Oil Cooler Adjustable Shutter

[Leland]

I installed Van's adjustable oil cooler shutter and had some initial problems. One problem was that the shutter mechanism bound up when the bolts holding the oil cooler to the baffling were tightened. It turns out that the fins on the cooler protrude slightly beyond of the flange faces. This problem was rectified by gluing 0.032" shims to the face of the shutter. The shutter adjustment now moves fairly freely.

Another problem was that the shutter handle was too long and dug a gouge in the top of my cowling at startup. Cutting the handle to half its length solved this problem but is now harder to adjust the shutter opening. (I have long skinny arms and can reach this handle through the oil door.)

The third problem was a near interference between the back of the oil cooler and the engine mount. There was already marginal spacing between the two and moving the cooler back by the thickness of the shutter reduced the gap to an unacceptable level. Grinding back the oil cooler case and cooling fins opened the gap enough to prevent the cooler from banging the engine mount at startup.

 

[Harvey L. Sorensen]

oil cooler gate

Leland.
Send me your email address and I'll send you a picture of what I did about the long handle on the cooler door.
Harvey L. 51HS not yet flying

 

[GaryK]

Oil cooler baffle

My arms are not skinny enough to reach the baffle through the oil door. Here's what I did to solve the problem. There are doubler plates on the forward side of the baffle.

Gary
N715AB

 

[kentb]

Very interesting....

Gary, your FWF looks almost identical to mine. Three GPS antennue under the cowl, EI on one side, backup alt. from B & C.

Is your standard mag on the left or right, I couldn't tell from the picture.

Kent

 

[GaryK]

Left Mag

The Lightspeed is on the right (Hall Effect), Mag on the left. My engine is a O-360 from Aerosport, the oil baffle was easy to install and really helps with the Michiagn winter temps. You do need to add the spacers or it will bind.

Gary
N715AB

 

[Rick_Luck]

Reduced Engine Mount Clearance

I'm looking at installing a shutter but I'm also concerned about the existing lack of clearance between the oil cooler and the engine mount. The rear flange of my Positech 4211 cooler is already notched in the middle to get clearance for the engine mount. I could notch it more but don't know it I can notch it enough. I talked with Vans yesterday and they said the shutter assembly is 5/32" thick. Does that correspond with the "setback" that your oil cooler is pushed back because of the shutter? If so, I might try shimming back the cooler with some 5/32" shims just to get a better feel for the interference before spending $115 for the cooler & accessories .