Verner 3 cyl on LEU Treehugger/ThreeJugger/Radial Eagle

[Dan_]

These concerns are all due to the fact that we are running on gravity feed, and not using the supplied fuel pump. 

Tom,
Is it a float type carb..?  If so you need to make sure the needle and seat are sized correctly for gravity feed instead of fuel pump feed.
Weather is getting better by the minute... 

[Tom H]

It is not a float type carb.  It is an overgrown weed-eater carb, a Walbro WB.  Some discussion of the carb is in the previous posts of this thread.

We have to be sure that the flow if fuel is sufficient in all flight conditions.

[Dan_]

Tom,
I should have scrolled down, my question was answered in the second post...  Your questions about pumps and the pulse line should be answerable by the manufacturer...

[Tom H]

April 22, 2018, another date which will live in infamy . . . in our minds, anyway.  Radial engined LE N217HT (restored Tree Hugger) finally flew!!  We got to the airport early this morning, weather was good, winds light, straight down the runway.  Captain Dave, one of the re-builders of the airplane, did some full power run-ups, decided it felt good, and made history.  As far as we know, the first Eagle to fly with a Verner 3 cylinder radial.

Take-off run was quick and short, maybe 50 ft.  Climb-out was done at a relatively high airspeed, and was way better than the airplane had ever done before.  Full throttle speed was around 70 mph at around 2100 rpm, cruise at 1900 rpm about 60 mph.  He said the airplane felt perfect - no tendency to roll, dive or climb.  Overhead, it sounded great.  Like some antique biplane cruising by with that slow, lumbering melody.  He ended it with a smooth wheel landing.  Taxiing back, he had the famous Eagle Grin on his face.

There is no doubt in my mind that this is the best engine that I know of for a LE.  When Frank gets his LEXL flying, he'll probably say the same about his.

Oh, by the way, Frank, we put the supplied fuel pump on.  We were doing some high nose up ground testing and found that the engine did not seem to run the same as when level, seemed a bit sluggish.  The fuel pump made the difference like night and day.  The engine accelerates more quickly and smoothly now.  And, we found that the pump will let fuel flow when not running, so the engine will continue to run if the pump quits.  So, when you get close to flight testing, I'd suggest you keep that in mind.

Another thing we did was hooked up a 5 dollar Chinese knock-off of the Tiny-Tach, and it worked perfectly, accurate and steady as a rock.  My son bought a dozen of them off ebay, and gave one to me.  Best electronic tach yet.  And cheapest.  Never had much luck with the Tiny-Tachs, unfortunately.

We took video, but did not have a proper video camera with zoom, etc., so the video we got was not very good.  We flew from a commercial airport with tower, so we could not stroll out to the edge of the runway like we do at the grass strip.  But, we'll get some good video when we move the airplane to the grass strip.

A good day, but unfortunately, the wind starting picking up and we had to put it away after two flights.

[leshoman]

Congratulation on first flight with the Verner radial.  waiting fir more ight info and video. 

[s johnson]

Tom, and Crew,

Fantastic news. Well done to you and the gang. Congratulations.

Scott J.
Oshkosh

[Kevin N.]

Congratulations on getting her flying. Dam, one day late for Thunder over Louisville. Would've made quite a stir on the airshow line.

[Tom H]

I just rec'd some better, but not great, video of the LE Radial take-off and flight.  But, the sound is great.

I had to put these in Google Drive due to their too large size.  Worked once for me, hope it works again.

Take-off
https://drive.google.com/file/d/13puohIf4x6N1tIWx64QUAzOgl9ByBqv8/view?usp=sharing

Fly-over
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10X6yq15W6vqphUS39NxCK2kqcNQNm5sw/view?usp=sharing

Landing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qm04TYDyThJ5sx74aMvo0rabDZzXbcds/view?usp=sharing



Kevin, the guys wanted to make the first flight on Saturday, Thunder Over Louisville Day, but the tower was not allowing pattern flying.  It would have made an impression flying down the river, and probably got the pilot arrested!

[PropMan]

Tom, That's Great!

I had seen the video on Facebook yesterday. Sounds Awesome. Mine will follow soon as i get a few props done for customers. Gotta pay the bills.

BTW- i have decided to pull the header tank and go with the fuel pump also. Approx same weight , so no gain there. Thanks for the info too. 

Looking forward to seeing flight data

[Nical]

Congratulations on your successful first flight of the VLEX.   I will possibly be right behind Frank  and HIS first VLEX,
  Cheers,

  Nick L.

[challenger_i]

Tom:

  It isn't an over-sized weed-eater carb: it's a miniature Bendix PS-5 injector carb!
Hope this makes you feel better!

It is not a float type carb.  It is an overgrown weed-eater carb, a Walbro WB.  Some discussion of the carb is in the previous posts of this thread.

We have to be sure that the flow if fuel is sufficient in all flight conditions.

[Tom H]

Sounds much better!

[challenger_i]

Thought you'd like that!

Sounds much better!

[leshoman]

Tom
When  you start the engine when it is cold, if you advance the throttle does it try to die and starts moving around or does it take the throttle advance.  Mine, after it runs for while and warms up some will smooth out and take the throttle but initially the smallest throttle advance is met with bad shaking and wants to die.

[Tom H]

Les, seems our Verner was a bit stubborn initially, but is good now.  We use the fuel pump continually.  It will run with the pump off, but not as well.  Also, we have fiddled with the high speed mixture to allow highest rpm at full throttle, then richen it about 1/8 turn.  However, there is not a drastic change with this mix adjustment, which seems odd to us.  Usually, a high speed mix adjust can be adjusted to get rough running at both too lean and too rich settings, but this one does not seem to allow adjustment to be too rich.  Its OK, but we have our theories that the carb may be too small.  But, the factory probably knows more than we do???

To start the first time for the day, we turn on the pump, then push the little primer button on the carb for a moment, which dumps fuel into the carb.  It will then start right away.  Of course we don't give it too much throttle until it runs for a few minutes, but we try to keep it out of the shaking range, which is around 900 - 1200 rpm, as I recall.