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Old April 22nd 07, 12:46 AM posted to rec.aviation.homebuilt
Peter Dohm
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Posts: 1,754
Default OK, I'm going to ask another fuel tank question.

A question I've never asked nor have I seen asked.
Can you use Avgas in an auto conversion engine? I'm not
against using avgas so if this can be done I would be interested
in the results.


Yes, generally. If you are going to use an oxygen sensor for fuel

(mixture)
control, then there is the problem of the lead fouling the sensor, and
making it nearly useless in a relatively short period of time. Some

people
have put a deflector ahead of the sensor to keep from fouling them as

fast,
but then they are not doing a very good job at measuring the mixture.


Ed Anderson runs avgas in his rotary powered RV. The lead killing the
oxygen sensor is somewhat of a misnomer, he says. What happens is that
the sensors response rate drops dramatically as it becomes contaminated.
This does make it useless in a car, where the onboard computer uses
the sensor output to maintain a proper mixture; however, if you're just
using the sensor to tune the engine or manually lean at altitude, it's
not much of an issue. It still responds much faster than a human will.

Two experiences auto mechasnics have told me the same thing, so I am
accepting this as pretty good confirmation.

Peter