Re:Work and Play

[fstringham7a]

Today was one of those work and play days.......Rocket and RV7A in a flight of two to Mesquite NV from Hurricane Utah to check out a just finished RV8.

I flew back seat in the Rocket and got a picture of the RV7A.........Flew right seat back to 1L8.....acro was just great..................



The picture just doesn't do justice to how beautiful the paint job/scheme of this plane.

Now to the work. Since the purchase of the RV7A (50 plus hours on a reman Lyco IO360 FI engine) the egt are running at or just below 1400. The CHT's were running above 400 especially the #3 was at or above 420. The oil temp was running near 230 plus. The engine was retimed which lowered the CHT's temps. #3 still runs close to 395.........where the others are a round 360. We sealed the baffles/made a scope to get more air to the oil cooler (right inlet deck to the engine has a 3 inch hole/3 inch scat tube to get air to the oil cooler which hangs on the engine mount near the lower fire wall). The previous owner put louvers on the lower cowl we think to help in these problems. Next idea is to change out the oil lines that appear to be undersized.

At 7500 ft / 2400 squared (approximate as I remember), OAT about 69 degrees the oil temp was still 210.

Is this just a hot blood aircraft or ........Any ideas on what next to get the oil temp below 200 in climb and cruise!!!!

Frank @ 1L8 .....RV7A....last 997 details

[frankh]

Are the upper ramps (in the upper cowl) glassed in on the sides...You waste a BUNCH of cooling air otherwise..Which also pressurizes the lower cowl, completely byspassing the engine.

.Aim to get rid of those louvers...they are just adding cooling drag.

If #3 is hotter it needs a couple of washers between the cylinder head and the rear baffle...There is a small screw hole at the very back left corner of the engine...There are no fins on the back side of #3 cylinder head and thats why there needs to be a small space betwen the baffle and the cyl head.

Frank 1

[frankh]

Looks like Scott Weddle's airplane...is it his?..It was for sale just recently.


I'm pretty sure Scott did not seal the baffles...and I remember telling him he should....


I maybe all wet but that paint job syre looks familiar

Frank1

[fstringham7a]

Frank 1

Yes to the preivous owner and yes to the other points. Our first order of business was to seal all those open points....we did and it helped just a little.
It was then timed which helped lower the CHT's. We are struggling to get the Oil Temps below 200.......and haven't thought to use the washer trick on #3.
The CHT's to day with temps on the ground @ 98 F plus and at 7500 @ 69 F the ChT's were around 360 F except three @ 390 F to 395 F ........Oil temps were as mentioned before 210 F .....

We did close in the inboard ramps with FG.......

What was your impression of the oil cooler location if you remember......

Thanks for the info

Frank 2 @ 1L8 RV7A