Placement of fuel valve on dash?

after purchasing an andair fuel selector for my smith-tcow kit, i found that it was too extrusive after the plumbing for the standard bracket on the fuselage.,,,, i should have ordered the little cheap one from aircraft spruce and drilled out the valve for the "both" settings as shown in the instruction manuel from tcow......after looking for an alternate location with minimal fabrication, we placed the selector on the lower left side of instrument panel and found it would work fine in that location.,,,,,,i asked my a&p friend about the practicality of the application with regards and the concern of electrical components within close proximity and also would i find fuel flowing in my lap in the event of an unscheduled crash?
i need some input and words of wisdom from the supercub elders before committing to this ideal.

Wouldn't that cause an "uphill " segment in the fuel lines from the tanks to the carb? Might cause flow issues.

John Scott

Piper put the J4 fuel valve in the bottom center of the instrument panel. Just beside the pilots rt knee. But the tanks are in the boot cowl and just behind the rt seat, so fuel line routing is different than a supercub.

Andair fuel valve

I fabricated a bracket for the Andair fuel valve, plenty of room for the plumbing.

I would call it a lesson and buy the Cub valve from Univair. It's a nice valve that is much thinner then what you have. I might even skip the "both" position being experimental.

Take care.

Crash

Crash,

Just out of curiosity, why might you choose to skip the option to feed from both tanks? Not arguing just curious. Interestingly, the TCOW fuel system plans suggest drilling a "both" postion into an inexpensive weatherhead valve. Thanks.


Brad

Brad,
Can you post the drawings/instructions for drilling this valve? I would like this option for my 2+2.
Dan2+2

Re: Andair fuel valve

zavji said:

I fabricated a bracket for the Andair fuel valve, plenty of room for the plumbing.

Click to expand...

No cross flow is the reason and my biggest complaint of the headerless system. I've never had any problems taking off and landing on one tank (as long as there was fuel in it).

I feel it's an "idiot proof" requirement that's not needed if you keep track of the fuel you have in your tanks and not land or take off on an empty tank.

Take care.

Crash