may need additional packers to centre it.
We recommend that you sand the front of the
mounting plates to fit the fuel tanks first, then fit and
secure the thrust-tube, and finally adjust the spac-
ing between the mounting plates and drill thru’ for
the bolts to set the turbine position & alignment.
The tanks fit into the fuselage with the front ends
pushed firmly between the inlet ducts and the fuse-
lage sides, with the bases sitting on the fibreglass
flange around the wing seat. Due to the conformal
shape they can only move backwards or inwards,
and the turbine mounting plates need to be shaped
to prevent that during flight. Temporarily tape the
tanks into position, and sand a ‘hook’ shape on the
front of the ply mounts to trap the tanks in position,
as shown in the photos. You can additionally fix the
fuel tanks to the side of the fuselage with a couple of
drops of silicone glue if necessary. See fuel system
section below for details of tank connections.
Now install the thrust tube for your turbine and fix it
in place securely at the front only, following the man-
ufacturers instructions, so that you can set the align-
ment of the turbine before drilling the mounting bolt
holes for it. The mounting tabs on the front of the
thrust tube can be screwed to the bulkhead immedi-
ately behind the turbine. See Thrust Tube section for
more details.
Adjust the width between the
ply mounting plates to suit your
turbine. If fitting a 54-sized unit
you will need a space of about
90mm, and if fitting a Wren 44
you will only need 75mm. The
plates are secured to the fibre-
glass flanges with the four bolts
and T-nuts that also fix the tur-
bine mounting bracket onto it.
View carefully by looking thru’
the thrust tube from the tail that
the turbine is exactly centrally
positioned in front of the bell-
mouth, and also that the turbine
nozzle points perfectly axially
down the tube - otherwise you
will have a loss of thrust, and
‘hot spots’ on the thrust tube
wall that could damage the
Fox Composites Co., Ltd.
22
(above) Inverted T-nuts for mounting
bolts are glued to top of the fibreglass
flanges with epoxy/micro-balloons.
(below PST Thrust tube is mounted to the
bulkhead behind the turbine.
(above) General view of completed turbine and tank instal-
lation thru’ top hatch. All turbine services are cable-tied to-
gether and run directly forwards thru’ a hole cut in the rear
cockpit bulkhead. Make sure that there are no loose wires or
tubes near the turbine. We highly recommend that a ‘FOD’
guard is fitted, but it is not shown here for clarity.
