Matt's RV-8 Project



Matt Dralle's RV-8 Project
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Date:  10-24-2010
Number of Hours:  3.00
Manual Reference:  
Brief Description:  Oil Cooler Mount Cracking & Replacement - Part 1

At 112 hours TTSN since the May 2 2010 test flight, I decided to take the cowling off to do a bit of fiberglass work on the oil door. Just minor cosmetic stuff mostly to stiffen it up so that it wouldn't pooch out in the back at high speed.

Well, the surprise I found waiting for me under the cowling was that the mounts on the Oil Cooler had started to crack. The Cooler was still securely mounted to the rear of the engine baffle, but over time, it would have definitely broken off completely. After I removed the old Oil Cooler, I found that there was also a crack on the inside mount as well. I am told that it is possible to have new mounts welded to the oil cooler, but that can be problematic if it isn't done exactly perfect. The last thing I need is to spring an oil leak and lose my oil pressure on some long cross country flight. Consequently, I just opted to buy a new Oil Cooler unit ($650!!) and decided to come up with a substantially better method for mounting it.

The problem seemed related to a couple of things. One, the metal tube spacers seem like they were putting pretty localized pressure on the Oil Cooler's mounting holes. Additionally, the rear baffle to which the the Oil Cooler was mounted, appeared to be flexing at the top and there were slight signs of cracking where the rear baffle rivets to the left-rear baffle.

Cont Next Log...
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Original Oil Cooler Mount Cracked

Original Oil Cooler Mount Cracked

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Original Oil Cooler Mount Cracked

Original Oil Cooler Mount Cracked

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All New Oil Cooler, Angle Stiffeners, & Gasket

All New Oil Cooler, Angle Stiffeners, & Gasket

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