Janekom

Janekom

Well Known Member
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RV7A with Niagra Falls oil cooler.
Anyone with experience - please tell me if it is better or the same than the one Vans supply. Many thanks.
 
Van's usually does supply the Niagara NDM oil coolers with the kits.

Typically a small NDM 7-row cooler is supplied for O-320 and O-360 kits, but this cooler is almost always way too small for high performance IO-360 engines, especially if equipped with ECI cylinders and/or piston oil squirt nozzles in the crankcase. Those engines usually need a 9 or 10-row oil cooler (Aero Classic / Pacific Oil Coolers makes good oil coolers in this size), or one of the very expensive Stewart Warner oil coolers.
 
In my past experience with an IO-360 on an RV-8 (the plane in my avatar) and that of friend who put an IO-360 in his RV-7 and other Vans Air Force folks who had difficulty with high oil temperatures in RV-7s and -8s over the past couple years with IO-360 engines (the parallel valve versions, the angle-valve 200hp IO-360 absolutely needs a huge oil cooler, usually the giant 13-row unit that is normally also the same cooler used on IO-540 6-cylinder engines)... I would strongly recommend not to waste your time with the small 7-row Niagara oil cooler on any IO-360 unless you only intend to fly in wintertime, arctic/antarctic areas!

If your engine is the parallel valve IO-360, then here is what I recommend:
The RV-7 doesn't have much space on the cylinder #4 rear engine baffle to mount a very large oil cooler. About the biggest ones anybody has been able to fit are the SW10599R or the SW8432R or the Aero Classic (Pacific Oil Cooler) 9 row #8000074 or 10-row #8000081 coolers. The SW brand is very expensive, but probably the best-made coolers on the entire planet. The Aero Classic coolers are well-made too, but substantially less expensive than SW. We put the SW10599R on the RV-8 in my avatar and it works very well except for very hot Texas summer days, when the oil temp can still get above 220 deg F if you don't manage the engine's heat output very carefully.

Pics of the installation can be seen in this thread: http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=65412&highlight=SW8432R

My buddy who recently finished his RV-7 with an IO-360 went with the Aero Classic 9-row, and probably wishes now that he'd bought the 10-row cooler instead and forced it to fit somehow.

If you still haven't used up all the area on your firewall, lots of -7 builders have mounted their larger oil coolers there, and run SCAT ducts to feed cooling air to them.

If your engine happens to be the 200hp angle-valve IO-360, then you'll have to mount a big 13-row cooler somewhere (firewall, engine mount frame, etc) and fabricate ductwork for it.
 
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