1.2 Hours -
Tonight, I decided to play with my tube flaring tool a bit more. My first attempts resulted in good flares, but the area of the tube where the tool grips was left scarred. I thought wrapping the tube in some tape, before clamping it in the block, might alleviate this, but the block couldn’t grip the tape and the tubing just got pushed down. I also thought that I might be clamping the block too tightly, but less tight gave me the same result as the tape…the tube slipped. Finally, I decided to see how much the scarring interfered with some AN hardware. The scarring didn’t look like much, but I couldn’t slip an AN sleeve past it. On unflared tubing, the sleeve went on quite easily. As it turns out, the block was not only scarring the tube, but it was also distorting it slightly. With these results, I think my $30 flare tool experiment is a failure. There are some areas where I’ll accept less than perfect, but not on my fuel system. Time to order a Parker Rolo-Flair.
After playing with tube flaring, I decided to finish deburring the tank stiffeners. I still had 12 stiffeners with rough edges, but it didn’t take long to finish them up.
Next, I’ll drill the stiffeners to the left tank and then start working on some of the tank fittings (fuel sender, fuel filler neck, tank drain, vent line, etc.). I’m also debating whether or not to add a fuel return line to the tank. I think the only fuel injection system in consideration that needs a fuel return to the tank is the ECI system. However, there are several reasons I would like to avoid this setup…mainly the need for a duplex fuel valve. The duplex valve runs over $300, whereas the stock Van’s valve is under $50. Other fuel injection systems typically return fuel/vapor somewhere along the fuel supply line or they don’t require a return at all. If I end up with a carburetor, no fuel return is necessary. Putting in the return line now would be easy and I can cap it if it is unused (this also allows an easy upgrade if I ever need the return). However, there are several methods to install a return line after sealing the tank that aren’t all that difficult either. Part of me wants to omit return lines in the tanks so that I’m not even tempted by a system that needs it. Hmmm…what to do?!
