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Ellison Bottle Throttle To Be Replaced

iaw4

Well Known Member
dear rvers---my 6a (O-360-A2F) currently has an ellison bottle throttle carb. the problem is not that it is broken. the problem is that no one is familiar with it and the company no longer exists. (I tried to follow the trail, but it has a dead end...even though I live in SoCal near the final owner of the tech.) I suspect my carb is set for fuel flow that is too rich. but who really knows? sigh... I think it is time to find something that is common and supported.

unfortunately, it does not seem economical to replace it with a standard carburator, because the latter would require more space and thus extensive reworking of my cowling.

is there a good reliable fuel injection system that can replace the EBTC (fit in the same space)? ideally one that won't go bankrupt anytime soon and is used widely.

advice, experiences, recommendations appreciated.

/iaw
 
to be clear, I am not alleging that the Ellison is worse or even is the problem. the real problem is that we do not have any mechanic here who knows the Ellison Bottle Throttle well enough and can diagnose it. even our top mechanics don't know. so, the engine does this or that...is it the Ellison or something else (like bad venting)? ellison definitely seems not to exist any longer. their website is now dead.

is the Rotec TBI (sounds like Rotax TBA) reliable, smaller (compared to carb), and common enough to be diagnosable by the average mechanic?

Uggg...they are in Australia. probably not ideal when something breaks.
 
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I had an Ellison Throttle Body Injector (TBI) on a Pitts and it was the pits. The only thing worse was a pre-war Excello fuel injection system on a Continental IO-200 powered Rose Parrakeet I used to own. I had to adjust the mixture on a moonless night while running the engine with the bird tied down to get just the right color to the flames coming out the exhaust stacks. Ridiculous.

Bottom line: Life is too short to deal with esoteric fuel delivery systems on a daily flyer. Ditch the TBI and go with a standard carb or traditional or modern fuel injection system. I am not helping you with an informed path for your particular airplane. I just think you are doing the right thing. Solidarity, man.

Jim
 
dat's my plan, indeed. I would go with super-vanilla if the ordinary carb would have fit the cowling, but it does not.

the rotec tbi would fit. could someone who has it please relay their experiences? is it standard and reliable enough to be recommended? or is it going to be an exchange of nightmares?
 
The throttle body looks small. Check with Ross for dimensions .

The SDS throttle bodies don't provide fuel delivery--they only handle air and are intended for EFI use. They won't replace a throttle-body injector.

My dad has used an Ellison TBI on his RV-6 for 18 years. It needs an overhaul but I think he just bought a new TBI from another manufacturer because the cost and downtime of the overhaul was quoted too high. I'll check with him on the details and see what he bought, but a Rotec sounds right (I think he said it's coming from Australia).
 
The Long Eze guys use the Ellison throttle body system a lot (assuming thats what you mean, instead of a "bottle throttle"...). In fact, it seems to be the fuel delivery of choice for those guys. I'd drop in on their forum to get some insight on tuning the thing. Also check out the Biplane forum - plenty of knowledge there too.

No sense throwing away a functional fuel system when it can be fixed with a few hours reading on the internet.
 
The link you posted from 2014 is most likely speaking of the old style 2 piece unit that had a separate pressure diaphragm that was per my understanding very finicky. The current units are one piece and have been reported to me to perform well as long as you abide by the installation instructions particularly the fact that they don't like ram air.
There's a respectable number of them out there flying so just realize that a few negative reviews from someone on the internet who may or most likely did not adhere to the installation guidelines makes it sound like a lot worse than it is.
 
thanks for pointing this out. I really don't know anything about the Rotec. I looked around for reviews, but did not notice any rave ones, not for the one-piece one, either. it would be great to have a few owners post a few experience reviews here...

regards,

/iaw
 
A little bit of fiberglass work and a new carburetor, be done with it. You have to have trust in your bird, you can't get out and walk. IMHO
RHill
 
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