Okay, I have been thinking about my fuel system and I think I wanna go with saddle tanks. But, how do I plumb them so as to allow equal fuel draw and equal tank pressure?

This is on a Byron F-16 with a OS .91.

If you are going with saddle tanks thats cool. we have built a byron f16 and a yellow f16 and 5 top gun f15's and 2 top gun mig29's all with saddle tanks, they work great. they were with byron fans and dynamax fans. on your byron set up you need to have a pressure tap on the pipe at the highpoint of the pipe. drill and tap a pito fitting and use silver solder to hold it in place. make sure that the fuel lines that "T" from the pressure fitting are the same length and that the fuel lines from the saddle tanks to the hopper tank are the same length you will be OK. Make sure that the tuned pipe is lined up correctly. the exhaust port is lined up with the middle of the engine..Make sure that your pipe mount spring setup is good because the byron fans like to eat the springs.....Anybody that has flown the byron setup, chime in and tell me I am a lier. I am talking that the Byron fan is "HUNGRY" for springs. Been there and done that.

Doug A
Austin Gang

Plumb them in series instead. Works for me!

Thanks for the info Doug. That sounds easy enough. Maybe I'll safety wire the spring somehow.

Easytiger,
How do I plumb them is series? Does the weight differential make a difference in a saddle tank configuration? Or are you saying to mount them differently also?

Yeah, I ate one of those springs the other day...

Series plumbing:
From the pipe pressure tap to the vent of one tank. From the clunk of that tank to the vent of the other tank. From the clunk of that tank to the engine. Simple.

Weight differential, like left to right? No, never noticed that at all. The tanks are not far enough from the center of the airplane to matter.
Fore and aft? Yes, most definitely. You will notice a difference as the fuel burns off. But the saddle tanks can be put closer to the CG and you will notice it LESS than the original tank all the way forward.
Just mount them as close to the CG as you can. If I remember corectly, I had them right in front of the fan former, and at carb height, on my F16's. On my F86's, it was right behind the fan former, all the way at the bottom of the fuse.

That is awesome gentlemen! I can't tell you how much I appreciate the info!

I am new to jets and I am really trying to do things that will play in favor of my success!

Everyone on this forum has been really helpful. Even from the posts that I have done no more than snooped at other peoples questions. It makes me feel good that I am not the only one out here with the elementary questions. It makes me feel even better that so many guys are here willing to give there tips and secrets so willingly!

I am sure I will be asking more questions. I am very near the point of test running the engine. And I will probably test fly sometime in the next couple of weeks.

tanks again!!

As far as those springs go... is safety wiring them an option? seems as though it would be fairly easy to do. I would have to guess that one risks the possibility of damaging ones fan and or the thrust tube from the "exiting" spring?

I don't have easy access to these sort of hi-perf. parts. My LHS is limited to bare necessities for prop planes, and this would be an item that I would have to order. Maybe I should just have a few on hand. I doubt they cost much.

Some more Byrohints...
Don't bench run the Byron setup, and don't run it hard for too long in the plane at full bore. There is not enough airflow over the engine to keep it from getting hot with the pusher fan.
Run two rich tanks through on the ground, then go fly.
Get an inflight mixture valve. I feel it is NOT optional. It's a lot cheaper than a new $160 91 piston and cylinder from one lean run.
The 91 is the best engine out there for Byron.

I also seem to remember something about using LARGE (5/32" ID) vs. the regular size (1.8" ID) fuel tubing for all of the fuel lines from tank pickup to the inflight needle when using the OS 91. Then regular sized from the inflight to the carb. Thoughts anyone?

I run an OS .77 in my Byron F-16 and works fine with regular sized tubing thruoughout and a 24oz tank with 8 oz header.

Definitely get an inflight mixture valve. After one crash taking off too rich, I installed one and it has saved my plane numerous times. I keep it slightly lean on takeoff and richen it out in flight until I see a nice smoke trail.