DanH

Legacy Member
Mentor
Time to order a cooler for my project....field reports please gentlemen. Several IO390-powered RV-8's are flying now. Does the 390 seem to need a larger oil cooler than the IO360? What are you using?

BTW, I realize there are lots of installation variations. I'll be remote mounting with about a foot of 4" scat and a decent cooler plenum.
 
Oil cooler

Hi Dan,
Have a look at Marc Ausman's site here:

http://www.io-390.com/IO-390.com/Flights_-_2.html

He installed a IO-390 in a -7 and documented his oil cooler issues. He used the SW 10599R cooler because of size on the baffle worked space wise. He has a dual battery set up on the firewall and said that stopped him from putting the bigger SW 10610R cooler there.
 
Carlos,
Yep, know about Marc's site. I'm hoping the database has gotten a little larger.
 
Dan, I think I have the 10599R Stewart Warner, I'll have to check to be sure, but I know that it is 9 rows, so I believe it is the same as Marc is using. So far I have 3 flights for a total of 2.6 hours (2nd and 3rd flights cut short due to hight winds and big bumps). I have a Showplanes fastback with the showplanes cowl and a TMX IO390 under a homebrew plenum. BTW I have the MT 3 blade. The cooler is mounted to the engine mount at a 13 degree angle behind cylinder #4 and fed through an airbox mounted to the cooler and pressed against the baffle behind #4 sealed with foam weatherstrip from the aviation isle at Home Depot. I will try to get a pic for you, but it may be a few days before I have time. Work sure interferes with my time off. It has been mid 70's to mid 80's for my flights, and running 24"X2400 for most of the time I haven't seen more than 210 on the oil temp yet. My cylinder heads are stabilizing in the 345-360 range. I am still designing and building inlets to the plenum, currently just using neoprene to seal between the inlet rings and plenum opening, and I know I have significant leakage. I also plan to try a 4" scat exhaust for the oil cooler to give the air a direct outlet to the cowl exit in hopes of creating a little direct scavenging from the back of the cooler. So far I am pretty happy with the temps, but with the Arizona summer looming, it can't be too cool.
 
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IO-390 (no temp issues)

Hello Dan,

I have a 390 in a 7 that has been flying for a little over a year -- 350 hours. I'm using the SW 10599R cooler with standard baffles -- many photos of installation, including front baffle on Marc's site. Agressive climbs to 18000 feet will bring the oil temp up to 220 degrees. Normal climbs (1500ft/min) usually results in 200-205 degree oil temps and cruise flight is a solid 190 dregrees. This has been the case since day one with the Barrett IO-390. Send PM with email address if interested in more photos, including same cooler on a friend's RV-8.

Bill

Lee's Summit, MO
RV-7 N151WP
 
oil coolers

Dan,

Check with Dick Martin, Richard White, or Bryan Milani. If you will PM me, I'll give you contact information.

Allen Barrett
 
Why use scat??

Not sure if you saw this post or not, but the setup Randy used is really slick.
 
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SW 8432R

Hi Dan,

Not a 390 but I'm going to have one on the next project. On my 360 I'm using a S and W 8432R. This is the dual pass style that is very efficient. Even in the AZ heat I rarely hit 200 degrees oil temp. I asked several engine folks about this and they said this should be excellent for the 390. Baffle mounted.
 
Neat but.....

This is a very cool set up but.....if you notice this is not a standard Lycoming mount. I'm not sure what it is. I'm in the process of redoing mine now and was interested in this method. With a conventional Lycoming mount there is no room. Bummer.

Not sure if you saw this post or not, but the setup Randy used is really slick.
 
If anyone has more installation pics, I'd be glad to put 'em up on the IO-390.com site. Just send me a PM.