Netters, I finally got my KR2 Airworthiness Inspection and have taken my first 3 flights. I bought my plane off the KR net about 18 months ago and converted it to a tricycle landing gear. The engine is a Great Plains 1835cc with an Ellison carburetor mounted underneath. I have a 12 gallon header tank plumbed with 1/4 inch tubing, a gascolater, fuel pump on the firewall, and a 10micron billet type fuel filter leading to the carb. The fuel tank is vented with a 5/16 brass elbow through the cap, pointed towards the prop. A new Slick mag (cooled with ram air) provides the spark. I put 30 hours of ground time on the engine before the first flight.
The takeoff and climbout are uneventful, but when I level out at 1800 ft (under the Houston TCA), the engine quietly loses power and dies. The first time after 10 minutes of flight, the other two times as soon as I leveled out. After landing, we ck'd the engine out. The plugs are dry and have spark. There is plentiful fuel spurting out at the carb connection with and without the fuel pump. So I insulated the fuel system from the fire wall to the carb. Found a leak in the plenum box and rebuilt it out of chrome alloy aircraft steel with welded seams. After an hour or so on the ground, the engine starts and runs fine. I sent the carb and plenum box back to Dan Ellison who bench tested it on an 1835cc VW. It wouldn't idle but ran fine at full throttle. They then stripped it down and found some "grunge" but nothing that would cause the above problem. I and my IA gray hair friends are at a loss as to where to go next. Any ideas? Don Sprague dspragu...@aol.com
