Thorp Air Command - T18.net

Hi John, MY valve is on the tank bottom also, Stainless ball Valve. I welded a reinforcement washer (1/8) thk around and to the tank bung, shaped it to the tank first it's about 3" OD. Obviously it was not needed as that area is curved and rigid. I have no HArd Fuel lines, all Neoprene high grade Fuel hose, 1/2" to the Gasgalator , 3/8" to the Carb, Gravity fed. I do have fire sleeve on everything firewall forward, simple few parts & very effective ....Dan

Dan and jrevans, it sounds like both hard and flexible lines have been successful. Thanks for the info, too, on what type of valve to get - stainless ball valves best. I don't know where my valve came from and I don't see anything like it online. It's conical and has a weird gasket/seal with a truncated triangle cross-section. This picture was before cleaning it up.

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John Twigg N12055 SN.79 Pittsburgh, PA (KFWQ)

That shut off valve looks just like the one I had to rebuild before Christmas. It had a very slow drip in my 1947 Aeronca SuperChief. First drip in 17 years of ownership.

On 27 December my T-18 turned 23 years old (so of course we went flying!). It has a SS ball valve that has never dripped or seeped or even got tough to turn. -- Tony

This looks similar to the beast in question ?

RB

Agree with John. My set up is the same and has caused no problems in 26 yrs. I think where a problem can occur is when the valve is turned off and on at each flight. If the valve is stiff to turn the cyclic left/right loading may fatigue the tank outlet. Just a thought that's all.
Tony S
ZK-VMS
T18C

Good info rich always good to have pic to go along with text.

pilotjk, good luck with your engine rebuild. When do you think you'll have it flying again?

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John Twigg N12055 SN.79 Pittsburgh, PA (KFWQ)

Does anyone know how to hook up a fuel drain cable to a gascolator? I know this is a newbie question, but I'm puzzled. My T-18 was missing the gascolator bowl when I bought it. A friend of mine gave me a spare bowl that he had laying around. Under the cowl, there is a knob to pull to drain fuel out of the gascolator, but I have no clue what I need to get. The "new" bowl has one of those little thread valves in it. My question is what do I need to get to hook up the cable to a new gascolator drain? (You can see the cable behind and to the left of the gascolator.) I have a funny feeling that hooking a cable to a gascolator drain is not advised anyway. I've looked in Aircraft Spruce and Wicks but I don't see much of a solution. It's funny that I've flown Cessna's for many years but never looked at what was at the other end of that little square white knob....

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John Twigg N12055 SN.79 Pittsburgh, PA (KFWQ)

Interesting - I've never heard of a cockpit controlled gascolator fuel drain. If it were me, I would stay away from that setup and just put it on the checklist to manually drain the gascolator sump when you do your walkaround. This way you can see visually see the presence of any water, sediment, body part, or a stray sock that could plug the fuel system or find themselves trapped in the gascolator sump.

Stay safe

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Fraser MacPhee
N926WM
Serial #279-1
Angel Fire, NM (KAXX)

The cable control is in the engine compartment, not into the cockpit, Frase. A spring loaded, cable operated valve is necessary. The valve that's on there now probably has a 1/8" npt thread... it unscews and can probably be replaced with what you are talking about. The usual reason for doing the cable system would be because the valve was difficult or impossible to get to without removing the cowl - a bigger deal with a Cessna than with most Thorps. The valve could also be replaced with one that is just pushed, rather than the one you now have that is pushed & turned (& will remain open if you want it to). If you can reach it, I think that I would keep what you have like Frase said.

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John Evens
Arvada, Colorado
T-18 N71JE (sold)
Kitfox 7 SS N27JE

Ah yes - I do remember those now that you mention it - dunno why I was thinking in the cockpit......mussbee getting old....been awhile since I was in a cessna....

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Fraser MacPhee
N926WM
Serial #279-1
Angel Fire, NM (KAXX)

The gascolator on N48LK is similar to the picture you show, and I think a lot of others are too. Mine is recessed also, above a small access hole in the cowl, and it's a safety thing I read about one time. In case of failed gear and a belly landing it's less likely to break off and get fuel everywhere. I use a short piece of 3/4" alum. tube with a couple of notches in one end to push on the valve tangs. The fuel drains down inside the tube to a sample cup for preflight.

I was thinking about this just today with such cold temps here. After opening a fuel selector that's been off, any water in the tank would take a while to get through the plumbing and gascolator. It's smart to drain a good amount for preflight.

Les Krumel
Albuquerque

Hey dude ! You found my sock !

RB

Wow!
Fraser - yes, it's in the engine compartment. I may have to do the manual drain like was suggested by ljkrume with the notched tube.
jrevens - I hadn't considered the push-type valve and that would suit me well. I wouldn't mind crawling around under the engine to push a tube up against a push valve - it seems like it would be easier. I have to replace that existing push&turn valve anyway.

After all these good suggestions, I think I'll skip trying to hook up that cable to the gascolator and just replace the little valve on the bottom of the gascolator with a push-type valve that has a little pipe nipple below it and I'll use ljkrume's tube idea to drain the fuel into a bottle where I can check for water. I think that's better than the old' Cessna habit of just pulling on the cable and letting the plane "pee" on the ground where you don't have a chance to check for water.

This is an excellent forum, guys, and I appreciate all the help. The education for me from this one thread is: 1) a simpler set up with less parts to go wrong or maintain, 2) less risk than what I was considering because of some sort of lever connected to the cable that could encourage leaking, 3) I would actually be able to see the water in the fuel, 4) less weight by eliminating the unused cable, and 5) less cost because I only buy a little valve that needs replaced anyway. I still don't know how Cessna engineered it, but I'm going to our Chapter meeting on Friday and I'm going to take a peek.

Rich - you probably didn't want that sock back anyway!

jrevens - are the valves in the link below what you had in mind?
http://www.aircraftspruce.com/menus/ep/ ... afair.html

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John Twigg N12055 SN.79 Pittsburgh, PA (KFWQ)

I'm trying to find and prevent problems before I drag old' N12055 back out to the airport in April. The big (to me) issue that I found last night is that the plane only has a starter solenoid. It does not have a battery solenoid. Therefore, the starter solenoid (and the big cable to it) is always hot regardless of whether the master switch is turned OFF. Was this typical for the '70's homebuilts?

Anyway, this is a mandatory change in my mind. Where do you guys mount your battery cut-off solenoid? I was thinking of mounting it inside the battery box (which is in the baggage compartment) because the new PC680 battery is so much smaller than the box. Or, outside the box on the forward side of it. There is a good 6" of space there that I could protect it from coming into contact with baggage (metal buckles, etc.)

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John Twigg N12055 SN.79 Pittsburgh, PA (KFWQ)