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Message
John,
Given
the nature of how a NACA scoop works, I don't see how you would have any air
near the velocity to bend fins on the oil cooler. There must be some other
explanation.
I
don't know how the 3rd gen cooler are, but the fins on a 2nd gen cooler
aren't bent nearly as easily as those on a radiator. The oil cooler is
fairly stout, not that you can't bend them.
Could
they have been bumped when the engine was removed/reinstalled
?
Glad
you're back in the air though. I'm hoping to make a trip to South Carolina
this weekend, depending on the weather, to put some time on
mine.
Steve
Brooks
Rotarians,
First an admission:
A
couple of days ago I took off with the landing brake down. I only have the
NACA scoop, so the engine was getting very little air. By the time I was
downwind the temps were outrageous. Coolant got to 270 and oil to 260.
Needless to say I glided to a landing (on the runway) at idle. Thankfully the
engine seems no worse for the experience. Oil pressure is ok to good and
static rpm is unchanged. I flew again today (landing brake up) and temps were
tolerable, but higher than I used to have long ago, in hotter weather before
the new turbo and the rebuild.
Now the question:
Looking at my two stock 3rd gen oil
coolers after landing I noticed something strange - most of the thin
aluminum baffles between the oil channels are
all bent flat, blocking the air flow. Those that aren't bent are
toward the lower edge of the cooler where airflow might well be less. They're
all bent the same in an even pattern that would indicate to me that this
was either done by one of those crop circle guys on his day off, of the high
pressure air from the scoop hitting the coolers at an angle.
Has
anyone else seen this? I know I can "comb" the aluminum straight again, but
will it just happen again?
Should put a baffle in the air stream to angle the air
somehow?
John
(baffled)
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