Brief Description: Smoke oil tank considerations (READ THIS)
So, Sonex makes this BIG honkin' smoke oil tank that goes on the firewall. They note in the instructions that they don't tell you where to put it since everyone's setup is different. Fair enough. What they SHOULD HAVE MENTIONED AT A MINIMUM! is that the tank is so big, make sure you don't put it on the left (pilot's side) of the firewall! Why? Because the big honkin' starter motor hanging off the back of the engine, GOES RIGHT THERE!
Since I (and most people putting in a smoke system) do not have the engine hung yet, I didn't knwo about the starter motor. I don't know what made me think of it tonight, but I did. So I started measuring. The tank and the starter were going to collide! Dammit! So after catching my breath I thought of one more thing. The engine gets pushed forward by about an inch, when the rubber motor mount grommets are put on the engine mount. So I put those on and measured again. It APPEARS that I will clear the smoke oil tank by about 1/4"!
I mounted my tank as high as it could possibly go without hitting the fuel filler enclosure or the engine mount. If I had mounted it just an inch lower, then that 1/4" of clearance noted above, would have disappeared, and the two immovable objects could not share the same space.
I will have to wait until I hang the engine to find out if it really works.
Smoke oil tank behind engine mount... where the starter will be!
