It’s back to the fuel system again. After many years of flying two 32oz tanks in my DA200 powered IMAC planes, I decided to forgo the two tanks in favor of going back to one. Two tanks (one tank for each carb) worked amazingly well in my first plane — The Dalton. I’m not sure why, but it never quite worked properly in the Kam Aero. No matter what I did, I always ended up with more fuel in one tank over the other. Normally, one tank will use a tad more fuel during flight because the rear cylinders run a little richer and burn a touch more fuel. The odd part was that two tanks in the Dalton would even back out when I refueled and let it set a few minutes. The two tanks in the Kam Aero never really evened back out.
I still want two feeds (one for each carb), so I found a single 64oz tank that has two clunks inside. This way, both carbs get the same access to fuel, and I don’t have to be concerned about one bank of cylinders running out of fuel.
While I was at it, I added a vent tank to catch any fuel that comes siphons out of the vent line. Hopefully, this will be the end of me seeing fuel vapor trailing the plane after an inverted flight. Even better, I won’t have a bunch of fuel under the plane to clean up at the end of the day.
I don’t remember who I got this from, but this is the plan I used. Lots of other pilots do the same. Anything that siphons out of the main tank will catch in the vent tank. Then it will get sucked back into the main tank when I fly upright.
If the weather holds, I hope to get some first flights of the season in this weekend.
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