Matt's RV-8 Project



Matt Dralle's RV-8 Project
' style=
Date:  10-24-2010
Number of Hours:  3.00
Manual Reference:  
Brief Description:  Oil Cooler Mount Cracking & Replacement - Part 2

Rather than subject the Oil Cooler's mounts directly to the screw's tension, I crafted some angle brackets that much more evenly distribute the load over the original mount. I made a set for the front and back of the rear mount and a single top bracket for the front mount that would sandwich the Oil Cooler mount to the rear baffle. I very carefully trimmed the tube spacers to exactly fit between the front and back brackets; much more precisely than the original installation. The inside rear Oil Cooler mount got the requisite top and bottom notching to clear the engine mount and this time I hogged out a bit more to give even better clearance. I added a few more rivets on the flanges between the rear and left-rear baffle sheet metal pieces.

To absorb some of the engine vibration, crafted a "gasket" of sorts from the same rubber material the baffle seals are made of. This really seem to nicely isolate the Oil Cooler from the baffle/engine.

Finally, I crafted a sweet stabilization strut from aluminum tube stock to form a brace from the engine to the top of the rear engine baffle. This made a HUGE difference in the overall stiffness of the oil cooler and I'm hoping will be the final modification in solving this Oil Cooler cracking issue.
' style=

Oil Cooler With New Brackets

Oil Cooler With New Brackets

' style=

Oil Cooler With New Brackets

Oil Cooler With New Brackets

' style=

Oil Cooler & New Gasket

Oil Cooler & New Gasket

' style=










Copyright © 2008-2024 Matt Dralle. All Rights Reserved.