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Mouning a 13 row oil cooler

acam37

Well Known Member
Mounting a 13 row oil cooler

I have tried several locations with no luck. No matter where I try to put there seems to be an obstruction. The traditional mounting location on the left rear baffle it?s too wide. The oil lines are right where the engine mount tubes are. If I move it up to clear the mount, it hits the cowl. So, is there an alternative mounting placement? Ive got an inverted oil system so it takes up a lot of room
 
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The only thing I haven?t tried, now that I think of it, is putting the oil lines on the outboard and use 90 degree fittings
 
I dont know if a 13 row would fit by I just mounted a 7 row unit on the firewall on the right side. Made a duct to route air to it. Mine is a little unique in that I had a fitting machined that attached to the rear baffle directly in front of the mountting location. Shape of the duct opening is like an inverted smile. 1" wide and with a radius to match the upper curve of the baffle. Sized to be equal to the area of a 3" round duct. Then made one of those rubber impregnated fiberglass ducts that Dan Horton pubilshed a tutorial on a while back on here.

Idea was to give the same amount of air input to the cooler yet fit in the confined area of the RV-4 cowl geometry.

I'll try to take some pictures as it is hard to explain.

The RV-4 is full of such challenegs as the cowling is tight and there just not a lot of room. Reminds me of the engine compartment of a Mooney 201 that crams an I0-360 angled valve engine in a spacce that makes you think you are working on a modern car.

Surpised you need a 13 row cooler.

With your inverted system I suspect my location won't work.

Richard
 
Richard, I really don?t need a 13 row. A 10 row would work, but I already have it and I can?t send it back for exchange because it was bought 2 years ago. So I need to make it fit somehow or lose a lot of money. I knew things would be tight, but never imagined how tight things are with a prop governor and inverted oil system taking up much needed space
 
It fits, made a top plate to hang it off the engine mount in a cowl cheek.

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