Morning to everybody,
Last year I had a water cooler failure just after 60 hours since new, Vans told me to contact the manufacturer in Czech Republic. I had to send them the broken radiator and they gave me a brand new one. all under warranty.
Few days ago I had another failure ( 200 hours flight time 140 hours since the new radiator installation) so I contacted the manufacturer again but they replied Vans was having issues with radiator design and many other people were experiencing the same issue, they suggested to contact Vans. So I did but no reply from them....
I started to look on internet and I found this forum here.
I also checked on Vans website and I found the SB about new radiator setup. I wonder why Vans never sent these infos on email...
I dismounted the radiator and sent it to a radiator shop hoping they will manage to fix it.
I'm not an expert about aluminum alloy stress and fatigue but it is obvious the design is not the best one.... Just the fact all is directly connected to an engine it is surely not a good idea even if with vibrations dumping devices....
The SB doesn't seems to really change the "faulty design" but just try to reduce and delay the issues... at least this is my opinion.
The oil cooler is still able to swing around lateral and longitudinal axis putting stress on the water cooler frame. The new dumpers will reduce the stress but the source of the stress is still there....
If the shop will manage to fix my radiator I will surely apply the SB but I'm really thinking to design something to make the frame more resistant.
@CTCole did a nice job putting those 2 bars, but with the modified radiator the lower radiator mounts will not be available anymore so another point must be found.
I'm also considering to use 2 nylon cable tie around the whole frame to keep it more rigid, this will be surely the cheapest and faster way but not really nice to see... (ties would be visible on the radiator forward side).
Vans should consider to redesign the whole radiators setup...
I'll keep you posted.
Giovanni