Instruments

[Guest fly]

Hi to all once again,

 

A few questions regarding what is original instruments on a T500 {year 1988}

 

Fuel Guage...... my 75litre rectangular tank has a hole cut in the top into which a fuel sender unit has been fitted ,a fuel guage has been fitted to the main instrument panel. Is this standard? how reliable is a guage ?

 

Should I throw it away [ I,ll block up the hole of course ] and revert to eyeballing the vertical fuel indicator tube at the rear bulkhead.

 

My ASI guage is most likely original [airspeed brand ,manufactured in 1988], Kts and miles displayed on face,

 

Before benchmarking,the aircrraft had about 2,500 hrs on it

 

Not knowing a lot about the life of aircraft instruments, and switches the question I ask is . should I reuse,or replace? and if replacing , which brand?

 

O I almost forgot has anyone got a wiring diagram or advice for a T500 /R582

 

Regards/Thanks to all FLY

 

 

[Guest TOSGcentral]

G"day Fly,

 

To answer at least some of your questions:

 

1. Standard 88 T500 instrumentation was.......

 

ASI

 

ALT

 

Volts

 

Coolant Temp

 

(Maybe an EGT)

 

2 x iginition switches

 

1 x master switch

 

1 x fuel pump switch.

 

2. Fuel sender and panel mounted fuel gauge is a retro fit. That is entirely up to you. I believe they are unreliable and would not have one. The direct sight tube is at least what is actually going on, but nearly impossible to see when seated. I came up with an easy adjustment for the T500 where the tube is brought into the cockpit and has a dual level indicator plate behind it. This is very easy to do and is a good safety feature for any Thruster with a full cockpit rear bulkhead.

 

This was for a 75 ltr tank and I measured it in 5 ltr increments from empty to full in both tail up and tail down attitudes. May stick a pic in over the next few days - it looks more "the thing" and works well.

 

3. Cannot comment on your ASI, 2500 hrs is a lot of beating about. I suggest you at least get it bench tested.

 

4. I can send you a free wiring diagram for a T500 but really mate (and without trying to push anything) why do you just not join TOSG and get all the current information going?

 

You may also contemplate buying one of my new T300/T500 owner handbooks. Nearly 200 pages of data that is of practical use to you. They are only $48 each (way below what the factory were charging for something a quarter the size) and that includes postage. They also include engineering drawings for two styles of Thruster Universal trailer.

 

Aye

 

Tony