sprucemoose
Well Known Member
I found this today while doing the annual on the Spruce Moose. As many of you have no doubt learned, the standard Van's carb heat muff is a pretty cheesy, ineffective affair. During my quest for a better solution, I came across this unit from Aircraft Spruce:
http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/eppages/cessnatypeheatmuff.php
I bought one and installed it. It works much better than the stock Van's unit, in that it actually produces a noticable RPM drop on run-up. I have extolled the virtues of this unit and have talked to many of you about it, and up until today I recommended it.
Well, here's what I found today:
This unit had about 150 hours in service. Three of the six stainless mounting ears had broken off entirely and were only held in place by the hose clamp. One of the remaining three ears had shed one of it's two rivets, and was hanging on by a thread. The final two ears just barely managed to hold the unit in place. However, it shifted enough to allow it to rub vigorously on the adjoining exhuast pipe, where it rubbed about 2/3 of the way through (the muff, not the pipe.)
I do like the idea of a wrap around carb heat muff over the stock Van's unit. However, based upon all this, I have serious doubts about this particular unit. I encourage everyone who has one (especially all those who I talked into buying and installing one) to take a close look at it.
http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/eppages/cessnatypeheatmuff.php
I bought one and installed it. It works much better than the stock Van's unit, in that it actually produces a noticable RPM drop on run-up. I have extolled the virtues of this unit and have talked to many of you about it, and up until today I recommended it.
Well, here's what I found today:
This unit had about 150 hours in service. Three of the six stainless mounting ears had broken off entirely and were only held in place by the hose clamp. One of the remaining three ears had shed one of it's two rivets, and was hanging on by a thread. The final two ears just barely managed to hold the unit in place. However, it shifted enough to allow it to rub vigorously on the adjoining exhuast pipe, where it rubbed about 2/3 of the way through (the muff, not the pipe.)
I do like the idea of a wrap around carb heat muff over the stock Van's unit. However, based upon all this, I have serious doubts about this particular unit. I encourage everyone who has one (especially all those who I talked into buying and installing one) to take a close look at it.