Hi Al;

                Sharp looking plane, even if it does have the prop at the wrong end (hey somebody was gonna say it J)

Seriously though, from the pics it isn’t clear if the gear legs have a gear door fairing attached? It doesn’t look as though the wheels have one. If there is, then wouldn’t airflow under the wing be much less turbulent with the gear up and tucked away, thereby improving airflow to the cooler inlet?

 

Yes, Todd; there are gear doors attached to the gear legs, and there would likely be much cleaner airflow to the OC inlet with the gear up.  The questions are – should we fly the plane again with the likelihood of oil temps up to 230; and, should the design be such that the oil cools adequately with the gear down anyway?

 

The only cost to find out is the cost of another flight (shucks who’d wanna do that? J), but this time do a  few circuits with gear up and give the oil a chance to stabilize.

That makes sense to me.  And this time the pilot could remember to press the ‘page up’ button on the engine monitor so I can also see the oil temp in and out of the cooler, and the air temp in and out.  Similar info on the coolant rads.  Could be helpful in deciding what to do.  I’d go do this today; except I have a leak in the fuel strake that needs repair, and; oh, yeah – the insurance company won’t cover me flying yet, so I have to wait for the test pilot to schedule a return and pay him to fly.  Never simple.

 

Another idea that I just popped into my head, would be to get one of those Sony lipstick cameras and a small LCD screen or feed direct to a video camera (IRC you were already using one for data logging). Mount the camera under the fuselage pointing towards the cooler inlet, then using small pieces of 2-sided tape; attach a series of pieces of yarn to the bottom of the wing, fore & aft of the inlet.

Some tuft testing would be very interesting, indeed.

 

Al