Original Posted By: RBush96589(at)aol.com
The fuel tank for NX41CC is out of the airplane and is easy to measure and photograph and I'll be glad to do it, but I'll tell you this- it might not fit many (any?) other Piets. For example, if you have a Ford "A" engine, it won't work because the Ford uses the shelf space for the magneto to extend into while the A65 doesn't. This fuel tank also extends very nearly from longeron to longeron in the port-to-starboard direction, and I've already found in rebuilding the firewall that anything other than very flexible wires that go through the firewall, have to be snug up against the sides of the fuselage or they won't clear the fuel tank. This is fine if you are able to route your controls and cables to the extreme sides of the fuselage.That said, the fuel tank on 41CC is very well constructed (welded aluminum), simple, lightweight, and I have seen no evidence of leaks or repairs... and NO sloshing compound. The inside is shiny clean. It holds about 16 US gallons, has a J-3 style float-and-rod quantity indicator that Corky marked in 1-gallon increments with very small notches filed in the brass rod. I checked calibration of the float and rod and found it dead-on.I intended to paint the indicator rod with the last 3 gallons' worth being painted red as a "you'd better find a level place to land this thing", the next 3 gallons to be painted yellow for, "you'd better find a field with fuel within 20 miles of here", and the rest of it green. And although I did this (epoxy paint), I found that Corky, always Mr. Conservative, did not figure the last 1.5 to 2 gallons in the tank to be usable. When the indicator rod bottoms out, there can be a gallon or two of fuel still in the tank.However, that remaining fuel really shouldn't even be considered part of a 30-minute reserve because when the fuel level is that low in the tank, the fuel valve outlet could become unported in a turn from downwind to base or base to final. So... only the top 1" or so of the indicator rod is painted red and I hope never to be tempted to fly into the 2 gallons that supposedly remain when I run out of indicator rod. But it's there and I've measured it and in level flight it will feed into the finger strainer and fuel valve.PS- I've decided to install a small mirror for the front cockpit as well. It will allow the rear-seater to see the face of the passenger and vice-versa. Could be useful. Now I have to empty a Pabst 12-pack carton to generate some material to make the template for the mounting bracket from ;o)Oscar ZunigaSan Antonio, TXmailto: taildrags(at)hotmail.comwebsite at http://www.flysquirrel.net________________________________________________________________________________