miyu1975

Well Known Member
I had planning on going with the larger oil cooler size for my 200 hp engine based on other forum discussions. But before I bought it I thought I would ask to those who have the IO 360 A1A, do I really need the bigger one and the headache of trying to fit it or is the standard smaller cooler suffice?
 
Hi Ryan,
If you think you may need it, why even bother putting the smaller one on? I didn't think I would, but I did...and mine is just a 180 hp O-360. Fitting a 10-row cooler wasn't bad at all.
 
The angle-valve IO-360 is guaranteed to overwhelm a standard Vans small 7-row NDM oil cooler in a dramatic way. If I remember correctly... all angle-valve Lyc IO-360s have piston oil squirters which raise the amount of heat absorbed into the oil by a large amount. Most 200hp angle-valve IO-360s I've seen on RVs and Glasairs have used the big 13-row oil coolers along with some kind of air valve for restricting the airflow in the wintertime. On a -7 the physical fit will be very tight, so if you haven't yet started mounting stuff onto the firewall and routing cables thru it, etc, now might be a good time to reserve some firewall area for possibly mounting an oil cooler there and running a scat duct over to it.

We went thru quite an ordeal with oil coolers with a high-compression parallel-valve ECI Titan IO-360 in an RV-8 and would've saved a lot of headache if we'd just put a big oil cooler on to begin with. Now we have the SW 10599R and it is proving to be just the right adequate/nominal size for our engine.
 
Put the 10/11 row cooler on. here are some pics of my installed.


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what's on the side of your oil cooler

Gary - is that a heater or a thermocouple on the side of your oil cooler? Also, have you tried your system with and without the duct directing the hot air down? I'd love to know how effective that is.
 
Big cooler, firewall mount

I have the same engine, and in the summer, you really want the big cooler. I installed mine on the firewall, with a plenum mount similar to the one Van sells for the RV-10, but with different angles to nest well in around the engine mount on the RV-8. I used a 3.5" scat hose from the #3 baffle, with a butterfly valve in it that is cockpit adjustible. If I had it to do again, I would use 4" scat. You can buy a 4" butterfly valve from.....
http://www.nonstopaviation.com/rv10-controller-cooler-p-14566.html

I find that in the fall-winter-spring, I set the valve closed about 60% to get 180F oil temp. In summer, it is wide open and stays that way.
 
Gary - is that a heater or a thermocouple on the side of your oil cooler? Also, have you tried your system with and without the duct directing the hot air down? I'd love to know how effective that is.

It's a 25watt heater that is also part of a 100 watt heater on my oil sump, works well. I have tried the duct without hose, with a hose right down to the exit air opening and what worked best for me was to compromise. I have a 4" skeet tube( smooth interior) directed straight down then a 45 degree angle on it just to direct it toward the exit air opening. I believe it was less friction of the full pipe and the better direction other than straight down that had the best result for me. I also gained 40 kts:D:D:D:D
If I can find a pic I will post it later.

pics found, here they are
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Thanks, all...good info. Looks like I will go ahead and go with the bigger cooler. Now which one, Aero Classic, Positech, SW, Airflow Systems...that's another debate.

Steve any chance you have any pics so I start getting some ideas on mounting mine.

Matt Dralle came up with a very nice set up on his 8...I will look into tonight as to whether this would fit my 7 tonight...don't see why it wouldn't. ??

matts pic.
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Matt Dralle came up with a very nice set up on his 8...I will look into tonight as to whether this would fit my 7 tonight...don't see why it wouldn't. ??

Be careful, the 8 has a different angle to the engine mount tubes that makes mounting a wider oil cooler on the baffle an easier proposition compared to the 7 ("easier" being a relative term when discussing anything related to the baffles!). Of course, the 8 has its own complications related to vertical placement of the oil cooler, due to the cowl shape. Basically there's no perfect place so you just have to make do with whatever you can squeeze in there. :)

mcb