exhaust stains

C

captain Dick

New member
My brand new (30 hrs) GCBC is developing exhaust stains on its right side and belly. Nothing I've tried so far (soap and water, Fantastic, Plexo, avgas) even touches the stains. Also, paint cracks are appearing in the paint on the upper and lower nose cowling. Any thoughts or help would be appreciated. Cptdick
 
Never heard of exhaust stains so soon (sure, after many years, yes). Don't have a good answer there.

Anyway, on the cowling cracks, talk to your dealer; sounds like gelcoat cracks in the fiberglass.
 
I've had good luck with Simple Green. First learned about it when I crewed on Formula 1 race planes at Reno. Everybody was using it!

Blair
 
Sooo, a friend at the airport last night told me about a belly cleaner he had purchased from Sporty's...Carbon-X. It is one of those HD soaps that you dilute and put in a spray bottle. He gave me some, I diluted it but kept it pretty strong and it worked like magic! Some days stuff goes your way! Thanks for the help and suggestions! Captain Dick
 
I get exhaust stains after every flight. It would be nice to see a extension available to get it away a couple more inches. My stains go right up the side as well as the belly. I have been using a product from Sams Club called purple power dilute it 10 to 1 spray it on let it set for couple min and wipe them away. Its way cheaper than Carbon X and for me works much better. Hey Jerry how about a stainless steel 5 inch exhaust tip drawing. 8)
 
You know Greg Koontz (the plane on our front page) had Dawley extend the pipe abotu 6 inches. His intent was for his smoke system though since it left a ton of oil on the belly.

Believe it or not, the Elano 100 systems (now made by Dawley) have some pretty precise back pressure reducing design techniques. A longer stack 'might' affect that. As it was measured in the 70's the Elano 100 series only cost about 1/4 of a HP on a 180. I suppose if it costs 1/2 of a HP from a few tweaks, no one would notice.

The longer the stack sticks out, the sillier it looks. I suppose thats a trade off for how it looks with grayish brown exhaust swirls on it. :p

Looking at one in the hanger here, I would think 2 inches would be the boundry of 'that looks wierd.' If it hung straight down, could get away with more.
 
I have a 1999 GCAA and I can tell you from experience that the key to keeping that "like new look" is to keep the airplane clean. I clean off the bugs from leading edge everytime I fly. Same for the area aft of the exhust pipe and aft fo the fuel vent. It is much easier to remove a small amount of fresh residue than it is to try to remove a real stain. I know that this sounds a bit obsessive. Anyway I hope you enjoy your A/C as much I do mine.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top