Roger Lee Posted November 28, 2010 Report Share Posted November 28, 2010 When the cowl is off you should take a look at the carb drip trays. One for any fuel stains or live fuel. This means you need a new carb float bowl gasket. This issue can pop up overnight so don't forget to take a look once in a while. The gasket cost about $15 and isn't too tough to replace. If you need help on this call me. Second take a look at where the drip trays mount on the two screws and look for tray cracking. Some have been close to falling off. There is a better way to mount and support these trays with some large washers. There is an LOA for this and it has pictures. You can find this LOA under the FD LOA approval post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Runtoeat Posted November 28, 2010 Report Share Posted November 28, 2010 Hi Roger. I just finished the annual and I've got a question about those drip trays. How do you get to the inside bolts to remove these so that the carb bowls can be dropped? As long as the drip trays are there, they prevent the carb bowls from dropping low enough to be removed and inspected. And, as long as the carb is there, the inner bolts to the drip trays can't be accessed. The only way we could figure out to drop the bowls was to remove the intake with the carb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Lee Posted November 29, 2010 Author Report Share Posted November 29, 2010 The only way to access the drip tray inner screw is to remove the 4 screws to the intake manifold. This is very easy so don't worry about removing the screws. Nothing has to come off just take the screws out so you can move the manifold out of the way to access these screws. Then there is also room when you lift up the intake manifold to drop the carb bowl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hhobbit Posted November 29, 2010 Report Share Posted November 29, 2010 Hi Roger. I just finished the annual and I've got a question about those drip trays. How do you get to the inside bolts to remove these so that the carb bowls can be dropped? As long as the drip trays are there, they prevent the carb bowls from dropping low enough to be removed and inspected. And, as long as the carb is there, the inner bolts to the drip trays can't be accessed. The only way we could figure out to drop the bowls was to remove the intake with the carb. Hi Roger Are these washers commonly available or do they have to be purchased from FD? I have one cracked drip trya and like runto eat can only see one annoying way to replace. It occurs to me that substituting a plain hex head on the inside would probably eliminate the need to disturb the intake manifold. Would that need a FD LOA? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Lee Posted November 29, 2010 Author Report Share Posted November 29, 2010 Hi Mack, Disturbing the intake manifolds is no big deal. I do it all the time and have never had an issue. I do smear a thin film of White Lithium grease on them, not a glob. The large 1" washers are the same as you can get at any hardware store. The inside washers need to have one side cut of straight to allow it to fit up against the water tube. I use a Dremel tool with a cut off blade. It only takes a few seconds. Since I have been doing these trays this way for over 3.5 years I haven't had another one crack. It spreads the mounting surface area out and keeps it from the flexing vibration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Runtoeat Posted December 1, 2010 Report Share Posted December 1, 2010 Roger, thanks for the info. I'll add those washers. Mack, I thought about using a hex head bolt instead of the allen socket head bolt but it appears that the carb would prevent this from being fully backed out of the hole to get the drip tray off. Thought about a short hex head bolt but a shorter bolt takes us away from the original Rotax design intent. Roger's suggestion to loosen the intake is best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Lee Posted December 1, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 1, 2010 You do not need to replace the inside allen screw on the drip tray. It is plenty long enough. If you change it you may also cause electrolysis from differing metals. Use what's there. 90 in/lbs of torque on that screw and on the air intake screws. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastEddieB Posted December 6, 2010 Report Share Posted December 6, 2010 Coincidentally, removing/replacing those drip trays was one of my least favorite jobs - really tiny bolts/nuts/washers, and dropping one of them on my Sky Arrow can launch them into parts unknown. When I had to move my coolant overflow bottle to access the locking pin hole, I was pleased to find the upper mounting was notched so just loosening the nut allowed the bracket to rotate free. That gave me an idea... Anyway, now I can simply loosen the bolts and slide the tray down and clear. All I could find on short notice was copper washers in the right size, but I'll be alert for dissimilar-metal corrosion. Hopefully everything is well enough supported that cracking will be no more of a problem than before. Bear in mind, my plane is Experimental - this type of mod is probably not legal to do on an SLSA without approval. BTW, I've reused the float bowl gaskets at least twice now. I used a tiny bit of RTV gasket-maker to hold them in place on the bowl. I take it reusing the gaskets is not a good idea? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Lee Posted December 6, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2010 Hi Ed, Once maybe, but twice not a great idea, but if they don't leak no harm. Just keep an eye in the tray once in a while to look for wet or dried fuel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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