Well, after collecting parts and planning for over a year I finally wrapped up the installation of a smoke system in the Yak. As the only member of our regular cadre of flyover pilots without smoke this relegated me to the slot position or caused us to limit our use of smoke in some cases - no longer.
Installed a 3.5 gallon Smoking Airplanes poly tank, 12V pump, system arm and pump on/on switches, and one injector per side. All in all a clean install and works pretty good without getting much smoke in the cockpit. I have flown other Yaks and CJ's where there seemed to be as much smoke in the cockpit as outside.
Also managed to seal up several exhaust leaks that the ground testing of the smoke system made obvious, Yak seems happier and the guys have commented it seems to have more grunt lately.
Brief video shows the on/off switch installed on throttle, arm/disarm switch where I repurposed the aux tank fuel transfer panel, pump and tank location, firewall bulkhead tee fitting, and the routing and injectors for left and right side followed by one of the ground tests and then a couple passes yesterday. Color commentary is from my 'friends' who fly T-34's - the second pass was at about 155 knots from a shallow dive in. Flow rate equates to about 6 minutes of smoke from the 3.5 gallon tank which is pretty good especially for a big engine. One of our wingmen is related to the Geico Skytypers and helped locate the injectors for maximum smoke volume.
Overall very satisfied with how it all came together and very happy with the smoke itself - important now that WifeyGimp has given tacit approval to develop a warbird aerobatics routine and seek a performer waiver.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67OHP-e70UA
'Gimp
Installed a 3.5 gallon Smoking Airplanes poly tank, 12V pump, system arm and pump on/on switches, and one injector per side. All in all a clean install and works pretty good without getting much smoke in the cockpit. I have flown other Yaks and CJ's where there seemed to be as much smoke in the cockpit as outside.
Also managed to seal up several exhaust leaks that the ground testing of the smoke system made obvious, Yak seems happier and the guys have commented it seems to have more grunt lately.
Brief video shows the on/off switch installed on throttle, arm/disarm switch where I repurposed the aux tank fuel transfer panel, pump and tank location, firewall bulkhead tee fitting, and the routing and injectors for left and right side followed by one of the ground tests and then a couple passes yesterday. Color commentary is from my 'friends' who fly T-34's - the second pass was at about 155 knots from a shallow dive in. Flow rate equates to about 6 minutes of smoke from the 3.5 gallon tank which is pretty good especially for a big engine. One of our wingmen is related to the Geico Skytypers and helped locate the injectors for maximum smoke volume.
Overall very satisfied with how it all came together and very happy with the smoke itself - important now that WifeyGimp has given tacit approval to develop a warbird aerobatics routine and seek a performer waiver.
'Gimp
