the AN bolts that i have on hand!
In October 2010 I asked Bob why he used coarse threads in this application. He said that generally it is not an accepted practice to use fine threads in aluminum for strength reasons. That explains it!
I finished most of the lines that I had enough material to make. Still to come are the hard lines in the wing and perhaps a few remakes. I ran the gascolator fuel outlet up to the lower left corner of the firewall, since that seemed like a good place to have the fuel line come into the engine compartment. I feel better about the service life of these lines than I did about the previous rubber hoses, especially in areas that are going to be hard to reach after final assembly.