Help, I think I soiled my carburetor.

[DesertFox4]

Glad you made quick progress Dorsal. Sounds like your engine is fine and making full power again. D@%#ed alcohol. Love it in my martini's, not in my fuel. The CarbMate will get it running like a fine Austrian watch.
Wondering what that "sludge" would have done to a fuel injection system.

[cap01]

kind of wondering why filters dont catch this crap before it get to the carbs ?

[Dorsal]

I believe it is because it is in solution, when the atomized fuel coats the walls of the carb and intake manifold the fuel will vaporize depositing this stuff. I expect that the filter is clean (will replace anyway).
Thats my theory.

[cap01]

thats a reasonable explanation but since your building a model 7 , a person would think that youd have the latest tanks . so far weve been lucky , another kitfox and mine , and been able to get gas without alcohol . im sure a day will come when its not available . there is no common sense on the left coast

[Dorsal]

The tanks for my seven where probably built in 01-02 time frame, might have to swap them out someday but for now its 100LL and Decalin for me.

[cap01]

dorsal . i think my tanks were circa 1991 - 1992 . i replaced one last winter and ill do the other next winter . besides the alcohol issue i needed larger tanks , i originally had two 6 gal tanks . just not enough gas to go anywhere and get back without refueling .
have you scheduled your inspection yet . must be getting close .

[akarmy]

Very similar to the vintage of my series 7 tanks, which were made just 6 months before the switchover to the different resin. Oh well, someday in the future we all will have a tank replacement party... or they will finally give us some alcohol free unleaded at the airport!

[cap01]

andy , we were getting alcohol free gas right by the auburn airport at the station that sold the trick gas , untill a few months ago . sadly they dont handle it anymore . another holdout gave in .

[Lion8]

Fuel Filters. I would suggest that anyone using mogas to not use paper fuel filters. They will clog with this residue. I've been flying my Trike for 10 years now on mogas. I have a poly tank and see through blue fuel lines that I change every year. Haven't had any problems with this set up. The Fox now, well, it has fiberglass tanks and I will either run 100ll or fine a gas station that carries non-ethanol when the time come to fire it up. There are a few stations in Pa. that offer non-ethanol gasoline.
One of the guys in our EAA chapter works in the petroleum industry. He says you can order a tank load of non-ethanol right from the refinery. Only problem is that you will have to find a place for 3k gallons of the stuff. The gasoline suppliers get a tax break if they put the ethanol in at the time of delivery so expect to pay more for non-ethanol fuel. Other than that, it is a useless venture all around.

[Dorsal]

Next Chapter, clean carbs now what.
Turns out the brown sticky stuff coated the inside surface of both wing tanks, both tanks had been rinsed before installation but that had little effect on this stuff. Very fortunately for me Andrew G wanted to come up and see my plane offering to help with what ever was the task of the day. With his help we took a wing off and sloshed the tank with 1/2 gallon of acetone. Draining this into a white bucket revealed a mixture with the color of "slightly" weak coffee. Doing this twice more resulted in weak tea, then basically clear, we then sloshed with a gallon of clean fuel just for good measure. Did the second wing (about two hours per wing, THANK YOU Andrew) let them dry and further inspection showed no sign of the schmutz by finger or eye.
My conclusion is that the offending material was probably mold release that was not fully flushed out when the tanks where made and the whole affair is not related to Mo-Gas. I strongly recommend that if you have tanks of this vintage you run your finger inside them, any sense of stickiness/tackiness follow the procedure above, this stuff will stop your engine.

Back on track, looking for inspection next week.