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Baffles for Titan Engine

Nihon_Ni

Well Known Member
I have a Titan IOX-370 and I'm working on the Van's baffle kit for a Lycoming IO-360. The stock baffle has two sections that wrap around the side and bottom of a cylinder: a larger radius that wraps the cylinder head and a smaller radius that wraps around the cylinder barrel. The Van's baffle kit is designed for a cylinder that has equal length cooling fins on the barrel, like Lycoming and most other cylinders.

Because Titan tapers the cylinder barrel fins to save weight, the baffle touches the outboard end of the barrel but has a 3/8" gap on the inboard side (next to the crankcase). That gap between the fins and the baffle seems like an easy exit for lazy air to escape without doing the cooling work I need.

Before I reinvent the wheel, I thought I'd check to see what other Titan builders have done. Did you leave the gap, put an additional piece of aluminum inside the stock barrel baffle to form a cone, bend the barrel baffle to close the gap, cut it off and make a new one, etc.?

Thanks!
 
Rob, to keep everyone focused on the most efficient path, Consider describing the activity as "forming" rather than bending.

I'm sure, in concept, you meant "forming" (3 dimensional bending).

It wouldn't be too difficult to construct the three hammerforms you would need (L&R Ends and Center) and come up with something that works using "W" tempered 6061.
 
Thanks for the link! This is exactly what I was hoping to find. (I didn't search for eci because I don't know what that is.)
 
No worries. ECI was a company that got bought out or taken over by continental. I'm not sure the entire story, but the cylinder was an ECI design that titan/continental has kept in production for their motors. I've got the same motor/cylinders as you so I had that one saved for a while now. Let me know how it goes, I'm probably 2 months away from having to do my baffles.
 
I'm not quite to the point of doing the baffles since my engine is still in the crate, but I was starting to investigate parts that I still need to order for my FWF. Did you just order the IO-360 Baffle Kit then?
 
Continental Titan formerly ECI tapered cylinder baffles

That's a great find! I just started on baffling for a Continental Titan O-360 using Van's O-360 kit.

Many thanks to Russ LaValle and Bill Repucci for the tapered cylinder templates!

I dug around in www.prettybits.com. There's a pull-down menu at upper right where you can get to "Russ' RV-7A" and then you can scroll down to the "Cowl Baffle" section which has twenty sub-sections where you will find play-by-play coverage of his baffle installation with lots of photos... here's a sample:

DSC023751.jpg

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I'm not quite to the point of doing the baffles since my engine is still in the crate, but I was starting to investigate parts that I still need to order for my FWF. Did you just order the IO-360 Baffle Kit then?

Yes, I ordered the IO-360MiB/Constant Speed Prop FWF kit from Van's, including the baffle kit. I spent today fitting, trimming, fitting, trimming, fitting, etc. the right aft baffle, but so far the rest of if has gone together just fine. I traced the final shape of the CB-707A. If you want a copy, send me a PM.
 
That's a great find! I just started on baffling for a Continental Titan O-360 using Van's O-360 kit.

Many thanks to Russ LaValle and Bill Repucci for the tapered cylinder templates!

I dig around in prettybits.com. There's a pull-down menu where you can get to "Russ' RV-7A" and then you can scorll down to the "Cowl Baffle" section which has twenty sub-sections where you will find play-by-play coverage of his baffle installation with lots of photos... here's a sample:

DSC023751.jpg

.
.

I clicked on every link on the main page, but only found the temples, bolt torque values, and a drill size chart. Can you send me a link to the baffle photos?
 
prettybits.com navigation

I clicked on every link on the main page, but only found the temples, bolt torque values, and a drill size chart. Can you send me a link to the baffle photos?

Hi Rob,

Please let me know if this image helps or not. Perhaps you did not notice the pull-down menu at upper right to get to "Russ' RV-7A".
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Taper Necessity

So....am currently working on said baffle kit for my 370 and stumbled on this thread.

Just curious here, as asked by the OP, is this really necessary to close the gap on the tapered section on these cylinders? I wonder what the increased efficiency really is and if there's anyone who didn't go thru this process...what they are reporting for cooling on their engines.
 
Not so much efficiency as closing a number of large holes in your sealed high pressure box.

Not an option.
 
So....am currently working on said baffle kit for my 370 and stumbled on this thread.

Just curious here, as asked by the OP, is this really necessary to close the gap on the tapered section on these cylinders? I wonder what the increased efficiency really is and if there's anyone who didn't go thru this process...what they are reporting for cooling on their engines.

I swapped from 360 to 370, considered remaking tapered baffles but thought I would try it first by just pulling the inner baffles in as far as possible and filling the gap on top. CHT's are great, no prob even on the hottest days in TX.
 
I swapped from 360 to 370, considered remaking tapered baffles but thought I would try it first by just pulling the inner baffles in as far as possible and filling the gap on top. CHT's are great, no prob even on the hottest days in TX.

Closing the gap on the entry around the lower cylinder would throttle flow in that location down to pretty much the same as a closely fitted wrap. The cylinder base isn't very hot, so any loss of heat transfer there is not so critical. The key is no pressure loss at the head fins where the serious cooling takes place.

Pretty good hack Walt!
 
I swapped from 360 to 370, considered remaking tapered baffles but thought I would try it first by just pulling the inner baffles in as far as possible and filling the gap on top. CHT's are great, no prob even on the hottest days in TX.

Just to add to the above, I did add some holes in the 'tangs' where you tie the baffles together (I use safety wire) on the very IB side , that helps to pull the IB end of the baffle in a bit closer to the cyl.

The upsides to doing it this way is primarily it's easy, I always prefer easy over hard.
Another is if you ever have to install a non tapered cyl for some reason the baffle still fits.
 
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#3 Cylinder Baffle Bends

Came across this thread while working on my baffles and so far the template and the #1, #2 and #4 baffle mods fit very well. My challenge is the compound bend on the #3 baffle mod. Is there a known trick/technique to making this bend? It’s the one where the upper part of the tapered baffle flange goes toward the cylinder and then another bend goes away. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
I don't have a secret or technique. I made it slightly oversized at the top/formed area and iterated it down to a good fit. The important part IMO is the curved portion so that there's a good longitudinal fit where the fin height steps up. I formed the compound bend with a hand seamer, IIRC. Bottom one first then match marked the baffle intersection. Sorry, no real advice. Go ahead and cut two. That way it will assure you won't need to back-up.
 
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