Herbert,

snipped

 I would strongly urge you NOT to mount the fuel selector on the

firewall. You

could mount it slightly forward of that area to keep fuel lines short

and greatly

increase safety. There seems to be a greatly exaggerated fear of fuel
lines/connections in the cockpit area. A properly designed and assembled

(I'm

talking double flared, 37 degree lines) system will be very safe.
Charlie Kuss

Charlie,  Thanks for voicing something that desperately needed to be said.
The urge to "get all the fuel lines out of the cockpit" is very misplaced
(IMHO).  It played a part in  John Denver's crash (the rube-goldburg remote
fuel selector valve). I'd rather have no leak at all but when I ask myself
which I would rather have, a fuel leak in the cockpit, or a fuel leak under
the cowl, I'll take the cockpit leak every time.  First because I will know
it as soon as it starts to develop, and second, because a leak under the
cowl is almost guaranteed to be a fire not just a leak.

FWIW, I put every possible fuel line inside the cockpit (and visible)
including the gascolator (sp?)and fuel pumps.  (BTW, the normal aircraft
practice of putting the gascolator on the engine side of the firewall in the
hottest possible spot near the exhaust has got to be one of the most
senseless ideas ever)  One reason for this was to minimise the number and
length of fuel lines so not all of this sage advice will apply to all
airplanes, especially canards.

Phew! Glad I got my venting done early in the day.  Getting off my soapbox
now.

Tracy Crook

Listers,
 Tracy is absolutely correct here. Your nose can detect one molecule gasoline in
several million molecules of air. Most leaks start as a slight "weep". A number of
folks have posted on the RV List about smelling fuel leaks in the cockpits of their
RVs. Most of these were so small that it required dusting the connectors with talc
to find the leaks. Your nose can detect leaks that small.
 Leaks under the cowl won't be detected until you see fuel dripping on the ground.
By the time the leak has progressed this far, you might not make it back down TO
the ground. RV builder Eustace Bowhay moved his gascolator off the firewall and
mounted it in the wing root area. I am including a link to a site where you can
view photos of RV-8 builder Jon Ross's use of this idea.

http://www.egroups.com/files/SEFlaRVbuilders/Fuel+System+Photos+%26+Drawings/

Several of the local RV builders, including myself intend to make a joint purchase
of an aircraft double flaring tool. Split between half a dozen builders, this is
cheap insurance.
 The DOT mandates that ALL brake lines on your car be double flared. Why? Because
it's a "critical" system. Personally, I feel that EVERY fuel and oil line on my
aircraft is "critical". This is a situation that reminds me of the great 1980s Bell
Helmet advertisement, which asked:
"Got a $10 head?. Buy a $10 helmet!"

Charlie Kuss

 
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