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Ellison Throttle Body?

Bud K

Bud K

Well Known Member
I am looking at buying an airplane with an Ellison EFS-4 Throttle Body injector. I downloaded the manual but can't find much current information on the company. Are they still in business selling throttle bodies and are parts still available for repair.

Also, how do they perform? A search on the forum leads me to several posts but most are over 10 years old. This has me concerned about obsolesce.
 
Bud K said:
I am looking at buying an airplane with an Ellison EFS-4 Throttle Body injector. I downloaded the manual but can't find much current information on the company. Are they still in business selling throttle bodies and are parts still available for repair.

Also, how do they perform? A search on the forum leads me to several posts but most are over 10 years old. This has me concerned about obsolesce.
Click to expand...

Ellison is out of business but a chap at nvaero.com bought the rights. Not sure of his current status because the link on his website is broken http://website.informer.com/visit?domain=nvaero.com Here is some rebuild info http://www.miravim.org/4RE/

I like mine. As long as I can keep it running I will use it. It will save you about 80-85% of the fuel savings you would get with true fuel injection. Nowadays it looks like Rotec is a replacement.
 
ETB status

Hi Bud,
Back in 2014, I bought a used Ellison TBI to install in my RV7. At that time I was able to contact Ben Ellison by phone. After some discussion, he agreed to “reseal” my unit, though he was careful to avoid calling it “overhauled”.
As part of our conversation, Ben indicated that he was ready for retirement and wasn’t excited about selling, due to liability concerns.
I believe there was a short time when a guy in CA was supporting the TBI’s but he is gone now.
Bottom line is that I loved flying with my Ellison, it was simple, gave me the ability to lean aggressively, easy starting, runs inverted, etc...
Sadly, I am not able to find any source of support out there. Too bad, because I really like mine.
Personally, I wouldn’t be afraid of buying an airplane with an Ellison installed, assuming it’s running well. There’s no reason to expect it to not perform well for a long time. But if an issue does arise at some point, you’ll probably have to go in a different direction.
Sorry for rambling on, hope this helps.
Just my observation, FWIW.
Good luck, Jim
 
Ellison

I’m flying behind a Ellison, overhauled by the gentleman out west. He was optimistic, but he had other aviation related businesses and his turn time was long. I don’t know what I will do when it starts to leak internally, I have throttle shaft staining now. I may go to the Rotec or back to a carb with a new air box, or pick one of the other fuel injection methods. I can confirm I can lean the engine to fuel starvation smoothly. LOP is no problem. I would not run any Mogas with alcohol in it though. I run a little MMO, not sure if it helps or not.
 
Spare Ellison

I do have my Ellison 4-5 that I won’t be needing, since my new engine is coming with FI. I can sell it to someone if that helps anyone out. It ran fine, with no leaks. Could also be used for parts, I guess. PM if interested.
Jim
 
Thanks for the inputs, keep them coming

I appreciate the comments. The plane I am looking at has not flown in 8 months, has only flown 1.2 hrs in the past year, and has only 700 hrs since new in 2002. I have been told that the engine ran fine (8 months ago), but the years of relative inactivity have me concerned.

A friend and I will perform a prebuy inspection. Good comment on the throttle shaft seal leakage. I will keep an eye on that during the inspection. Are there any other telltale areas in the throttle body that I should looking at?

I did see the Rotec TBI as an option. Does anyone have experience with it?
 
Shut down

Understand that when you shut down and the vac of the running engine disappears, you will see some fuel out of the throat of the carb, maybe a couple of teaspoons. This is normal. It’s the remainder of the fuel in the spray bar and chamber draining. If it fuel keeps draining, then an inlet seat issue is likely the culprit. It’s a glass ball in a brass or aluminum seat. Sounds strange, but it works. If that is leaking, you’ll know it, fuel will run out after shutdown, a small trickle.

Mine operates like a carb, where going to idle cut off mixture shuts down every time. Many setups don’t and guys default to mag off. Idle mixture can be a tough to set right, but once it’s set, it is locked in, but carbs can be like that too.

The forum has a lot of info.
 
Thanks DC for the link on Rotec TBI. There is lots of information on it. This actually helped me understand the Ellison TBI as well. If the FAB flow bugs have been worked out with the Ellison TBI, replacing it with the Rotec TBI shouldn’t be that difficult.
 
Jimzim said:
Spare Ellison

I do have my Ellison 4-5 that I won’t be needing, since my new engine is coming with FI. I can sell it to someone if that helps anyone out. It ran fine, with no leaks. Could also be used for parts, I guess. PM if interested.
Jim
Click to expand...
Hi Jim,
I understand this is an older thread, but do you still have the Ellison 4-5 for sale? Mine is leaking fuel if the fuel pump is on after shutdown through the aft needle/seat area. Would love one as a replacement or parts.

Thanks,
Annie
 
AHelliwell said:
Hi Jim,
I understand this is an older thread, but do you still have the Ellison 4-5 for sale? Mine is leaking fuel if the fuel pump is on after shutdown through the aft needle/seat area. Would love one as a replacement or parts.

Thanks,
Annie
Click to expand...
Hi Annie, no, I don’t have the unit anymore. I sold it a while back.
Sorry and good luck, Jim
 
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