Custom Cooling System Composite
Hi George, what I'm looking at is all composite top to bottom, yes it will hold up to the heat. Something I didn't mention was a sealed top plenum as well. As far as the gap between the inner cylinder/head baffle and the baffles that wrap around the cyl/heads, that is a measurement that should be the same on ALL cylinders and heads, hot spots will happen if the gap is not to spec. If that gap is opened up or closed down then the airflow around the cyl/heads is not equal..... you and other pilots are probably aware of that. I've tried all sorts of things with temps probes and heat coloring crayons to see what the temps are around the heads and cylinders etc. Of course Lycoming has done all of this and the lower gap must be kept the same. 2 1/4" on cyl heads and 1" on the cylinders works the best from what I've seen. The the other gap I'm talking about is getting air to flow around cylinder #2 at the front fin area and cylinder #3 at the rear, I've looked at hundreds of RV's and other general aviation aircraft and maybe two out of a 100 are correct and they wonder why #2 and mostly #3 cyls run hotter than 1 and 4. So then what guys do is start blocking air too #1 cyl to get it up to temps like #2 and #3 then deal with #4 running cold. If all of the gaps that I'm talking about are correct, many pilots would see some drastic cyl temp reductions in hot weather and even be able to shut down their air inlets and pick up a little speed. Years ago I heard of pilots opening up or closing the gap on the lower baffles......I was a monkey see monkey do guy back then and I even opened the gap up on one cyl head in 1/2" increments all the way to 4" to try to get more air flow to cool a hot cylinder,,,,,wrong, it made things worse and created hot spots. Probably aware that the changes need to be made on top not the bottom. If you have a mock up engine on a stand with the inner cooling baffles that Lycoming builds in place, then the baffles and plenum can be made to fit perfect around the entire engine, should not make a difference if its in the airplane since nothing is related or fits the cowling except at the cowling air inlets. Aluminum cooling tins are hard to fit the cyl/heads perfect without silicone to seal the areas where a few gaps might be. With the composite baffles they would be molded to fit Lycoming cyl/heads fins perfect. I am aware that Superior / ECI cyl fins are a little different then Lycomings but not much. To protect the composite baffles from eating on the fins or the fins eating on the composite material a high temp spray on rubber type barrier is applied to the cooling shrouds where they are against the fins. Long story short but one would be looking at a low profile top plenum with round inlets, back baffle with all attachments, all baffles that wrap around cylinders as a package. Bolt it on with no trimming cutting making this and that except for scat tubes, plug wire holes and oil cooler cutout. Anyway I've never seen anything out there like this and was looking to see if there is any interest for the RV's. No it will not be $230 lol....This would be a custom fit cooling system for the SJ style cowling for the RV-6,7, 8 with an angle valve 200HP Lycoming. Kinda long story but I hope I explained everything. George, your very up and up on what I'm talking about here so if you have any thoughts or feedback please give me a buzz. Thanks and happy flying. AJ
