M

MitchyRV8a

I'm New Here
I am building an RV8a with a Superior engine IO360 and I fitting the cowling. The oil cooler that came with the FWF kits is the oil cooler I am using. The problem I have is, the upper cowling is hitting the cooler. I am using the Vans baffle system that came with the FWF kits. I have shifted the cooler to the right and it still hits.

I have not installed the rubber baffling yet because I am making sure none of the baffle metal hits the cowling. The metal is clear but the upper left corner of the oil cooler hits the upper cowling. When I install the rubber baffling, will that raise the cowling? Is that OK? I am using the sky bolt cowling latch system. Is it OK to push the rear of the cowling down to attach to the skybolts?

Any words are encourage. I need help....
 
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The rubber baffling will not improve the situation. Perhaps you can grind off the offending corner of the oil cooler (assuming it is the flange that is the problem). Alternately, maybe you can lower the cooler.

Be aware that the engine moves during operation. If you have an extremely tight cooler/cowl spacing, the oil cooler is likely to touch the cowl often enough to rub a hole in it after extended use.
 
I also have a Superior XP-360, and the Van's baffle kit. My oil cooler touched (barely) the upper cowl the same place. I figured there were two choices, lower the oil cooler, or what I picked, modify the cowl. As the previous post mentioned the engine does move quite a bit, but more movement as you get further away from the lord mounts. Since the oil cooler is fairly close to the mounts. I decided to grind away the inner layer of fiberglass and the honeycomb from a small area of the upper cowl, where I thought the cooler would rub, and added a new layer of just fiberglass. I did not grind through the outer layer of the cowling, so from the outside it looks perfectly normal. The rubber seals will not affect this issue as they just seal between the vertical part baffle and the horizontal surface of the cowl, the upper part of the rubber seal should face forward from the rear baffle and inboard from the side baffle. I hope all that makes sense.
I now have about 150 hrs on my RV-8, and have not had any sign of the oil cooler rubbing the cowl.
 
I lowered mine too

Same as you, cooler hit top cowl. Lowered oil cooler and no issues with oil temps. I assume since you knew it hit the cowl you've cut the big square hole to match the oil cooler. You'll likely need to add a small piece of aluminum to block the upper area since you lowered the cooler.
 
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