New member new post. I recently read a post about fuel pods and it was interesting but it didn’t really cover all I would have liked to have known prior to making the decision to install one. This is really directed at Cub Crafters SS-EX but it could be beneficial for anyone who is thinking on this. Let me mention a couple things before I get too deep into this. I fly a carbon cub and am building another; I see there is a lot of stereotyping that goes on and I get it as I just renewed my insurance and its still 4 times what my M4 Maule was 8 years ago when I had 1/20[SUP]th[/SUP] the time. I know there are a lot of new pilots out there buying carbon cubs and spending a lot of money doing it. But these days there are not a lot of $30K planes that don’t require twice that to be airworthy. Not to mention, if you own one you probably can afford to own one and who cares if they buy a new FX3 or a new G36 Bonanza for $1M, I don’t. Next off I am no A&P so my explanation of my experience of my fuel pod install is just my own. I am a machinist by trade and build automated machinery for a living, I do know which end of the wrench is the box end.
When I decided I wanted more fuel I didn’t really research a lot just liked the idea of the fuel pod and heard that on the CC it won’t hurt your cruise speed, actually some pick up 1 MPH or even 2. So I ordered straight from Lewaero and got it 6 weeks or so later. I was a super happy with how it was packaged and how it looked. A little surprised you need to go get a switch and breaker for it but whatever-that is why there is Amazon prime.
Let’s get to the install. First off on a Carbon cub you need to remove the back inside panel before you can remove the front. Easy unless the prior owner glued it in then you have a new problem. I did a work around on that as I didn’t want to crack the thin carbon trying to remove it. Being just a couple weeks out of a major spine surgery and being told “Zero BLT” it was a pain. BLT is high tech talk from my surgeon and stands for bending, lifting, twisting. But the acceptation to the rule was my wife was out of town so I don’t have to follow the rules. And what would be the worse that couple happen? Couple bent rods or broken screws (in my back not the plane).
The instructions say to plumb into the left tank fuel line. I didn’t like it but that’s what it says to do. Blessing in disguise, I had fittings seeping that needed attention. The fuel system on a CC looks like a crappy old vacuum system, it works but my background makes me not like it. I don’t like a lot of things and learn to live with them. So my first signal I should not follow the instructions was when it said to drain the fuel system, both tanks. I studied that fuel selector for a while and decided I would put it on left tank, drain it out the sump. Then cut the line I need to “T” into. Worked just fine and I didn’t have to go buy another fuel container. Then the next thing that had me scratch my head was it didn’t say to use thread seal on the NPT threads. I know there are plumbers that say the threads seal; the goop is lube. But they still put goop on every black pipe gas line they put together (I hope). I have cut enough threads to know pipe thread should seal as it is a tapered thread but I am not going to skip using fuel quality thread seal. I called Eric but by the time he got back to me I already used it and had most of the fuel system done. Eric is a great guy, very helpful and takes pride in what he does. But he may not be the best technical writer? Either way after I talked to him, I realized I should have gone with my gut and not used the instructions. He stated that the instructions are a guide, not the end all be all and I could do what ever I wanted. I would have plumbed into the fuel sight gauge on the right side had I not been thinking to follow the instructions. Specially after hearing that people were having check valve issues and their tanks were draining into the pod. That’s all good if there is room in the pod and the plane can run off the pod-but it can’t. Good news is he is using a different check valve and no issues to date with the new one. Now is when I should mention my tanks drained into my pod overnight last night so there may be issues with the check valve. Damn had I gone into the top of the sight tube this would not be possible. It also doesn’t mention you need to cut away where it penetrates the floor, not a big deal for a young chap with a good back, I’m neither. But I am picky I tried my best to focus on the dremmal at work and not the pain of being hunched over. My work was subpar in my eyes but I got it done.
Moving forward there was still a lot of work that I never thought much about. Like your com antenna has to be moved. I moved mine to the wing root and made a new RG cable. It bummed me out that I could not remove all of the old one. It is bound together with a bunch of wires and all I could do was cut it off and abandon some of it as it goes where no man has gone since the boot cowl was installed. I do not like leaving something there that serves no purpose other then to cause potential confusion down the road. Com antenna moved and working I moved to cutting the hole in the "V" panel where there the fuel line and wire plug goes to the pod. Easy work but you really need to pay attention to how things are secured as there are a few moving parts to be concerned with and when you pull the pod up you won’t be able to see exactly how everything sits. I must have moved my pod up and down 10X to be sure the lines were just long enough to hook up and secure enough to not push into anything that was moving. That done on to wiring, super easy, I used a lit switch along with the annunciation light supplied by Eric. I put the light on the panel in plane view (I know plain view). But I put the switch and breaker on the right interior panel in easy reach and it’s a spot that in bright sun light I may still see the switch on. Its redundant but so are two ignitions. Now with that I moved to actually installing the pod.
Before you buy it if you are putting it on an SS be sure it has float fittings if you don’t run floats. I heard there may be some that don’t have them and you need them for the rear brackets. Eric provided me with a couple excellent photos that show exactly where to push the fabric in to locate them. Its confidence inspiring when poking the holes and running the solder iron through your fabric. Mine were easily done. Plan to chase those holes with a thread chase. Mine were crappy and I know better then to try to use the bolt to clean the threads. The front brackets go on the gear bolts.
So all said and done how does it work. It works very well. I flew to a destination I had wanted to scout for some remote fly fishing last weekend. It was great to fly over the Colorado Rockies, do a bunch of fun banging around in the hills and fly back with no worry about fuel. Function was as good as you could hope for. Pumps up about a gallon every 2 minutes. I used my phone timer and found on my return it was pretty dang accurate. If you have a fancy panel, you could have your G3X tell you the QTY.
