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Aftermarket cowl?

Not sure about "proven" but here is the only after-market cowl I've seen on the market. I don't have experience with it but came across it the other day.

http://www.showplanes.com/ecom-prodshow/EC_10.html
Optimized design for cooling airflow...

RV-10 cowling features circular cooling air inlets using the bottom 25% of each inlet for engine induction air. Manufactured using the latest composite material technologies, the cowling is ultra light weight and more rigid than a standard wet lay-up.

Flight tested and designed to utilize a fifteen-inch spinner with a proprietary nose gear fairing for optimal cooling. Engine compatibility includes standard Lycoming IO-540 series and BPA cold air induction engines. Order now and optimize your RV-10 engine cooling with this all new low drag cowl.
Click to expand...

RV-10-cowl-sm.jpg
 
The stock cowl works great...looks good, no problems overheating, cht's are close enough and it is plenty fast and fuel efficient. 10-11 gph at 160 TAS up high LOP. What is not to love?
 
show planes

I purchased Show planes cowl...Don't have in my possession yet but excited about installing when I get to this point in next 6 months. Brian at Show planes has good handle on performance and benefits so I suggest talking to him as he very nice guy and knowledgeable. Two things in addition you will need is 15 inch spinner and on standard IO540, fuel servo needs to be mounted horizontal via a 90 degree elbow adapter off of sump.Again, call Brian for details
 
Unless you can find someone who built a -10 with the "stock" cowl and then swapped it out for one of these aftermarket cowls without making any other changes AND took good / accurate performance measures before and after any performance improvements are just a guess.

When I swapped my engine, I went with the Sam James holey cowl strictly for aesthetic reasons. If I gained a knot or two great but since I never fly it wide open, it really doesn?t matter much.

If you like that cowl, buy it and enjoy it but if you are buying it for speed reasons, you probably won't notice it.
 
I was one of the first flying James Cowls on an RV-10 and my issues are well documented. Since I had already screwed the pooch on an aftermarket cowl the smartest choice for me would have been to go back to the stock cowl which works as advertised and you have a large & growing fleet of similar outfitted aircraft. But I have never been accused of being smart so I purchase and am having installed the new Showplanes cowl. I'm a sucker for round inlets. I suspect I am less than a month from flying the new cowl. What I can tell you is the quality of the fiberglass cowl & components are top drawer and Bryan is vary talented and thoughtful in his approach to all things aviation related. I plan to fly it for 30-60 hours before paining. I will not be able to provide any differences in performance as I am not upgrading from the stock cowl but I will report back my experiences once I have sufficient time behind the new nose.
 
Robin - Any updates on the new cowl

It has been a few months. Was just curious how the Showplanes cowl compares to the Sam James cowl you had on previously. Has cooling improved, etc?
 
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