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Transparant Firewall

David Paule

Well Known Member
I made a dummy firewall using acrylic to act as a design tool for laying out where the various firewall-mounted components go on my tiny RV-3B project. Unlike some of the other aircraft, this area is not defined well at all in the plans. The dummy firewall is working out really well and I recommend it if you are in the same position. Of course it could work for other types of homebuilt....

TwWpE9T.jpg


Dave
 
Hey, that engine looks like mine! Except for the spark plug wires. Did you change to Pmags or just new wires? I see you have a firewall oil cooler too. Thats nice. My engine is working great.
 
Brilliant idea Dave :cool:
Will apply on my next build for sure…

PS
Also used some transparent sheeting, too many moons ago, to xfer the fluting pattern of the tank ribs to the skin on the -4 build
 
Liking that idea. Nice.

Thinking out loud here, but wondering if mounting engine to support frame as shown here and then later attaching it all to the plane might have some advantages over standard method of installing support frame to firewall and then mounting the engine.
 
Rocky, those are Pmags and the ignition leads that came with them. They'll need to be shortened, obviously.

I'm sure encouraged by the success you're having with your engine, by the way! For everyone else, our engines are twins, acquired from the same source at the same time. In fact, Rocky delivered my engine to the hangar for me.

Erich, that's certainly an option, and in fact it was my Plan A initially. Right now I only have two sets of the isolators mounted and it wasn't too difficult. Then I realized how much easier it would be to get the fuselage on the gear and put the engine on with that holding it up, versus gambling on a sawhorse with the engine still on a hoist while I attached all that. So the engine mount will come off the engine and get attached to the fuselage after drilling the holes I just located. Then the landing gear and then the engine.

Dave
 
Dave, here are our engines in my entry after getting them home. Mine is running great. No issues other than having trouble getting the oil temp high enough this winter!!
 

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I transported my engine somewhere on those Styrofoam blocks and I still remember the terrible squeaking it made the whole trip. Don't know how you kept sane when you brought it out.

Dave
 
I don't see an oil cooler yet. Firewall space is obviously going to be at a premium.

One suggestion/observation: mounting the oil filter on the firewall means additional hoses (more clutter, more potential failure points) and uses up precious firewall real estate. If there is room, the Casper 90 degree oil filter mount on the back of the engine eliminates those things. That may free up enough room to put the oil cooler on the firewall, which I am a big fan of.

You probably already have thought through these trade-offs, but just in case...
 
Hi, Steve, the whole oil cooler plan will have to wait until the cowl has been fitted and the baffles can be trimmed. It's all a trade-of, but I do think that the fittings on the back of the oil filter adapter will probably need to be re-angled. But that's as far as I've gotten.

Some time ago, I had the idea that the oil cooler would go on the centerline of the aft baffle, but I don't know that there will be room.

This thread was mostly intended to present the dummy firewall idea. You can follow my progress at this VAF blog. I'm currently drilling holes in the firewall per the acrylic dummy firewall pattern.

Dave
 
Hi, Steve, the whole oil cooler plan will have to wait until the cowl has been fitted and the baffles can be trimmed. It's all a trade-of, but I do think that the fittings on the back of the oil filter adapter will probably need to be re-angled. But that's as far as I've gotten.

Some time ago, I had the idea that the oil cooler would go on the centerline of the aft baffle, but I don't know that there will be room.

This thread was mostly intended to present the dummy firewall idea. You can follow my progress at this VAF blog. I'm currently drilling holes in the firewall per the acrylic dummy firewall pattern.

Dave

Dave - just a datapoint for you. Our RV oil coolers are all on the baffle (all three airplanes), and they all do just fine (with sufficient baffle re-I for cement, of course). The RV-3 cools better than the other two by maybe 20%) - we just never have an oil temperature issue on that airplane. There is so little firewall space on the -3 that I really doubt that you’ll find room for it anywhere else - and if you do, you’ll make maintenance access to other stuff a nightmare. We had to choose between an inverted oil valve and the heater box - and went with the heat. Your remote oil filter is about the age size - will be interesting to see if it actually fits.

Paul
 
Rocky, those are Pmags and the ignition leads that came with them. They'll need to be shortened, obviously.
Once baffles are on and actual routing around oil coolers and such is done, mine were just right or close enough not to bother with.
 
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