Rate my baffles

[Scott Will]

Since the instructions are ohhh so informative, I thought I'd see if I was heading in the right direction. Finished up my left inlet floors and it looks like this. Does it appear OK? Had some thoughts like...

- is the left sidewall too far left? (see yellow oval)
- too much gap between the cowl and floor? I know instructions call for 3/8" but mines more like 1/2". That will be covered with the fabric, though, right? (the right floor has a gap of like 3/4 - 7/8"... is that too much? I think I was too aggressive there).

Anyway, does this side look OK?

 

[Ironflight]

It's Art!

Scott,

The thing about baffles is that no two sets are ever goign to be alike, and there are many ways to do them right....Yours look to be on track to me, but on mine, the front of the right side baffles (where you have your yellow oval) points a little more left than on yours - you're going to have to have some seal fabric in there, and it could get a little tight. The front clearnace of the floor looks OK to me - your description of the right side might be a little wide, but I'm talking from my experience with only one plane - my own...

The thing is, you'll keep adjusting a little here, and a little there all through the process, and it'll turn out OK. It's not rocket science, in fact, I don't think it's any kind of science. More like art...or black magic!

Paul

 

[osxuser]

I wouldn't worry tooo much about being a little wide. Baffle seal covers a multitude of sins.

 

[RV7Guy]

Looks good

Hey Scott,

As Paul noted, bend the piece in the oval 'out' to clear the glass. To me the right side was the PITA.

Robbie Attaway, who was my construction mentor, advised me to get everything as tight as possible in the fit.

A little trick to use is when done, turn the hangar lights off and put a light source above or below the engine. Now you have to seal everything where there is light coming through.

Amazing that all these little air sources can cause many degrees temperature issues.

 

[f1rocket]

The best way to gauge the location around the inlet is to tape a piece of baffle material to the backside of the fiberglass opening. The proper location of the aluminum baffle is wherever it allows the baffle material to lay flat against the aluminum. Don't worry about the 1/2" gap. The baffle material will provide a more than adequate seal. Just work on getting it to lay flat.

A couple more points to consider. One, attaching the top cowling may move the location of the bottom cowling up just a smudge. Try testing the opening with both cowls on. Also, remember that your engine will drop about a 1/4 to 3/16 of an inch at the spinner due to the engine mounts sagging. If the bottom and top of the baffle is a tad high, you'll probably be okay in the long run.

 

[Davepar]

Looks great so far.

I know you have vertical induction but for anyone with horz induction, you'll want to trim back the fiberglass cowl inlet and leave the left floor longer in the front.

My left side baffle is slightly outboard of where you have it, but that again is because of the horz induction snorkel. I have yet to figure out exactly how the whole thing is going to seal in that area, but I'm sure I can make it work.

When you start trimming the tops of the baffles, don't worry too much about the front bulkheads and the front of the side baffles until you install the inlet ramps on the cowl. That will require more baffle trimming.

Dave