Menu Sign In Contact FAQ
Banner
Welcome to our forums

Share the spells, incantations and prayers you find helpful in hand-propping VWs

Indeed, it was WnB choice why fuel was limited to 6.5USG

I wonder whether you could get a nice rich and even mixture by rocking the propeller back and forth rather than turning the prop in the same direction, which will dilute any vapourised fuel with fresh air. I know there are some engine accessories on other aircraft that can be damaged by turning props backwards, but I don’t think there’s anything on an average Turb for which it would matter?

No worries turning the prop backward in the Turb, no engine vacuum pump and no mags

It could be possible to play with prop & mixture but the only way to be sure (for hot start) that vaporised fuel is no longer in the fuel lines is to “suck-in” untill you see Avgas comming out of the exhaust (fully flodded) then “purge” and start again

The rules:
1) Prop turning normal + throttle slightly open = more fuel
2) Leaving few rich aircraft for 30 minutes = less fuel
3) Prop turning normal + fuel close throttle wide open = more air
4) Prop turning backward + throttle wide open = zero fuel

If you make few hours stop for hot start to become an issue 1) & 2) are enough to start it sometimes but you need patience

If you make quick stop (15min), just switch mags off on idle, leave everything as it is, mags on and prop it

Last Edited by Ibra at 01 May 07:28
Paris/Essex, France/UK, United Kingdom

Hi Kwlf,

I don’t currently fly anything with a hand-propped VW, but do have a share in a starter-less 2-cylinder Citroen-Visa powered MiniMax, so I feel your pain. We found that the whole staring ritual according to the flight manual worked fine in summer, but as soon as the temperatures dropped it became very hit and miss, with several lengthy prop-swinging sessions resulting in nothing more than a sore shoulder. In the case of the Visa motor, things get even more complicated when the reduction drive fan belts start slipping under load – but that’s another story.

We solved all our starting problems permanently by following the advice of a fellow pilot who had wandered over to observe me once again sweating and grunting through another winter (no) starting session. His simple recipe, which we have followed ever since, was to procure a small medical syringe and squirt 2 or 3 ml of fuel onto each of the two air filters, directly onto the mesh filter element. The exact amount does not seem to be too critical (at least in our case), as the motor has one Suzuki side-draft carb on each side, with the air filters set at the back, which means that if you overdo it the excess fuel just drips through the filter and onto the ground. So now the procedure is: (1) forget all steps of the traditional starting ritual (other than chocks and brakes, obviously), (2) squirt some fuel into each air filter, (3) crack the throttle about 1/5, at “fast idle”, (4) ignition on and swing the prop. We find this works consistently in summer and winter, and starting on the first 2-3 blades is almost guaranteed.

I am not sure if your Solex carb is as easily accessible (ours are completely exposed), but if it is this could be a technique worth trying. You may need to be careful not to flood the engine if your air filter is top mounted, and experiment with the exact size of syringe to employ …

I can´t say anything about the ignition timing, other than the motor runs on the original Citroen electronic ignition so I presume it uses whatever timing was set by the factory. The builder of the plane who did the whole Citroen conversion would know.

Hope this is helpful. Happy “Turbing” ;-)

LERM, Spain

Thanks. There’s no filter as such, so I’m not sure what this would achieve beyond the use of the accelerator pump. But interesting that it works so well for you. I can see that pulling the air through mesh saturated with fuel might work really well in terms of vapourising it.

Last Edited by kwlf at 13 May 15:58
13 Posts
Sign in to add your message

Back to Top