Baffle piece CB-705A: Missing cut-outs for oil cooler

Junglepilot · #1 05-31-2011, 09:44 PM

Putting together my baffle and on page three of the instructions (O-360) it shows part CB-705A (where the oil cooler attaches for rear placement) with pre-punched rectangular hole for cooler and a few other pre-punch holes.

Mine has no holes other some pre-drilled holes in the edges. I thought there must be a template to make those cut outs maybe but no joy so far.

Did they send me the wrong piece, is there something I missed ordering? The instructions are fairly vague. Just trying to know what to say to Van's tomorrow when I call.

flion · #2 06-01-2011, 08:37 AM

There should be a doubler for the oil cooler. It has a couple of the inner flanges rolled to fit the cooler. Use it as a template to locate the cutout after drilling it to the baffle.

swisseagle · #3 06-01-2011, 02:23 PM

Hello,

I'm at the exact same stage and at my bafflin kit it is the same.

The drawing show the part with oilcooler cutout, but the aluminum part in the kit does not have any oilcooler cutout.

See note 3, there they say, you should build the baffling and rubber seal and then place the oilcooler. place it as high as possible so you have a better cooling.

I would be too interested what vans is tellin you.

Tanks, Dominik

rzbill · #4 06-01-2011, 08:45 PM

Having just recently done this, I think it is the most "catch-22" of any task in the build. The baffle kits fit the engine, not the plane. You have to make it fit the plane (meaning cowl). The cowl for a tandem plane has a different curvature in the oil cooler corner than a side by side. You have been supplied a generalized "vanilla" baffle kit that has enough aluminum to fit all cowl circumstances.

SO, you have to cobble the baffles together well enough to be able to trim them to fit the upper cowl, THEN decide how high you want the oil filter and then start hacking the hole to fit the doubler and cooler. Leave that "box" piece above the cooler off the baffle assy for this first cowl fitting. Bring it into play before cutting the big hole, though.

Viola'. Done.....

Good luck. There are a bazzilion parts on the baffles. I have 17 log entries on baffles and I ain't done yet.

Junglepilot · #5 06-01-2011, 09:06 PM

Called Vans and spoke with Ken and he said that's normal because as you say apparently every install (RV-4, -6, -8 etc) can be a tad bit different even with identical engines (O-360) so they leave it this way.

However I wish the instructions more clearly spelled that out.

Also the bracket piece (FF-709) has to be ordered separate. Ken said it was cheap ($1-2). Well, then why don't they just throw it in every kit and be done with it?

My plan is to proceed whilst I wait on the FF-709 stuff, and just cleco that corner for now and later I can...."change...if I have to...I guess" (as Red Green would say).