Mounting the carb; sideways OK?

[Brian Vickers]

I am wondering about the clock position of a traditional Precision carb on an O320D1A. Can the carb be mounted with the control links (arms) on the back instead of the right side? This would be rotating it clockwise 90 degrees to what I usually see on other airplanes. Are there any reasons why it could not be mounted in this non traditional position? This would simplify the control cable runs from the throttle quad on my RV-4. I have never seen an engine set up this way. Sure looks tempting because the control cables would only have a bend to the right and then connect.

[mahlon_r]

It can be mounted in any one of the 4 vertical positions available.
Good Luck,
Mahlon
'The opinions and information provided in this and all of my posts are hopefully helpful to you. Please use the information provided responsibly and at your own risk.?

[Steve Sampson]

Brian - I thought about that for a while also. I will be interested to see if you can make it work.

I discarded the idea for a couple of reasons:
- 1. I had the parts to do it the standard way, and I had completed the air box.
- 2. I could not find anyone who had done it.

In retrospect I think it might be more difficult than I had thought. If you look at this picture,http://gikonfwf.blogspot.com/2008/02...age.html#links , you see that in fact it would be very hard to make the steel part that VANS supplies to hold the two cables any smaller because the cables themselves define the distance it sticks back, or sideways if you mount it cross wise. I never bolted it all together sideways but it seemed to me I would never have the cables bend around quick enough to stay clear of the cowl.

I wanted to keep the area between my feet clear for baggage and to adjust CofG so that stopped the cables coming in there. With the right length cables I have ended up with them all coming into the fuse as you see here ,http://gikonfuse.blogspot.com/2008/0...ble.html#links , and they all work smoothly. The worst bend, and it is tight is the one, you see in the first picture, for the mixture.

I will be really interested to see if you do it.

God luck!

[Brian Vickers]

Thanks Mahlon and Steve,

Steve, you are probably right about the cowl being too tight. I like what you have done and can understand your reasoning. I am going to play around with the quarter turned carb a little and see if there is a way to make it work. I have even pondered the idea of running the cables straight down from the throttle and into the floor cavity. Solving these various systems set-ups is vastly more interesting than trudging along on the ?wing building desert.? Glad I stuck it out and persevered. Again, thanks for the responses.