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I've been working so many hours lately that I really have not had much time
for flying. It had been a month since I had flown my turbo rotary powered
Cozy IV, though I had run it on two occasions prior.
On the 4th of July, I drained the anti-freeze, and replaced it with
distilled water. Well, maybe 5% antifreeze is left, but not more than that.
I took of this morning, with the OAT at 70 degrees. I took off at my usual
5 lbs of boost on the turbo, and rotated at 80 knots about 1500 feet later.
While the flight was outstanding, with smooth air an nearly unlimited
visibility, I did not see any marked improvement in the straight water, over
the 50/50 water / antifreeze mixture.
While acceptable, my cruise temperatures were at 190 for the coolant and the
oil. My coolant maybe was a little lower than normal on climb, but then I
didn't climb up too far, only about 1000 ft AGL. Coolant only peaked at
200, maybe 205 at the worse.
After stabilizing and cruising around for a few minutes, I pushed the power
up to about 75 %. The coolant rose slightly and so did the oil at
approximately 195. The only time I see the 160 degree temperatures on the
coolant, is when I reduce power to about 55%. The higher the power setting,
the higher the temperatures. The exception being when the OAT is less then
about 50 degrees. Then I have no trouble at all. Maybe I need to move to
Alaska.
Currently my two evaporator cores sit at about a 30 degree angle to the
incoming air, so I could probably make some improvement with some turning
vanes. Or, as I have been investigating, a custom made radiator, which
could sit directly in line with the incoming air flow.
My oil does not seem to be an issue. It always lags the coolant by 20
degrees or so, and then stabilizes to the same temperature as the coolant
after 5 minutes or so of flight. I actually can improve the oil cooling by
some turning vanes there as well. I just never have because it isn't a big
of issue. More oil cooling though may very well help the overall cooling.
At any rate, I only flew for about 30 minutes, but it was very nice.
Especially for summer flying in North Carolina. Very few days that cool ,
and with low humidity. The rotary performed flawlessly, as it always does.
Steve Brooks
Cozy MKIV N75CZ - 52 hours
turbo 13B
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