Neal@F14
Well Known Member
To help get the oil temps up for cold weather flying, I've conjured up an oil cooler air door, electrically operated with a Ray Allen trim servo. First test flight shows it works quite well. With the door completely closed, we got it up to 195-200 on a pretty cold day, then slowly opened the door a little with the push of a button and oil temps came down to a nice 185 and stayed there, where we couldn't get 135 without the airflow restriction. The door is covered with thick felt glued on the cooler side for cushion/anti-chafe purposes. We'll keep a close eye on it to be sure there is no wear of the oil cooler face, but the felt is pretty soft and should not pose a problem. I connected the potentiometer wires of the servo to a Dynon D120 general purpose input and use the aileron trim indication on the screen to show when the door is open (left) and closed (right) as a display and it seems to work pretty slick.
Will the servo last under the cowl? Who knows...
Will it open up wide enough in the summertime? We'll find out... It can always come off quite easily with a quick pull of a piano hinge pin and the servo linkage.
It was a neat project and that's what's so cool about an experimental, you get to experiment! And if it doesn't work out, and has to be removed, it was a learning experience.
Door closed:
Door opened:
More construction pics here: http://img691.imageshack.us/g/img4686k.jpg/
Will the servo last under the cowl? Who knows...
Will it open up wide enough in the summertime? We'll find out... It can always come off quite easily with a quick pull of a piano hinge pin and the servo linkage.
It was a neat project and that's what's so cool about an experimental, you get to experiment! And if it doesn't work out, and has to be removed, it was a learning experience.
Door closed:
Door opened:
More construction pics here: http://img691.imageshack.us/g/img4686k.jpg/
Last edited: