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Engine sensor mounting options?

Desert Rat

Well Known Member
Hey guys-

The standard Vans way of mounting the senders is with the VA-168 manifold bolted to the upper port side of the firewall.

I've seen installations where instead of the manifold, guys have mount the senders individually on the engine mount tubes with some kind of aftermarket brackets. If memory serves, I think I first noticed this on Darwin Barries RV7.

Does anybody know where to get those brackets?

Thanks,

Terry
 
Thanks!

Is there's also one that has a swivel built into it so that you can clock the sender in different directions. Anybody?
 
Two Adel clamps.... one fits the motor mount, the other fits the sender housing.
 
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Terry,

Maybe you could explain more why you are considering this direction. I'm having a hard time understanding why you would want to do this.
 
The reason I mounted the senders on the top motor mount was so the lines can follow the mounts over close to the firewall and the wires are at the firewall.

The mount is already an obstruction that you must work around, so anything that you can run with it is out of your way. Any time you can keep from running lines or wires from your motor direct to the firewall, will allow easier access to everything on the back of the motor.

I mounted mine with adel clamps. Cheap, easy and very adjustable.
 
Terry,

Maybe you could explain more why you are considering this direction. I'm having a hard time understanding why you would want to do this.

Great question- I'm putting a IO390 with a firewall mounted oil cooler on the port side. I'm just copying what others have done before with the RV10 setup and plan to feed it via a 4" scat tube coming off the baffles where a baffle mounted oil cooler would normally go.

I haven't hung the engine yet, but just looking at the RV7 engine mount, it appears that the most reasonable way to route the scat tube is up over the top tube of the engine mount, then straight down the face of the firewall to the cooler. i.e. that particular spot is going to get awfully crowded if I install a sensor manifold, plumbing, wiring, and a giant scat tube all in that same general area.

It may be a non-issue, but I won't know for sure until I have the engine on and at least mock up the scat tube routing, so I'm just trying to educate myself about options.

So far I've educated myself to the point that I discovered both Vans and Showplanes want 50 bucks a pop for those milled mounts!
 
Terry, it sounds like we have similar, but not exactly the same configurations. My plan is to go through the opening in the motor mount with the 4" scat tubing, not over it. I figured out that McMaster has 4" cushion clamps so I'm going to try to use one of those to keep the tubing from rubbing on the motor mount. I haven't tried that yet though. I'll admit that it's still a work in progress and I'm just now pulling all of the wires for the sensors that mount to the manifold.
 
Hey Ray-

I've got the engine mount temporarily installed but not tightened down. I should have all firewall aft wiring and most other under-the-panel tasks wrapped up in the next couple of weeks including all sensor wires running forward. As soon as that's done, I'll hope to rivet on the firewall recess, put it on its feet and hang the engine.

This is a race against time at this point, because my garage is unheated and I want to get the top skin shot on and the windshield trimmed and installed before it gets cold.

Please let me know what works for you if you get there before me, and I'll do the same.

Terry
 
The mount is already an obstruction that you must work around, so anything that you can run with it is out of your way. Any time you can keep from running lines or wires from your motor direct to the firewall, will allow easier access to everything on the back of the motor.

I mounted mine with adel clamps. Cheap, easy and very adjustable.

What Warren said.
 
How to mount the sensor manifold?

The drawings show the manifold on the forward side simply bolted to the stiffener on the aft side, sandwiching the firewall between. I'm not sure how often the manifold needs to be removed, but why isn't it riveted in place? Why isn't the stiffener riveted in place, if it's to do any significant stiffening? I'm about to install the sensor hoses and don't want to undo things later.
 
Yep, Adel clamps, used them on numerous airplanes, work good, last a long time. You may have money to burn though. Oh, noticed you're a AA pilot, so money to burn...
 
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