What would you think/do.........

[GyrOZprey]

if you found all this crud in YOUR gyro's seat-main fuel tank!

Since Mentone Jim has stripped Tiggy-B down to do the annual inspection as well as investigate the horrors lurking under bundles of electrical tape!

With the consensus of opinions gleaned @ Mentone & since, about the existing fuel system being totally inadequate for the demands of that big thirsty engine ... we have been completely redoing the fuel system!
In the course of this rebuild operation the seat tank was emptied & rinsed out - to our horror a mess of plastic shavings & crud came out!

Way back during the original build assist with "YKW" - Jim was taught how to drill correctly for the tank fittings & when done rinse & make sure there were no nasties to foul the fuel lines!!!

This procedure was obviously NOT followed with the more recent addition of plumbing for the 2 reserve tanks ( BY THE SAME individual above - who clearly knows the correct procedure & potential consequences!!!!) .... when it was out of our possession....!!!!!!

just another one of those things that make one go HMMMM???? (WTBH!)

[choppergabor]

WOW. Again...it shows the only thing you can be sure of and trust is what you do. I am glad you did clean out that tank!!!! That's a lotts junk you got out of it. Geeeeezzzzzz

[Vance]

Originally Posted by GyrOZprey

if you found all this crud in YOUR gyro's seat-main fuel tank!

(WTBH!)

I would think it would be good to share what I had learned about drilling holes in tanks with the person who made this mistake so that someone who did not check the tank before flying did not have a setback with the aftermath of a similar error. I feel that knowledge is a gift and it is important to pass it forward.

I would be grateful for how inexpensive this lesson was.

I feel it would be best to carefully clean out the tank and inspect it inside with a flashlight to make sure something is not about to break off.

In my opinion a fuel system free of debris is an important part of feeding a happy engine.

In my experience most fuel filters aren’t very big and don’t have the capacity to filter a lot of trash so it is best to limit the entire system to clean fuel.

I feel that the lubrication system should be treated with comparable assiduousness.

Thank you, Vance

[gyronutjoe]

I have a small fuel filter inline on my 2 stroke vespa before the pump to protect from any debris. The reason for this is that the oil tank is above the carburetor and their is a small check valve in the carb that stops oil from seeping in when the engine is off. It only takes a spec of something to keep the valve open which will allows oil to flow into the carb and engine when off. The result is a carb full of oil as it displaces the gas and enough extra in the engine to make it smoke bad if only a few days after leak is discovered. if the engine has been sitting a while it needs to opened and the crankcase drained. In the vespa it requires engine removal and intake reed plate removed to allow turning the engine upside down to drain. Not fun. I've had to do this on several other peoples 2 stroke scooters. The only good thing is the oil does protect the crankcase inside from moisture and the carburetor from stale gas.

[M._Springer]

on a street in a sub division when my engine started cutting out. The subdivision was under construction at the time.
I walked a good distance to find a phone and called Docko. He picked the gyro and me up.

The problem was fuel starvation from debris in the seat tank, in this case it was silicone that had come loose and was blocking the fuel outlet in the bottom of the tank.

The silicone was swollen from the fuel and when Docko disconnected the outlet line at the underside of the tank only a trickle of fuel came through from a nearly full tank . I had only been in flight about 10 minutes when I had to make the landing . When the silicone dried out it was umbelievably small compared to the size it was when it was fuel soaked.

I met a gyro pilot a few weeks later who had had the same problem but he didn't have a good place to land so his gyro was bent during the landing. We both had Brock seat tanks . I had understood that there was no silicone inide the tank but there sure was in mine.

That was the only problem I ever had with the Brock tank and I flew the same tank for almost 30 years. It finally developed cracks ( from old age ?) during the 12 &1/2 years that I was retired and didn't fly the gyro . I replaced it with a tank from Tommy Milton when I started flying again.
Marion