Tom,
   There are many line options available and personnel choices run the gamut. Lighter is better and there is much to be said for hand making aluminum lines. The technique is not difficult and the learning curve is short. I have a mix of aluminum lines and flexible ones but if I had it to do over again, I would use flexible. It is more expensive and slightly heavier but the ease on installation is significant. They also make smooth flowing radius' which sometimes is not always easy when you are trying match parrellel lines. Flexible lines also allow you to tweak routing without refabrication. Changing your lines is a good opportunity to route lines in such a way that that lines are always ascending. This is an important advantage in getting the air out of a system which can sometimes be a nightmare. If your pump is mounted low in the airframe, you can even run your lines to a planned hight point (probably near your emergency by-pass where air will collect) and install a bleeder fitting. You can always crack lines at the bypass but this is not always the highest point.
   Regarding your oil problem, I made the simple choice to just install a collection can (from acs) which has a bleeder valve on the bottom. Once a month or so I open the bleeder and drain about an ounce into a can (average ten flight hours a month). I have never been a fan of oil air separators and since vented oil is not a problem on my engine, went with the collection can.

Mark Quinn
lancair 360


-----Original Message-----
From: Tom McNerney <dudewanarace@yahoo.com>
To: lml@lancaironline.net
Sent: Wed, 31 Dec 2008 9:57 pm
Subject: [LML] 2 L360 Questions