Engine Purged (and Burped)

When I got home I found some items I had ordered from Amazon to get the purge done. It was a sensitive low-pressure gauge (30 psi max.) for Acetylene and a Powermate 1/4" NPT regulator that looked much more solid than the flimsy HF parts. I could not get an HF regulator to safely provide 7psi pressure, so I gave the Powermate a shot.

I put the parts together and was very pleased with the quality of the Powermate regulator. It was easy to set it to as low as 3 psi and it smoothly came up to 7psi which was my desired purge pressure.

A 1/8" braid fits the spillover tube perfectly.

Please note, the red cap on the return hose is only to prevent anything from getting into it during setup. I removed it for the actual purge.

7 psi set up and flowing. The canister is constantly leaking air by a bit so there is a hissing sound during the purge.

Pressure started to build up slowly after a few turns. I could not get my camera set up fast enough before the 25 psi had bled back to 10 psi.

You do not need a second person to watch the gauge by the way. If you turn the prop as quickly as you can and then quickly get to the display after 5 or 10 turns you will still see the pressure for a few seconds before it slowly bleeds off.

You do have to watch the canister though. Mine was full beyond the max line and after building up 25 psi, it was way below the min line. So I filled it up again and repeated the purge to be sure I had not sucked air in.

After putting the engine back to correct setting, torquing the spark plugs to 15 ft/lbs. again, I burped the engine to remove the accumulated oil from the engine housing and found the oil at 3/4 of maximum.

I think this baby is ready for the first start!

If the fuel system holds the fuel that is ...