I did the first
“post-cure” of the custom cowl
todayJ, that is, first runs
with cowl on;
and the faired spinner. The big high for the day was finding that the
negative pressure created by the prop, even at low rpm, drew
significant
cooling air through the radiator in the cowl and out the back.
Previous
runs without the cowl had me convinced that I would need an auxiliary
fan for
idle and taxi time. First indication I had was with the prop only at
700
rpm, I put my hand in front of the rad intake scoop and was surprised
at the
amount of air flow going in.
I did simulated taxi
and stop running; a bit over 2000 on
the engine for a while, then some 1600, then some 2000; for about 10
minutes.
Temps got up to 200 on the oil and 195 on the coolant, and were pretty
steady
there. It was a 70 degree day, so it may not work on a 90 degree day;
but I was
very pleased. I also think it is going to give me clean airflow into
the
prop.
(and I liked the way it
looked, the third photo is the
stock cowl for a Lyc).
It’s these bright spots
that keep us going on these
projects.
Al (stock Lyc –
Nyet! Rotory
– Da!)