mike31

My Feedback: (67)

Clunk is in the fuel jug. What does the brass tubing in the fuel tank in the plane have to do with corroding the clunk in the fuel jug?

a70eliminator

The same fuel that went through the jug hardware also went through your on board fuel tank, someone was saying to change all the tubes and clunks yearly, probably coming from someone who eats drinks and sleeps RC planes, someone who's household monthly budget alots for it.
I fall into the casual flyer catagory, I have many other hobbys and family obligations, we clean maintain and re-use our hardware over and over, I'm no starger to soaking clunks in acetone shining them up an a wire wheel, flossing through them string and putting back into service, some of them i have are mare then 20 yrs old and still going. You do what you have to do.

CafeenMan

a70 - I'm the same way. Comes from when I was a kid and couldn't afford any of this stuff. I still strip down planes before I toss them in the trash - fuel tanks, hardware, wheels, etc. I take anything out of it I might be able to use. Depending on how old the tank is I might put in a new stopper, but I'll keep the brass tubes if they're still ok.

blw

My Feedback: (3)

Hi Mike. Corrosion was brought up as a possible problem with the OP's clunk. So was algae. Brass tubing also corrodes, so that was brought up as a supporting fact.

blw

My Feedback: (3)

Jugs are made of plastic, so that doesn't factor in to the problems with metal in the fuel tanks.

I mentioned the advice of another member to change out the hardware, stopper, and fuel lines once a year. While loving rc, I'm not rich. Actually, we're on a fixed income since we are retired. I may pick back up to working a few hours a week in rc next year. You got other hobbies? So do I. Mine are probably as expensive as yours.

I took this picture last night of a project I'm working on to get a plane back in the air. The fuel tank is a couple of years old, so I took it out last week to inspect. The corroded brass is the pair on the left. The rubber stopper is deformed. I thought it was no problem, and went to get stuff out of another tank I had sitting around. (I reuse as much as possible too, just like you) That is the stuff on the right side. I don't remember how long that was used, but the brass is newer.

I guess W8YE's advice was pretty good after all. I don't really have the bucks right now to replace the model and Saito engine if that corroded brass had caused a deadstick at the wrong time. Brass tubing is dirt cheap. There's a point of being thrifty with limited funds, and there's the other side of being a cheapskate and losing a model to save .99 cents. Anyway, I'm a believer now in checking fuel tanks often, like once a year.



Now, if you were to say that this isn't a common thing I would agree with you.

raptureboy

Oh dang, I must be doing something wrong. I have never had any of these problems in 10 yrs. I have seen some corrosion on the brass tubes but not to the extent all of you have. Fuel line tubing and stoppers are cheap enough though to replace every couple of years.

blw

My Feedback: (3)

Probably doesn't happen often and I just got lucky.

a70eliminator

This vintage hovercraft was a big fad back in 1978, I just pulled the one of the dual tanks out of it, not bad for 35 years, I know it's all original as it belonged to my brother. It's really hard for me to believe that those photos of yours above are less than 30 yrs old.


You have to have money to be a cheapskate right? Well that leaves me out!

a70eliminator

Just for kicks I pulled the 1978 vintage guts, just what I expected for 35 yrs old.

blw

My Feedback: (3)

Interesting shots of the gear and old tanks. Were they used with glow fuel for 30 years? That's what we're talking about I thought. Tanks in use often, not dry and stored away. You know, the models we still take to the field and fly and put glow fuel in regularly. Still, interesting to see pics of the old gear.

The reason I mentioned checking tanks is that after reading about engine problems year after year on RCU you just have to know that a lot of problems aren't the engine, but are fuel line and tank hardware related. A lot of time is spent looking at the wrong things. Just some info that maybe gets stored away and comes in use one day. I'm glad I got the advice and decided to check the tank while fixing stuff on the model. I mean, would you like to be flying around with that hardware? That is my most expensive plane too.

a70eliminator

The most common problem I myself have had is the in tank line from the pick-up developes a tiny split right where it slip onto the brass tube, when this happens the plane runs great on a full tank but starts acting up at about half tank when the split is no longer submerged in fuel. That one stumps many.

blw

My Feedback: (3)

My bad one was the vent line tubing going soft, and the insides collapsing intermittently when heated up. I've seen it happen twice to the lines in fuel jugs too.

Next would be a batch of Evolution 2 strokes shipped with bad tubing between the remote needle valve and carb. (I had bought 6 of them)

eddieC

My Feedback: (2)

I've had sintered bronze clunks plug like the OP's, and have stopped using them.

SP, I dunno. You're making the post, so maybe you should look into it.