Coaxed the V-max to life for the first time since 2016 this afternoon. Wouldnt idle without full choke so a carb rebuild is in order but she sure sounds good. Hopefuly in the next few weeks there will be a flying story thread for this bird!
A friend bought a Volksplane some years ago that came with a 1600cc VW engine. On his first flight the carb iced and he totaled the plane (but luckily not himself). He gave me what was left of the engine and I turned it into a 1/2 VW that I tried on my old Airbike. I used dual Mikuni carbs with no carb heat and didn't have any problem. Some sort of carb heat is a good idea.
textailwinds warm thoughts, wishful thinking, a carb ice probability chart and 164.8 ice free hours logged? im partly hopping that the 2bbl progressive carb will always have one of its 2 butterflies full open under normal flight conditions which should leave that venturi ice free and 75% power always available even if the partially closed secondary butterfly ices limiting RPM above 75% throttle.
its one thing I haven't figured out yet. its a 2 bbl carb so I will have to introduce twice the amount of exhaust if I use the valley engineering method. it sits on a cast aluminum manifold above the intake pipes which negates the temp gains I would get from wrapping the intake pipes with the oil lines. it sits above the top of the cowl in a custom fairing which would make a traditional heat box an unsightly addition and would leave a 3ft long scat tube run from the an exhaust shroud outside the cowl and exposed to the cold slipstream where the intake air would lose its heat.
the first flight will probably just be made on a day non conducive to icing unless someone has a better idea? maybe a cordless hairdryer blowing at the carb...….
Chris
Remember, in aviation death sentences are administered by the laws of physics, not the FAA.
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