As many know, us carbureted RV drivers have a little rite of passage that we must go through. Usually the mantra of "build it like the plans say" works, but not in this case. I've been on this learning curve now for a little over 400 hours. There are a few basic, per plans, problems with the carb heat hardware setup. Not enough heat for my comfort, B-nut with cotter pin in steel bracket wears the hole severely for increased slop and eventual breakage, extruded door hinge wears the hinge loops for more slop and eventual breakage. All this conspires to make for one big sloppy, about to break, mess. To date, my efforts have focused on the carb heat control cable to door lever attachment. I removed the standard B-nut very early on at around 150 hours. That obviously wasn't going to work long term. I then installed a proper rod end bearing with a little attachment "pin vice" type thing to put it on the end of the solid wire cable. This has the effect of breaking the cable right where it goes into the adapter like clockwork at around each 80-100 hours of service. Duh.
I finally decided I was ready to try something else. This time I would address each of my misgivings with the setup. First, was to install a Robbins Wings carb heat muff to hopefully produce more heat. Along with that, I installed his airbox flange that has the sides closed off to only draw air from the heat muff. There have already been a couple of times when we were in the clouds in cooler weather that I really wished we had more effective carb heat. Next was to deal with the door hinge that was continuing to wear. While talking with Gary Zilik over a beer at his kitchen table (at 8000' and reduced O2 levels), I presented my little set of issues. Note that he has a lot of hours on his carbureted RV compared to me. He used a piece of baffle seal material riveted in place of the hinge. He also simply wrapped the control cable around the shank of a bolt for actuation. The ultimate in simplicity and many fewer parts to wear. So those are the solutions I'm adopting for this next step in my learning curve. I really like the looks of this installation and have high hopes.
click the pictures for bigger.
I finally decided I was ready to try something else. This time I would address each of my misgivings with the setup. First, was to install a Robbins Wings carb heat muff to hopefully produce more heat. Along with that, I installed his airbox flange that has the sides closed off to only draw air from the heat muff. There have already been a couple of times when we were in the clouds in cooler weather that I really wished we had more effective carb heat. Next was to deal with the door hinge that was continuing to wear. While talking with Gary Zilik over a beer at his kitchen table (at 8000' and reduced O2 levels), I presented my little set of issues. Note that he has a lot of hours on his carbureted RV compared to me. He used a piece of baffle seal material riveted in place of the hinge. He also simply wrapped the control cable around the shank of a bolt for actuation. The ultimate in simplicity and many fewer parts to wear. So those are the solutions I'm adopting for this next step in my learning curve. I really like the looks of this installation and have high hopes.
click the pictures for bigger.
