Pictures of the Week
The engine is back on the firewall (May 14, 2002)
The engine is back on the firewall to finalize the cooling path for the turbo-intercooler, oil cooler, and the cylinder and head cooling air. I have turned the intake plenum around so that the intake air comes from the front. I have ordered a remote oil cooler bracket to relocate the oil cooler from the front right of the engine shown above to underneath the engine. The profile shot of the cowling is being used to lay out the airflow for the intercooler and oil cooler in a scoop under the cowling. The cowling is currently held on with clecos to allow for quick adjustment and removal.
The next step is to mount the turbo-intercooler and oil cooler under the engine and build the cowling around it. Due to the high heat load associated with a turbo installation I plan to have an extensive set of cowl flaps that will control the cooling airflow across the speed range of the plane.
Basic design is shown below. Actual part will have rounded edges but this picture was made up to get general proportions and position of the bottom cowl modifications. Actual dimensions of the scoop will be determined by the cooling requirement. Design criteria is minimum cooling drag at cruise speed of 180MPH. Cowl flaps are part of the design so outlet area of the scoop will be variable from 110% to 150% of inlet area. The big question now is what should the inlet area be? Thinking....
