Bill_H
Well Known Member
OK, cold weather is upon us. I have a blower and duct to prewarm the engine as the plane sits in the hangar. Can easily get it up to 70 degrees or so. BUT - then you have several minutes of idle getting to 120 degrees - during which you are fighting the fact that cold ambient air is going through the oil cooler. The situation is even worse if you have no preheat and are starting at -say- 35 or so degrees.
SO - I dont really want to put on a winter aluminum cover plate covering part of the front of the oil cooler. (Maybe I do, dont have much cold weather in-flight experience yet in the -12. Maybe it will run too cold? But I'd be concerned over getting the partial block plate sized correctly. But that's another question...)
THE QUESTION: What about an installed-from-the-front plug or easily attached-removed cover plate that totally covers/blocks the oil cooler (BUT NOT the part of the duct that goes back to the coolant radiator!), that you put on right before startup. You warm up to 120 much more rapidly, I would think. Then you shut down, hop out, take off the plug, hop back in and restart - because the Rotax start so easily. Anything wrong with this scenario?
I dont want to install one of those cockpit-controllable variable-blockage oil cooler cover plates - because they block some flow in the summer and we KNOW we have summer issues with the -12 oil temp! Also worry about failure modes... (I don't currently have the heart to take a cutter to the cowling and somehow move the cooler forward another half inch. The posted mod on that looks scary for a completed plane...) The winter-only startup-only plug idea has some attraction.
Issues?
SO - I dont really want to put on a winter aluminum cover plate covering part of the front of the oil cooler. (Maybe I do, dont have much cold weather in-flight experience yet in the -12. Maybe it will run too cold? But I'd be concerned over getting the partial block plate sized correctly. But that's another question...)
THE QUESTION: What about an installed-from-the-front plug or easily attached-removed cover plate that totally covers/blocks the oil cooler (BUT NOT the part of the duct that goes back to the coolant radiator!), that you put on right before startup. You warm up to 120 much more rapidly, I would think. Then you shut down, hop out, take off the plug, hop back in and restart - because the Rotax start so easily. Anything wrong with this scenario?
I dont want to install one of those cockpit-controllable variable-blockage oil cooler cover plates - because they block some flow in the summer and we KNOW we have summer issues with the -12 oil temp! Also worry about failure modes... (I don't currently have the heart to take a cutter to the cowling and somehow move the cooler forward another half inch. The posted mod on that looks scary for a completed plane...) The winter-only startup-only plug idea has some attraction.
Issues?