My gascolator's busted!

Post by **Bruce Fenstermacher** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 9:45 pm

I can confirm what Brian said. They will run till they are full of water. Been there, found that.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Tue Jan 31, 2006 12:15 am

Well , the new bowl is on the way and my fuel selector is being fixed. I've Got the whole plane drained down ,water and fuel.

Gonna get a set of seals just incase but seems they're ok. Thanks for all the help and I'll let you guys know if anything interesting shows up.

P.S. Good point about the brittle glass hadn't thought of that.

Indopilot · Post by **Indopilot** » Tue Jan 31, 2006 12:39 am

One other thing that we didn't consider was the measurements from the top of the glass as compared to the bottom of the glass. I have read that the old church's in Europe have glass windows where the panes are thicker at the bottom than the top. This was explained that glass is a liquid instead of a solid so over time it continues to flow. As our planes get older the FAA might issue a Continued Airworthiness Bulletin requiring us to rotate the glass to keep them even. Just a thought

Brian

Tom Downey · Post by **Tom Downey** » Tue Jan 31, 2006 3:35 am

dusty wrote:Does anybody know if there is a replacement bowl out there for the gascolator on a 1950 170A? :

http:/www.dodson.com

hit the search button and enter gascolator.

They have a bunch of P/Ns,,,,,,,,, know yours?

Post by **GAHorn** » Wed Feb 01, 2006 3:35 pm

Somewhat off-topic.... but perhaps entertaining in a goofy sort of way....
I usually am full of advice to folks to make certain you only remove/install/fool-with the glass gascolator bowl after they've placed a couple pieces of corrugated cardboard or old towels on the floor beneath it because "You WILL someday drop it and it'll break!"

So...yesterday,.. with this very message thread recently in mind.... I took my glass gascolator bowl off my '39 Ford tractor to clean out the rust/sediment it clearly had in the bottom. (This is an actual bowl-shaped glass, appears to be made out of Pyrex.)
I took it over to the grass and slung the thing upside down to shake out the sludge. Then I took a paper towel and began to wipe it out thoroughly...and dang it! I dropped it right onto the concrete!

Whew! It didn't break. "You sorry b--tard!", I said to myself. "Don't even follow your own advice! Lucky it didn't break."
I picked it up, walked over to get a clean paper towel, changed hands with it (football coaches tell runners NEVER change hands while running with the ball!), ... and promptly dropped it again. It broke. The dog was walking in the shards. I took my anger out on the dog. I am ashamed.

Noticed that the bowl was about 2" diameter. Went to the plumbing junk-box and pulled out a 2" pipe end-cap. Laid it upside down on a file to smooth/true the surfaces. Put it under the tractor's gascolator and turned on the fuel. Works great.
And my dog still loves me. (But, of course, she's never had to listen to my mx advice.)

n3833v · Post by **n3833v** » Wed Feb 01, 2006 4:04 pm

George,
Good to have you back in form

. You know that always the weird thing usually happens. Lucky you

had a piece of pipe or you couldn't make the tractor fly to mow.

John

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 1:06 am

Sorry to hear that you busted your glass. Hope I didn't start a trend on my first thread on this site.

Indopilot · Post by **Indopilot** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 2:53 pm

Sorry your busted George.

But another more important topic (to some ) did you stop to consider the damage you were causing to generations of worms by throwing that sludge into the grass? Grass is NOT an approved Hazardous material recepticle. Who knows the long term affect to yet unborn Ladybugs. You could have single handedly provided the final fuel needed to Global Warming to burn up this entire planet!

Oh ,Sorry just got off an enviro web site.

Post by **GAHorn** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 3:18 am

Ha! Yeah, but it was mostly just rust. Added iron to the soil.
My poor girl Lab, Roulette! got yelled at because I was afraid she'd cut her feet on the glass. She instantly shied away and gave me such a pitiful look I got over the broken gascolator pretty quick, and had to love up on her to make her tail wag again. They are such great dogs!
Went to Tractor Supply and bought a new glass bowl yesterday. Ford Tractor glass bowls cost....(are you sitting down?)..... $2.49. Heck. I sprang for new gasket and screen while I was at it, for another $2.29.

(The entire gascolator only costs $22.)

David Sbur · Post by **David Sbur** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 4:48 pm

I know these aren't 'approved' parts, but have been told that they are exact duplicates of the gascolator arrangements for the Cessna 120-140's. These are John Deere numbers, so if anyone out there is a Deere dealer it would be interesting to find out how true this is. I understand the gascolator complete can be had for under 30 bucks. Would love to compare this to what is on my 140. I know that a fair amount of our parts are 'off the shelf' circa 1940's (Weatherhead valves, Delco starters, etc.). Cessna or Univair at last check did not list new gascolators for our birds but I haven't checked lately. Just something interesting...

AA4507R for the bowl and gasket
TP-RR4507R for gascolator

N2865C · Post by **N2865C** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 5:42 pm

170's use a different gascolator bowl than 120/140's. 170's are cylindrical shaped and 120/40's are closed on one end. I'm not a Deere dealer but...... I had a "very good friend" that had a John Deere bowl on his 120

. They are an exact match.

Post by **GAHorn** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 6:11 pm

Daffy-nition: Owner Produced Part- A perfectly good part that works great, produced by the owner from his parts-bin.

KMac · Post by **KMac** » Tue Feb 07, 2006 6:47 am

Hey, just to let you all know, there have been talk of at least three aircraft near the San Diego area recently that have apparently had their engine quit because of a broken glass gascolator in flight. I only know this through contacts at the airport not by official NTSB reports. My mechanic recommended I replace the glass with an aluminumn one. The one listed in this thread for sale in Georgia (I bought one) is a brand new gascolator but has a smaller bowl - 2-1/2" vs 3" - than the glass (stock) gascolator and a different part number. It is an Edo Air gascolator though. Hope this helps.
Kevin

steve grewing · Post by **steve grewing** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 2:35 am

Steve's Aircraft has an STC for aluminum gascolator's. According to the effectivity list the A and B model C170's are eligible for its installation. List's for about $200 but it appears to require a mounting bracket. Hopefully they will develop one the the ragwings. Aircraft Spruce sells 'em.
Steve

zero.one.victor · Post by **zero.one.victor** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 1:39 am

N2865C wrote:170's use a different gascolator bowl than 120/140's. 170's are cylindrical shaped and 120/40's are closed on one end. I'm not a Deere dealer but...... I had a "very good friend" that had a John Deere bowl on his 120 . They are an exact match.

As I recall from looking at them, the 120/140 gascolators I've seen look to be the same as the one on my ragwing 170.
Glass bowl, mounted bowl-up, glass resembles an inverted dome.

Eric

The International Cessna 170 Association

My gascolator's busted!

Re: My gascolator's busted!

Gascolator