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Permalink Reply by Randy Cross on December 2, 2012 at 11:50am

My advice would be to keep the panel and get some wings tanks....You will be much safer than having 16 gallons of fuel sitting in you lap with the header tank..In case of a hard landing accident it's good to have the fuel out in the wings...

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Permalink Reply by Brad Boon on December 2, 2012 at 8:22pm

Hi Randy,

I already have the Leading edge tanks installed, but I plan I pumping them into a header tank.   Mainly  I wanted to gravity feed the engine (corvair) if possible.  I have the Left wing nearly done, just finishing up the aileron now.  I don't like having fuel in the cockpit either but that is how Zenith originally designed it if that means anything. I haven't installed the header yet so II can still change back to having just the wing tanks, just have to decide

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Permalink Reply by Randy Cross on December 4, 2012 at 7:34pm

Hi Brad...The header tank with wing tanks is a great idea if you have a glass panel and you want a gravity feed fuel system that offers some redundancy in case your main fuel pump fails...or if you want to do some long cross-country flights.

I guess that I freaked out when a local CH601 pilot had a 15 g hard landing due to a baggage locker opening on final and that caused him to stall while landing. He got burned pretty bad when the header tank exploded and the plane was destroyed. He likely would have been OK if he came in faster on final to prevent stalling.

Not trying to scare you but I decided that the further away from me the fuel is...the happier I am.  

Good luck with your project...I'll be watching for you first flight..

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Permalink Reply by Bob Pustell on December 5, 2012 at 11:35pm

I'll join the chorus -- keep the panel, ditch the header tank. Fuel in the cockpit is nasty and dangerous. Put a couple of hotwired electric pumps on the firewall as depicted in William Wynne's 601 install manual for the Corvair and you have redundant pumps that will run with the electric system turned off or disabled. And, by putting the pumps on the firewall instead of near the wing tanks, you avoid fuel lines under pressure in the cockpit. If a suction line gets a leak, it sucks in air. If a pressure line gets a leak, it squirts fuel on you. I am a devout coward and proud of it. I flew out burn victims for medical care after battle damage crashes in sunny Southeast Asia. Also, one of my instructors during military pilot training had lots of burn scars on him. Makes one nervous of fuel and what it can do. For all those same reasons, I will be using AN lines for my fuel system, not the rubber hose and barbed fitting/hose clamp arrangement the factory provides.

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Permalink Reply by Brad Boon on December 17, 2012 at 8:54pm

Still for sale:

Narco Transponder AT-50 ($300 OBO)

Narco Com 810 TSO ($500 OBO)

Ameri-King Encoder ($80)

Turn Coordinator ($150)

Mitchel Fuel Pressure Gauge 0-15 psi ($30)

See Picture. Everything else from previous post is sold.  Contact me at brad_boon@yahoo.com.  Thanks,

Brad

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