[Bob Axsom]

Baffle Seals seal, etc.

Doing my annual condition inspection today and noticed a couple of noteworthy things about the baffle seals. I made mine per drawing from the kit ordered from Vans for an O-360-AIA in an RV-6A. I noticed there is not a seal between the rubber and the aluminum except at the rivets after 170+ hours of flight time. I added Dow Corning 736 to this areafrom the top side. I might be something to consider while you are building the baffle. Also I saw at the fwd upper corner of both vertical side panels the metal was making contact with the cowl. Trimmed it down and deburred - should be OK now. That's another thing to consider when building - minimize the corner and round it to a good radius.

Bob Axsom

 

[osxuser]

I think that is the main advantage of a plentum setup, you never have to worry about it.

 

[Bob Axsom]

Well OK, but if you don't want to do that...

Regardless, if you are building the Van's supplied plenum consisting of the metal, rubber seals and the underside of the cowl, it is my field experience that air gaps will develop between the metal of the baffle and the rubber of the seal between the rivets over time. My suggestion is to consider applying DC 736 red RTV in the interface during the assembly.

Bob Axsom