i have a superstar 40 and i can't see how much fuel is in the tank. I can't see through the tank even when i put it up to the light. Any suggesions?

uhh when you put gas in it it should tell you very easily. if your useing a yellow colored fuel then it will be harder but what you can do is see how much you didn't use on that flight by just taking all the excess out with your fuel pump.

If you use a manual fuel pump, just count the number of cranks that it takes to fill up the tank. On the next flight, count the number of cranks it takes to fill up the tank again. This should tell you how much fuel is left in the tank. There is no need to visually check to see how much fuel is left.

I have an electric pump. The first time i filled it up i put too much in and fuel squirted out the muffler.

Unhook the muffler pressure line and when the tank is full the line will start sputtering before a stream of fuel start flowing. Stop pumping when you hear the sputter, you'll be within a 1/4 ounce or so of full.

With a .40, figure you have two minutes per ounce (a bit less if you fly wide open all the time), so with an 8 ounce tank you should get about 16 minutes before you're empty. To be safe, think about landing at the 12-15 minute mark. If you don't keep good time in your head, figure you should increase your height the longer the flight time goes so if you do run out of fuel you'll have plenty of time to set up a glide to landing.

Don

This is not uncommon, I usually unhook the vent hose from the muffler before fueling so as not to fill the muffler with fuel. Then reattach it after fueling. It's not really bad for the muffler if it get's a little fuel in it?

Fuel in the muffler won't hurt anything -- it will be blown out, the instant the engine starts.

I heard somewhere that if you get fuel in your muffler it will flood your engine. Is that true?

Anything is possible, I guess, but that is not normally the case. The fuel sitting in the muffler is outside the cylinder and will normally be blown out as the engine starts. Just unplug the pressure line when fuelling and you won't have to worry about it.

Don

I used to do the 'fill her up till she squirts' trick, but now I use a little 4oz tank to catch the overflow. I figure I'm saving 1/4 ounce or so per fill up.

Ditto!!!

Per gallon of fuel I go through I figure I'm saving enough for an entire flight (in a small plane).

Since I started doing that yeeeears ago I've probably saved a couple gallons from going on the ground.

That will only happen if your plane is a tri-gear (sits level while you fuel it) and the piston is at the wrong place. If the piston is at the bottom of the stroke, the fuel can fill up the cylinder, and you'll have to pull the glow plug to get it out. If your plane is a taildragger, the chances of getting fuel in the cylinder is very small. The excess fuel will just run out the back of the muffler.