Good Fuel Valve Gone Bad….

My family has owned and operated a 7AC since 1976, with many happy years of flying, kiddo’s soloing and so on.  Good lord willing, there will be many happy years of that in the future.

Since I was old enough to pay attention to the airplane, the fuel valve has been a recurring nuisance.  Every couple of years, we have rebuilt the valve, carefully polishing the mating surfaces with jewelers rouge, replacing the packing, leak checking on a bench stand,  to varying degrees of success.  Recently, the valve had become difficult to turn, but other than that, it worked correctly, and did not leak.

 

We experienced an occasion where the engine lost power, and later investigation revealed the torque rod was not fully selecting the valve OPEN.

After that difficulty we decided to install a “Burl’s Alaska” PMA fuel valve.  Plenty of info at www.burlac.com.

The (choke…) $400.00 valve arrived and we fitted it, after ordering new AN fittings for the fuel line.

The documentation was surprisingly complete, and included the STC, PMA paperwork and an approved drawing to modify the existing torque rod to the fuel shutoff lever.

All in all, the valve and associated machine work looks first rate.  The STC documents are in order, and we are hoping  for many years in service in the future.