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Zenith CruZer & Sonex Logs
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Date: 1-2-2010
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Number of Hours: 2.60
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Manual Reference: Firewall Fwd Guide
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Brief Description: Gascolator
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Re-mounted the engine mount and held in position without shims in order to determine gascolator clearance.
Mentally strugged with the alignment of the gascolator. The line from the tank inside the cockpit is suggested to penetrate the firewall between the right-side rudder pedals. The spring-closed drain valve also needs to be relatively close to the bottom of the cowling in order to allow it to be checked during pre-flight. None of this comes with dimensions from Sonex, so the builder must figure out where it should go him/herself. To complicate matters, the AeroConversions firewall-forward instructions call out the same Wicks part number for the gascolator, but the picture contains a slightly longer version that is currently shipped. In order to position the gascolator, this brings the firewall penetration of the fuel line a bit lower to the bottom of the rudder pedals than I would like. A quick call to a friend with a flying Sonex basically confirmed that the line will be lower than originally thought.
So, I marked the penetration spot and up-drilled it to 5/8" diameter. The next difficult task would be to correctly place the mounting bolts for the gascolator to fuselage. These bolts are occluded by the front of the gascolator, so you cannot just run a drill bit thru them to mark the firewall. Additionally, it would be nice in my mind if the gascolator were level.
To solve this, I decided to make a template from a scrap piece of aluminum. I messed up the first one with the spacing of the holes. All three holes (the 5/8" for the line plus two 3/16" for the bolts are not aligned in a straight line. All three holes' top edges are in a line. Finally created the template, secured it to the firewall using a large tap (hey - whatever works!), and then ensured the holes were each even with respect to the lower edge of the fuselage. Marked the outline of the template and called it a night.
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Drilling template secured in position
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