| guccidude1 |
09-04-2014 12:36 PM |
ASA New Product Video is up!
I bought one of the AS cowl flaps in July because I had CHT problems on #4 cyl on my O-360-A4M in my -9A. On takeoff I would routinely see 420F on #4 and 390-400F on the other 3 cyl. I could control the CHTs by pulling some power and leveling off to get 125 KTAS. I had sealed all the openings on the baffling and re-wickering the baffle seals, but nothing seem to correct high CHTs on takeoff and climbout short of leveling off and pulling some power.
I installed the AS cowl flap on the right side of the lower cowling near the aft end where the curvature is fairly level. Installation of the cowl flap was straight forward with no surprises, but the wiring was tough. That small wires and the connector was definitely not designed for use with ham-fisted pilots. Getting insulation peeled back without cutting strands of wires was a chore and the connector has no safety lock. Soldering those miniature strands of wires to the supplied switch was another adventure in funland with vulgarity added. I hoped Alan's ears were burning.
HOWEVER, the cowl flap works as advertised. I can now take off and climb without #4 cyl not getting hotter than 395F, full power ant 110 KTAS to level off altitude. At level off, power set to 2550 rpm leaned to 8.5 gph (fixed pitch) 152 KTAS, closed cowl flap, all CHTs in the 360-370F range. With cowl flap open in cruise, the cyl temps drop to 330+or - 5F and the TAS drops 3 kts. I just returned from flying to the East Coast through Albuquerque, McKinny TX, Tulsa, Tunica MS, Richmond VA, Morgantown WV, Doylestown PA (just North of Philadelphia and back. With 21 days, 39.7 hours, I would say I gave the AS cowl flap a pretty good test in August in the hottest parts of the country and it passed with flying colors. I don't think I will put a second flap on the left side, the one works good enough. Alan, fix those ittybitty tiny wires and a lockable connector and the product would be perfect. Dan
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