I’ve had carb ice on takeoff a couple of times over the last few years, but this year it is pretty bad. If it is zero or below zero, I get enough ice just after take off to really make you think it’s going to shut off. I’ve started taking off with full carb heat in those temperatures. This is only on the first takeoff of the day.
The only things different this year are a “seal” around the air filter to keep air from going around it into the lower cowl, and a carb overhaul. My carb was not giving enough fuel, I was only getting 19gph on takeoff. I sent it to Lycon to be flowchecked, I got it back overhauled. Now it gives me 22 to 24 gph on takeoff.
On 3 occasions, it starts choking about a minute or less after takeoff, as it’s acting like it’s going to quit, I pull in carb heat, it chokes, sputters, and still acts like it’s going to shut off. The carb temp gauge on the 830 shows the temp coming up, but it doesn’t get very warm, it’s enough to melt the ice, but it’s under 50 degrees in that situation.
It’s a ‘53 with a 520 dual exhaust where the left side muffler does carb heat with a 2.5” scat hose. I’ve seen several other later models with just a little elbow off of the down pipe on the #6 cylinder. I’ve been told it works better, as the air has just come over the cylinder the to the elbow on the exhaust. But, I’ve only seen that setup on single muffler 470’s.
Has anyone used the little elbow off the #6 cylinder with a dual exhaust 180?
I’ve run full carb heat in cruise with temps around zero and the best I get on carb temp is in the 40’s.
