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alpinelakespilot2000

Well Known Member
For those of you who complained in previous threads about Van's old baffle kits and their (lack of decent) instructions, your complaints were well-warranted in my opinion! :mad:

I'm trying to put Van's "old" 0-320 baffle set on my new Aerosport 0-320-D2A. The side baffles fit pretty well, with just maybe 1/16" of filing in places around the rocker covers, but the aft baffles are looking like they will take quite a bit more trimming. However, it's very hard to see the areas of obstruction and I'm concerned I'll take off more than I need to.

For those who have put the rear baffles on an Aerosport 0-320, any insights into how much I might eventually be taking off? Was it just a 1/16 here or there or did you have to do some serious cutting?

Thanks for any tips for this already frustrating (and, yes, clueless) process.
 
Baffle fitting on an O-320

Steve,

I am a bit further along in the fitting process. Mine is also a 9A with an ECI 0-320. I have the newer baffle kit but did have to spend several hours in particular fitting the #3 cylinder rear baffle. It took a lot of fitting-trim-mark-trim-some-more iterations; where it nests up against the crankcase at the base of the #3 cylinder, where it sits over the forward end of the engine mount bolt and to clear interference with the manifold pressure nipple. All in all, I did not have to introduce more profile reliefs as much as make them deeper; probably by about an 1/8" or so. I think the key is to iterate it, taking a little at a time, then fitting it and marking more material for removal. A good shop light is handy for see what is going on. Patience is definately a virtue on this operation.

I also had to file a bit off the number 2 cylinder inlet ramp where it was interfering with the crankcase toward the front. Here, however, remember that you will soon adjust the inlet ramp's angle. In my case, it had to come up vertically a bit in order to align with the rear edge of the bottom cowl air scoop. So, the amount you remove from it in order to clear the crankcase is lessened by the fact that it will sit higher than when you initially cleco it place.

Hope that was helpful.

Ray
Richmond VA
 
Thanks Ray. Even though you have the newer version, your comments do help.

I skipped the more challenging left side and went to the right where things are more open and visible. It didn't take too much filing to get the right aft baffle to fit, but a problem that I ended up with is shown in the picture below. The side and aft baffle don't mate flush with each other even though both fit correctly up against and are screwed into the engine and aft-right cylinder. The tapered gap you see is 3/16-1/4 at the widest (top).

Am I just going to have to fashion some sort of gap filler or am I perhaps doing something wrong? Anyone else have this issue?

Thanks.

s3pr7k.jpg
 
Yup

alpinelakespilot2000 said:
The side and aft baffle don't mate flush with each other even though both fit correctly up against and are screwed into the engine and aft-right cylinder. The tapered gap you see is 3/16-1/4 at the widest (top).

Am I just going to have to fashion some sort of gap filler or am I perhaps doing something wrong? Anyone else have this issue?
Click to expand...

Yup. Just cut the flange off and make a new one, like in the picture below. You can see more of my pics at http://rv8.gwevans.net. Click on the "baffles" link.

baffles15-w.jpg
 
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Or fill it......

......with red (high temp) RTV. All the gaps around the front of the engine should be filled with the same RTV to maximize your cooling. Keep it all nice and tight.

Regards,
 
RTV

I used hi-temp red rtv on the #3 rear corner also. And along the top rear of the engine and both sides of the engine behind the crank flange. Still haven't installed the rubber gap seals between the lower cowl inlets and the baffle ramps.

I'm running with the top 4" of the oil cooler blocked off to get oil temps UP to 185*F. OAT~45*F. ECI 0-320 B1B1N.

Steve
 
Same here

Same problem in that area with my O-360. I just filled it with red RTV and moved on.
 
Thanks guys. I'll just fabricate a new angle there like Geoff did and fill in whatever gap is left with red RTV.

I appreciate all the help. I did get the left rear baffle fit last night too. It actually didn't take too much filing either. However, Van's calls out for a "finger spacer" there for the tapered gap between the baffle and case ( where the baffle gets screwed into the case). What is a "finger spacer"? Do I just make up a tapered shim with whatever scrap I have laying around to fill that gap, or is a finger spacer something else?

Thanks again for the help.
 
finger spacer

You should have a .063 x 15" x 1" piece of alum packed in the baffle kit. Make the long spacer behind #4 cyl and the finger spacers from that piece. Think of the finger spacer as a rectangular or oval washer.

Steve
 
I was able to fix this gap a better way

HI all,
It looks like many of us struggled with the same joint there below the aft corner of #3 where the rear baffle piece doesn't SEEM to meet up with the side piece correctly. After a bunch of fiddling, I figured out what the problem is and was able to get these parts to mate PERFECTLY.

The trick is that the rear baffle piece is pre-bent in an arc to conform to the cylinder cooling fins below the cylinder. But, if you look, the surface of the cooling fins is not actually a circular arc. It runs flat down the back side of the cylinder for some distance, then makes a crisp angle change below the cylinder.

So, what is needed is to straighten some of that pre-bent arc out flat, then make the more abrupt bend to fit the cylinder better. Once this is done, then the rear baffle piece lies right up flat against the back of the cylinder, and the corner intersection angles fit perfectly.

ALSO:
Based on info in another thread I found, I did put a 1/16 spacer between the rear baffle piece and the cylinder head mount point to create a slight gap. The cooling fins are almost zero height there and you do want to let some air down the back face of the cylinder there so it can flow into the fins on the bottom.

All this for me was on an angle-valve IO-360. YMMV - different engines might have different cooling-fin shapes, but that was the key for me. Same thing on the front of #1, BTW.
 
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