Fuel Flow Transducer (Red Cube, FT-60)

[wirejock]

Does anyone have experience to share on the Aircraft Specialty FT-60 mount for injected engines?
I only know one, Jereme, who has installed it. I don't believe he is flying yet.
http://www.aircraftspecialty.com/rv-7.html

[Lars]

Lotta ways to skin that cat (apologies to cat lovers, luckily neither of mine can read English). Mine lives betwixt fuel servo and flow divider. Latter in my case is on the pilot's side of the engine. Red cube is hanging in space, supported only by hoses. Flow is vertically up, wires emerge from the unit pointed straight back toward the firewall. Hoses are supported by mounts & adel clamps secured by the engine. This was an EI-approved solution, 1025 hours now and counting, no issues.

[RV10Man]

Larry, you have yours mounted like mine.

[bjdecker]

Between the engine fuel pump and the fuel servo inlet. As shown in the RV-14 plans (attached). I did this for both of my -7s with IO-360-A1B6 (Angle Valve) engines. I used straight steel AN fittings tho..

Works well, no issues with cavitation, heat, vapor lock, blah blah blah.

Cheers!

[Draker]

Larry, I'm currently working with Tom (TS) to get that bracket to fit the way I'd like it. He has been very patient with me and excellent to work with. Here are some of the things I've learned so far during the process:

1. Make sure you specify Lycoming or AFP. The brackets are different. Guess what I didn't do.
2. The Lycoming hose between the servo and fuel divider will be too long once the red cube is installed. Wait until it's mounted before you measure and get a new hose. If you guess like I did, you will get it wrong and go through several hoses.
3. Using Tom's "v1" design, I found I needed about 1/8" of shim between the bracket and engine case. This necessitated a longer bolt. Spruce part # 08-07453 seems to be the right size for me, but I have not final installed it yet. Tom will likely weigh in on this thread to mention he has a new version of the bracket coming soon that will eliminate the need for shims, but I didn't want to wait.
4. When mounted as in your picture, you may find the straight fitting on the inlet side of the red cube is a little far outboard, and comes very close to the cylinder fins. I plan to mitigate this with a 45 degree fitting from the red cube, plus a 45 degree hose end, to ensure clearance and a "straight shot" down through the intercylinder baffle hole. The right fitting would be AN823-4-4 (steel) which is impossible to find online. Tom can hook you up.

Remember to plug the "gauge" port on the fuel divider, per SB 18-05-21.

[DavidHarris]

After reading many threads about placement of the red cube and heat issues, I put mine on the cabin floor between the electric boost pump and the firewall feed thru. There seem to be pros and cons on all the placements. This one avoids the heat and vibration issues and has been accurate for me. I only have 150 hours on it so gotchas might arise in the future.

[BillL]

Originally Posted by Lars

Lotta ways to skin that cat (apologies to cat lovers, luckily neither of mine can read English). Mine lives betwixt fuel servo and flow divider. Latter in my case is on the pilot's side of the engine. Red cube is hanging in space, supported only by hoses. Flow is vertically up, wires emerge from the unit pointed straight back toward the firewall. Hoses are supported by mounts & adel clamps secured by the engine. This was an EI-approved solution, 1025 hours now and counting, no issues.

Originally Posted by RV10Man

Larry, you have yours mounted like mine.

Like you guys, same location, but have a soft mount made from baffle material.

[KayS]

Mine is installed at the lower engine side of the firewall. No additional insulation and very accurate. It developed a leak at the inlet after 20 hours. Initially i used permatex #2 on the thread. I was able to make another full turn at the fitting, now it should be ok. I suggest to use straight steel fittings if possible.

[Electrogunner]

Mine is mounted on top of my forward facing servo with a steel 90D fitting on the in side then a 45D fitting facing up feeding the spider. Tom proved the line from the 45D up to the spider and the other steel fitting. It is supported against the top of the servo with RTV. I have about 200hrs on this setup and always check it when I inspect FWF at every oil change. It has been rock solid so far.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/89g2p0m71q...15781.jpg?dl=0

[TS Flightlines]

There are alot of ways to do this. We opted for the flow divider location to eliminate 2 hoses in the install. 1 of those typically was pretty short and a critical measuerment. If it was off, then the location of the transducer was off, which threw everything else off. LOL----I cant tell you how many we did with guys asking if we could cut 1/8-1/4 off the short hose to allow it to fit. With that, I took another look to see what we could do about making life easier.

NOT TO SAY that ours is the bible on how to do it---alot of your installs work just fine. We took recommendations from several respected sources and came up with our solution. And yes----its had multiple revisions. WE are always trying to improve it.

Tom