ORIGINAL: ChuckW
I wouldn;t be too concerned about the tank to engine location on your Mach-1. Yes, it is ideal to have everythign lined up but plenty of these airplanes are flying just fine with the tank as-is. It wounds to me like tou have more of an engine tuning issue. To me it sounds rich but that's kind of hard to determine without actually seeing it.
Exactly.
Tank height is important to prevent siphoning in either direction... but it does very little to affect tuning.
We actually test tank height for a "worst case" when we perform a nose-up, nose down test.
This puts the tank height way below the engine when properly done, much like the plane would fly when going straight up.
As Chuck indicated, concentrate on your tuning.
Cutting out as you move to transition indicates an improperly set HS needle or too lean on the low end.