Baffles, aft baffle mounted oil cooler, and reinforcements...

[Brantel]

It seems that the newer baffle design is no more immune to cracks on the aft rear baffle when the oil cooler is mounted there than the old one...

Anyone not flying yet, do yourself a favor and beef this area up before flying!!!

I was naive and built mine per plans thinking the new brace design might solve the problem....wrong! Within 25 hrs I started seeing cracks in the corner. My prop has been dynamically balanced and the engine runs smooth. I have kept a close eye on the issue and it is soon to be repaired. I just purchased the $60+ worth of replacement parts in order to rebuild the aft rear baffle.

I plan to beef this area up greatly and add an angle brace.

If you have good ideas for beef up that you would like to share with me and others to come, please share them with us....

After contacting Van's about the fact that their baffle kit design is almost guaranteed to fail if built per the plans, the reply was something like we know it stinks, do the best you can with it, hopefully you will come up with a solution that will work for you, it is not our problem....not the best answer!!!

[jaradtke]

Mount it on the fire wall.

[vic syracuse]

I have never mounted my oil coolers on the baffles. If you have room, mount it on the Firewall. I have managed to do that on my 6, 7A, and of course the 10. No problems, with lots of hours. I also believe that mounting them on the baffles provides an extra source of heat which the cooler needs to reject.

Vic

[DEWATSON]

Vic,

Could you post a picture or two of your installation.......that's what I'm working on now. Thanks.

David Watson
49FD

[vic syracuse]

I'll try to do that this week end if I get a chance.

Vic

[kentb]

The picture should make is clear.
I use a piece of .063 angle and AN3 bolt.
I have seen this same fix going to the left side baffle instead of the engine.

Kent

[DanH]

One approach to a remote cooler.

http://www.vansairforce.com/communit...&postcount=274

[Brantel]

Thanks Kent,

I have seen your brace before and plan to do something similar or the same.

Thanks!!!

[Rion Bourgeois]

Mine cracked at 100 hours. I added a piece of 3/4 x 3/4 4130 .032 chromoly angle on the outside where it cracked and no problems in the 600 hours since. One side of the angle runs forward towards the cylinder head, and the other side runs outboard.

Look at Randy Lervold's oil cooler plenum here.

http://www.romeolima.com/RV3works/FW...llforward.html

Originally I had .032 alum. angle where Randy has 1/8' alum. angle on the forward side of the outboard edge of the plenum. When my .032 alum. angle piece cracked, I replaced it with .032 chromoly which resolved the problem. It looks like Randy used 1/8" 3/4 alu. angle there from the get-go to avoid the cracking issue. Either will work.

The plenum works well. My CHT's are always below 300 degrees in cruise, and I have to reduce the opening to the oil cooler in the winter to get 180 degree oil temps. I used a fly cutter to cut two holes in the backside of the baffle above the cylinders to let air into the plenum, and riveted a platenut between the holes on the oil cooler side. One hole is larger than the other. I can cover either or both with one or the other piece of alum. sheet to vary air flow and therefore the oil temp for Papa Bear, Momma Bear or Baby Bear settings. In Oregon winters, covering the larger hole works juusst right. Or you can mount the fancy shutter Van's sells in front of the cooler like Randy did.

[JonJay]

Originally Posted by Brantel

Thanks Kent,

I have seen your brace before and plan to do something similar or the same.

Thanks!!!

Cruise the posts and you will find many similar ways. I used steel tubing and formed tabs on the end. 300 plus hours, solid as a rock.