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First Cross Country - Hot Cockpit Normal? Gas Overflow at Header Tank?

  • Brady Buttterfield
  • Topic Author
16 Aug 2021 15:26 - 16 Aug 2021 15:47 #7 by Brady Buttterfield
Thanks, Larry. I actually don't have the air hole on my nose bowl. Maybe I should get that added?

I plan on using the header tank simply as a reserve and keeping it full most of the time. I guess we don't have vent tubes for the tanks then. I'll save some space for expansion like you mentioned!
Last edit: 16 Aug 2021 15:47 by Brady Buttterfield.

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16 Aug 2021 15:00 #8 by Larry Snyder
Follow the scat from the hole in the nose bowl and see which flapper valve it goes to. That’s your fresh air. I’ve found that flying with the vent open with the windows about 3-4” apart at the top I get maximum cooling. If you have a rain-pruf gauge on the cowl tank cap, make sure the little red cap is in good shape. Also make sure the gasket is good on that cap. In hot weather I leave an inch or to when I fill the wings. If you time your flights so you never use the cowl tank, you will never have to fill it. That’s always messy. Good luck!

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  • Brady Buttterfield
  • Topic Author
16 Aug 2021 14:52 #9 by Brady Buttterfield
Hello Folks. 
I flew my Ercoupe home on Saturday, she was fantastic.  The old C85 did great and we had a nice 4-5 GPH burn for the two hour flight at 3,000' at 85-100 MPH.  Oil pressure was great along with oil and cylinder head temps.  There were a couple questions/issues I noted. The first is that the interior was pretty dang hot.  I have a cabin vent pull, and a second pull tab which I assume is cabin heat.  When pulling the right-most, second tab it made the cabin very warm so we kept that closed.  The first cabin vent tab when pulled, added more air flow but it seemed to be warm as well.  Because of the hot interior i flew most of the way with the windows mostly down.  It was a hot day at about 80 degrees at our altitude.  My interior has the naugahyde & carpet kit.  There does seem to be insulation on the firewall as well. 
Second issue/question, with a full header tank, I filled the wing tanks in preparation for the flight home.  On start up, I noticed a bit of fuel coming out of the header tank as it was blown onto the wind screen.  This plane has a new mechanical fuel pump that must be doing a great job.  Does anybody else have this issue, should I leave a bit of room for the fuel to expand in the tanks?  Do we have fuel vents?

  

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