I have a Sam James cowl and I am experiencing high oil temps. The plane is an RV 7A and I have Vettermans mufflers. Not sure if that is disturbing the airflow or not. Has anyone had to add louvers to the bottom of a Sam James cowl?
Same setup.. but these days I'm fighting low oil temps (gotta work hard to hit 160 deg).. the only mod I did was go from 3" to 4" SCAT on my FW mounted cooler (which also prompted building a custom plenum on top of the cooler -- I did a very similar thing to what Dave Burden did on his -9).
I assume your engine is broken in? If not.. I'd say don't mess with anything just yet..
EDIT: maybe not "same" setup.. I just have Vetterman exhaust.. no mufflers that would mess with flow of air from the cooler..
I have not experienced those issues...which cooler are you running? I built a mini stand-off/plenum on the rear baffle with aluminum angle. The hole in the baffeling is pretty small, but it expands into this area, and I think gives more even flow over the cooler.
and I have the upgraded SW cooler..Mine is mounted on the baffles sort of..My buddy however has a FW mounted cooler with 3" ducting and has no issues with otherwise the same setup..
Mine tends to cruise at 200F and itcan get to 230F on really hot days at high altitude...Its managable though.
I certainly would NOT add louvers as your defeating the benefits of the reduced drag of the cowl.
the only mod I did was go from 3" to 4" SCAT on my FW mounted cooler (which also prompted building a custom plenum on top of the cooler -- I did a very similar thing to what Dave Burden did on his -9).
