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oil cooler change

erich weaver

Well Known Member
I have never been completely satisfied with the Vans stock oil cooler (Niagra 20002A with 7 rows) that I installed on my RV-7A with IO-360B1B engine, as oil temps bumped right up against red line on long climbs on hot days. Finally did something about it recently, and worked with Bill at Airflow Systems to bump up to a larger and more efficient cooler. At Bill's suggestion, I went with his 2004X, a 10-row cooler with higher fin density. The difficulty of course is that it wont fit on the back left corner of the baffles, so installation requires an inlet plenum on the back of the baffles and another at the cooler, with some scat between the two. It took a couple of iterations to end up with this:

312iomr.jpg

6t1ooi.jpg

300fdjn.jpg


Please excuse the slightly messy RTV. We used 3.5 inch scat for connecting the two plenums. Also note that a small spacer (not visible in photos) was needed for the upper left adel clamp connection from the engine mount to the oil cooler because although the upper and lower engine mount tubes appear to both lie in the same plane, they do not, and the spacer provides the small correction needed.

I wont be able to fully test the new installation until summer when we get some hot days, but oil temps are definitely significantly reduced now, hanging around 180F. Down side is reduced accessibility to the accessory case, but removal of the oil cooler doesnt take long with this set up.

erich
 
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That looks nice! I have a HD 10 row on the back of #4 of an angle valve engine, but I think the angle valve is 2 or 3 inches wider than the parallel engine.
 
width

Measured from the center of the rocker covers the angle valve is the same width as the parallel. However the shape of the cylinder head can cause clearance issues on a very tight cowl.
A lot can be learned regarding coolers etc from Dave Anders recent series of articles in Kitplanes. If you study those articles you will find that all of the above posts represent less than optimal cooler installations.
 
I have never been completely satisfied with the Vans stock oil cooler (Niagra 20002A with 7 rows) that I installed on my RV-7A with IO-360B1B engine, as oil temps bumped right up against red line on long climbs on hot days. Finally did something about it recently, and worked with Bill at Airflow Systems to bump up to a larger and more efficient cooler. At Bill's suggestion, I went with his 2004X, a 10-row cooler with higher fin density. The difficulty of course is that it wont fit on the back left corner of the baffles, so installation requires an inlet plenum on the back of the baffles and another at the cooler, with some scat between the two. It took a couple of iterations to end up with this:

312iomr.jpg

6t1ooi.jpg

300fdjn.jpg


Please excuse the slightly messy RTV. We used 3.5 inch scat for connecting the two plenums. Also note that a small spacer (not visible in photos) was needed for the upper left adel clamp connection from the engine mount to the oil cooler because although the upper and lower engine mount tubes appear to both lie in the same plane, they do not, and the spacer provides the small correction needed.

I wont be able to fully test the new installation until summer when we get some hot days, but oil temps are definitely significantly reduced now, hanging around 180F. Down side is reduced accessibility to the accessory case, but removal of the oil cooler doesnt take long with this set up.

erich


Erich,

Looks clean. Thanks for sharing. In reference to your oil cooler mounts that are attached to the engine mount, what keeps the oil mounts from moving/sliding up or down on the engine mounts? Friction?

I'm considering something similar on my 8. and thought of using a single piece of aluminum sheet like DanH illustrated in one of his iterations. Anything you'd do differently?
 
The downside is access to the rear of the engine on the LH side for routine mntc. is really going to be a pain :eek:.
 
Sorry for the very delayed response on these last two posts; somehow I overlooked them

In reference to your oil cooler mounts that are attached to the engine mount, what keeps the oil mounts from moving/sliding up or down on the engine mounts? Friction?


I'm considering something similar on my 8. and thought of using a single piece of aluminum sheet like DanH illustrated in one of his iterations. Anything you'd do differently?

[Friction and the fact that the Adel clamps are fixed to each end of the aluminum angles so the distance between them can?t change, so they can?t slide either up or down on the engine mount tubes

My first iteration used a piece of sheet aluminum that completely surrounded the oil cooler. It works, but the aluminum angle pieces are less work, and might possibly be less disruptive to surrounding air flow that could affect the exit air, who knows.

The other way of going here is to use a bracket and mount the cooler to the firewall. Can?t say for sure if that?s easier or not. One thing i discovered is there is deceptively little space available for these larger coolers regardless of whether you put it on the engine mount or on the firewall. And the scat takes up a lot of space too- especially when it needs to make a 90deg turn.

No way around it, the engine accessory case area is less accessible now although it?s really pretty quick to detach cooler from engine mount so that you can get back there. It?s not something I really need to do a lot anyway.

There were a lot of compromises made here from an ideal set up to make this work without spending a lot of time making modifications, but it is working just fine, and I?m feeling much better about my oil temps.

Erich
 
Nice job, Did you make the fiberglass plenums yourself?

Thanks, I worked with Bill at Airflow Systems to have them made. Unlike Pacific Oil Coolers and others, Airflow Systems offers various installation hardware, including plenums. I was the guinea pig for a -7A installation and we worked through a couple iterations on the plenum to get something acceptable.

Erich
 
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