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Oil Cooler

olyolson

Well Known Member
Friend
RV-8 with IO-360 M1B, what is the recommended size oil cooler? I bought the plane already flying and it came with an NDM 20004A 10 row oil cooler. It is too much cooling (170-180 degrees) and rubbing against the top engine cowl. How small could I go and still get good cooling? 8 row, 7 row?
 
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Can you install a shutter to block off some of the airflow instead of replacing the entire oil filter?
 
Oil cooler

That’s a good thought Phat but I already have a shutoff door. With it completely closed I can get the temp to 200 but the cooler is rubbing on the top cowl. In the winter I close the door completely and the temp barely gets to 180. I think I just have too big of an oil cooler.
 
180 F is the target oil temp you want to see. Doesn't sound like you have much of a problem to me.
Good Luck,
Mahlon
 
Of oil coolers...

Stewart Warner/Meggit-Troy/Southwind Model #8406R should be adequate to the task. Especially if fed by a 3" or larger duct with a well shaped diffuser to manage the airflow transition from round-hole-to-rectangular-face...

An aside, I don't like to specify oil coolers by number-of-rows. Plate (row) spacing, fin density, and end tank designs are widely variable between manufacturers and will affect the performance of the oil cooler, ergo a 6 row from NDM won't work, while a 6 row HE from Aero-Classics and SW will...
 
Oil cooler

Thanks Brian but I’d like to see a little higher temps to allow for any installation variations in the oil temp transducer. The cooler is too big physically anyway. The easiest solution without modifying the top cowl or reworking the rear baffle mount seems to be get a smaller cooler. I just don’t know how small I could go and still get decent cooling
 
Can you mount cooler on firewall or side of motor mount? I have a ten row with a IO 370 and need lt in hot wx.
 
Oil cooler

Nope no room. I’d just like to know how small a cooler I can use. This is the easiest approach, I thought I read somewhere on the forum that a 7 row cooler was standard for an IO-360 RV-8??
 
I have an RV-8 with an IO-360-M1B (parallel valve) and Hartzell BA C/S prop. I have a Niagara Oil Cooler, P/N 20002A (7 'row').



I'm pretty sure it's the one Van's supplies (7 'tube') in their 4-cylinder FWF kits (or did in the past):



It works well mounted on the rear baffle behind cylinder #4. In the cooler Pacific NW, during the winter I cover roughly 85% of the front face of the cooler with AL tape, and in the summer I cover roughly 55%. That maintains oil temps at between 165°F to 195°F.

YMMV!
 
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