Would I do it again. No- I am building a different plane and would be smarter to take my time and put it in that with its long-range tanks and just use a bladder In my current plane. But if I were planning this to be my long-term flying machine. Yes, I would. It does what I need it to do, and my time spent would be on the right project. In the aviation world I think it’s a pretty good bang for the buck. And if I ever did it again it would be from Eric Lewis again.
When I decided I wanted more fuel I didn’t really research a lot just liked the idea of the fuel pod and heard that on the CC it won’t hurt your cruise speed, actually some pick up 1 MPH or even 2. So I ordered straight from Lewaero and got it 6 weeks or so later. I was a super happy with how it was packaged and how it looked. A little surprised you need to go get a switch and breaker for it but whatever-that is why there is Amazon prime.
Let’s get to the install. First off on a Carbon cub you need to remove the back inside panel before you can remove the front. Easy unless the prior owner glued it in then you have a new problem. I did a work around on that as I didn’t want to crack the thin carbon trying to remove it. Being just a couple weeks out of a major spine surgery and being told “Zero BLT” it was a pain. BLT is high tech talk from my surgeon and stands for bending, lifting, twisting. But the acceptation to the rule was my wife was out of town so I don’t have to follow the rules. And what would be the worse that couple happen? Couple bent rods or broken screws (in my back not the plane).
The instructions say to plumb into the left tank fuel line. I didn’t like it but that’s what it says to do. Blessing in disguise, I had fittings seeping that needed attention. The fuel system on a CC looks like a crappy old vacuum system, it works but my background makes me not like it. I don’t like a lot of things and learn to live with them. So my first signal I should not follow the instructions was when it said to drain the fuel system, both tanks. I studied that fuel selector for a while and decided I would put it on left tank, drain it out the sump. Then cut the line I need to “T” into. Worked just fine and I didn’t have to go buy another fuel container. Then the next thing that had me scratch my head was it didn’t say to use thread seal on the NPT threads. I know there are plumbers that say the threads seal; the goop is lube. But they still put goop on every black pipe gas line they put together (I hope). I have cut enough threads to know pipe thread should seal as it is a tapered thread but I am not going to skip using fuel quality thread seal. I called Eric but by the time he got back to me I already used it and had most of the fuel system done. Eric is a great guy, very helpful and takes pride in what he does. But he may not be the best technical writer? Either way after I talked to him, I realized I should have gone with my gut and not used the instructions. He stated that the instructions are a guide, not the end all be all and I could do what ever I wanted. I would have plumbed into the fuel sight gauge on the right side had I not been thinking to follow the instructions. Specially after hearing that people were having check valve issues and their tanks were draining into the pod. That’s all good if there is room in the pod and the plane can run off the pod-but it can’t. Good news is he is using a different check valve and no issues to date with the new one. Now is when I should mention my tanks drained into my pod overnight last night so there may be issues with the check valve. Damn had I gone into the top of the sight tube this would not be possible. It also doesn’t mention you need to cut away where it penetrates the floor, not a big deal for a young chap with a good back, I’m neither. But I am picky I tried my best to focus on the dremmal at work and not the pain of being hunched over. My work was subpar in my eyes but I got it done.
Moving forward there was still a lot of work that I never thought much about. Like your com antenna has to be moved. I moved mine to the wing root and made a new RG cable. It bummed me out that I could not remove all of the old one. It is bound together with a bunch of wires and all I could do was cut it off and abandon some of it as it goes where no man has gone since the boot cowl was installed. I do not like leaving something there that serves no purpose other then to cause potential confusion down the road. Com antenna moved and working I moved to cutting the hole in the "V" panel where there the fuel line and wire plug goes to the pod. Easy work but you really need to pay attention to how things are secured as there are a few moving parts to be concerned with and when you pull the pod up you won’t be able to see exactly how everything sits. I must have moved my pod up and down 10X to be sure the lines were just long enough to hook up and secure enough to not push into anything that was moving. That done on to wiring, super easy, I used a lit switch along with the annunciation light supplied by Eric. I put the light on the panel in plane view (I know plain view). But I put the switch and breaker on the right interior panel in easy reach and it’s a spot that in bright sun light I may still see the switch on. Its redundant but so are two ignitions. Now with that I moved to actually installing the pod.
Before you buy it if you are putting it on an SS be sure it has float fittings if you don’t run floats. I heard there may be some that don’t have them and you need them for the rear brackets. Eric provided me with a couple excellent photos that show exactly where to push the fabric in to locate them. Its confidence inspiring when poking the holes and running the solder iron through your fabric. Mine were easily done. Plan to chase those holes with a thread chase. Mine were crappy and I know better then to try to use the bolt to clean the threads. The front brackets go on the gear bolts.
So all said and done how does it work. It works very well. I flew to a destination I had wanted to scout for some remote fly fishing last weekend. It was great to fly over the Colorado Rockies, do a bunch of fun banging around in the hills and fly back with no worry about fuel. Function was as good as you could hope for. Pumps up about a gallon every 2 minutes. I used my phone timer and found on my return it was pretty dang accurate. If you have a fancy panel, you could have your G3X tell you the QTY.
Would I do it again. No- I am building a different plane and would be smarter to take my time and put it in that with its long-range tanks and just use a bladder In my current plane. But if I were planning this to be my long-term flying machine. Yes, I would. It does what I need it to do, and my time spent would be on the right project. In the aviation world I think it’s a pretty good bang for the buck. And if I ever did it again it would be from Eric Lewis again.
