Van's stock oil cooler vs. alternatives

Flying Scotsman · #1 10-17-2010, 12:14 AM

I'm going to open an old can of worms here...I did search through the forums, but a lot of the threads seem to be a little old (maybe my search wasn't very well formulated)...

Starting work on the baffling now, so the question becomes...Van's "stock" oil cooler (I guess it's a Niagara?) vs. maybe a Stewart-Warner. I'm a "keep it as designed" kind of guy, so would like to stick with Van's plans, parts, etc., if possible.

So, a couple of questions...I have a stock, Lycoming IO-360 on an RV-7A. What are people's experience with the stock cooler? If you feel the stock cooler is inadequate, which one did you replace it with, and are the "footprints" the same? (i.e., can you use the same mounting hardware and parts)?

Any help or advice based on real-world experience with the same or similar set-up is very much appreciated. I'm not in to buying pricey parts unless necessary, but if necessary, I have no problem doing so...

TIA!

Steve

nucleus · #2 10-17-2010, 12:38 AM

You are going to get different answers, but I can share my experience. I have 185 HP clone with a James cowl, a plenum and the stock oil cooler. I ended up installing an oil cooler shutter to get my temps up enough to take the water out of the oil. I run it closed most of the year, but I do live in Montana.

Hans

RV7ator · #3 10-17-2010, 06:42 AM

Van's Niagara has served me well on four ships, all 180 or more horsepower 360s. What seems the big swinger is how well the engine cools itself convectively. Heresay hereabouts from mechs and builders is that ECi jugs run hot, tapered fin ECi jugs run hotter, Lycs are coolest. My experience bears this out. I suggest Van's to start with, and likely you won't have to add capacity with a larger/better(?) cooler unless your engine is a problem to begin with. The current -7 has over 200hp from an O-360 carbed from Lyc jugs flowed by Lycon; it's Niagara cooler has 30% of the fins block year round: summer, 190; winter, 170 degrees and the CHTs are 300 - 380 depending on ambient/power.

A common problem is cracking of the #4 baffle where it is bent to form a flange that receives the cooler. Reinforce this with some angle, not just the extra plate between the baffle and cooler flanges as the instructions show.

John Siebold

MrNomad · #4 10-17-2010, 06:58 AM

I run the stock cooler on my O-360 and rarely see temps over 191. However, when we positioned the cooler on the mounting baffle, we kept it as high as possible to insure that lots of air passed thru it.

IOW, don't tuck it down behind the cylinder.

Note, I fly out of Tucson.

Squeak · #5 10-17-2010, 07:19 AM

On my RV7A with 0-360, Catto Prop, stock oil cooler, stock baffling, rarely see temps over 180 even in summer temp. in Indiana. Like Barry mentioned kept it high on the baffling. Now the head temp will get up to 425 on #1 (on hot summer day) if I climb out at 1500-2000 ft. min so I keep the speed up 120 knots no problems.

Squeak
RV7A

sbarger24 · #6 10-17-2010, 08:15 AM

I have a Superior 0-360 built by Aero Sport Power. Had my first flight the first of September with ambient temps still in the low 90s, and never seen oil temps over 190F. Blocked half of my oil cooler off recenlty because ambient temps are now in the 60s and 70s and only seeing 170 to 180. Suspect I will have to block the entire cooler this winter.

My buddy with a ECI O-360 and Sam James Cowl recently bought a larger oil cooler, as he was struggling to keep his temps down. He might chime in here.

db1yg · #7 10-17-2010, 09:41 AM

I would agree with much of what John says--much depends on your engine/cyl/ignition/cooler location. The Eci cerminil cylinders tend to run hotter than stock steel and if you have either the Eci cam squirters, the piston squirters, and/or electronic ignition you will be introducing more heat into the oil. I have all of the above except the piston oilers on my Eci Titan 0360 and run a bigger cooler--the SW 10599 on my firewall.

It appears that you have a stock Lyc engine as opposed to the Eci or Superior clone so I would bet that, assuming your baffling is tight, the stock cooler or at most the same sized SW 8406R cooler would do fine.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

db

erich weaver · #8 10-17-2010, 09:49 AM

On my IO-360 (ECI) with 9:1 cylinders, my oil temps will be up around 210-215 on a hot day (80-90F). A little higher than I would like but not high enough to make me switch to the SW cooler. If I was starting over however, I would probably go with the SW. Never have to block off any of my cooler though

Erich

Scott Hersha · #9 10-17-2010, 10:32 AM

I had the standard Niagra on my RV-6 and mounted it on the firewall to avoid baffle cracking - more prevalent back then. I never had high oil temps with that installation and had to block air through it in the colder months. On my RV-8, I mounted the standard cooler as high as possible on the baffle. I have an ECI EXP360 with 9:1 pistons and one electronic ignition. My oil temps this last summer were running around 215, sometimes a little warmer, even up high with OATs in the high 50's. I installed a SW cooler of the exact same size and my temps droppped 20 degrees. I'll still have to block air through it this winter, but I think you'll need to do that no matter what your installation is.

L.Adamson · #10 10-17-2010, 10:46 AM

Standard cooler. Usually runs around 190-195 in summer. Mounted high on back baffle #4 cycl/with reinforcing angle. Use the Van's slider damper for winter months. Highest temp I've seen with damper closed is 205 in the winter. It never gets that hot with damper opened in summer.

L.Adamson --- RV6A/ O360 AIA