Sign in to follow this  
Followers 0

Just joined the Fat Avid Club

233 posts in this topic

Posted

Variety is the Spice of Life!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Posted

Yes indeed. Thanks again for the hospitality ant Osh Doug! Now how many years will it take to get the Magnum back up and running?

Hopefully not as long as it took to get the Fat Avid going! I really want to get back to a tail wheel!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Posted (edited)

So when I made the last post I had parked the Fat Avid, unpacked it and was getting caught up from being gone for 3 weeks. When I finally got back to the hangar, I saw a small puddle of coolant on the floor. I took things far enough apart to find out why it was leaking. I discovered that when I installed the larger oil cooler I had not allowed for enough clearance from the exhaust. When the engine shook on start and stop, one of the exhaust pipes was hitting the cooler, which is darted to the radiator. This impact over time fatigued the radiator mounts (duh...) and both broke one of the radiator mounts and sprung a very small leak which thankfully did not show up till I was back from the Oshkosh flight. 

I have looked closely and I never liked the darted oil cooler in the first place, so I am moving it out of there to another location. I have it planned but not done yet. Will post pics when done. I think this will be a solid solution that will not have the same failure mode. And from the way everything else held up in the Fat Avid, I think this is really the last issue to correct before having a SUPER reliable ride! THEN on to the Magnum!

 

Edited by Chris Bolkan

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Posted

Maybe before and after pictures would be good,  then we could see what not to do.  JImChuk

1 person likes this

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Posted

Completed the oil cooler move from being darted behind the radiator to mounted at the bottom of the firewall. What an improvement! This setup will be much more reliable. I am getting great temps with the smaller radiator and everything is so much cleaner. Only bummer it the cooler hangs down below the cowl on the passenger side instead of all being contained and hidden within the cowl. But I am willing to live with that for the overall improvement and no more worries about the radiator or oil cooler wearing, rubbing and shaking. I will take and post a few pics.

1 person likes this

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Posted

Her are a few pics of the oil cooler install. I moved the oil cooler from being piggybacked behind the radiator to this new location. So much better. No rubbing, no wear and tear, and so much more effective cooling from both the oil cooler and radiator. I plan to put a mechanical flap like I had previously installed on the oil cooler in this new location so I do not have to tape the radiator to keep temps up when it is cooler out.

IMG_0754.JPG

IMG_0756.JPG

IMG_0752.JPG

IMG_0753.JPG

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Posted

Nice. Did you have to cut the cowl to fit around the support brackets or rods?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Posted

No change to cowl at all. The cooler is about centered in the open space at the bottom of the cowl. I used construction framing braces from Home Depot to bend up the brackets and bought some 1/8 inch rod to make the support braces.

Since moving the cooler I have to tape over both radiator and cooler to get temps into Rotax acceptable operating range and it is in the 60's. Prolly gonna have to block all of it off in the winter.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!


Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.


Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  
Followers 0