niceez

All, I will trying to keep track of all the design idea's we come up with and maybe repost it once every two weeks so we can see where we are going. You in turn can adjust your own personal list. This way we can get some mileage out of this. Some reasons to do it a little different is the many types of airplanes we have. For example a Cozy has much more firewall room then a Long-EZ and so on. We should really be able to have some great advice for the builder who decides to make the change. I have some pictures of many installations so far. As Tony said it would be great if we could post them (and catagorize) since the old adage is so true, "A picture is worth a thousand words." Recently Terry Schubert sent a mass of photo's of his well design system. One other comment about Wayne Hicks post. He stated George used 4 inlet inch scoops. I think he meant 4 inch diameter inlet scoops - (Hope I am correct) and that's a little over 12.5 square inches of air intake per side. And I am not sure if George has done away with his NACA scoop or made it smaller. We will gain more speed for a given RPM if we do away with the NACA inlet but I really don't know how much. Gary Hertzler tells me it is a bunch. Terry also designed a much smaller carburetor box and it has a smaller shroud on the bottom cowl. - Dale

All, Have pictures of George's nice set up in my data base so i can refer to them. As a note: Using one foot of aero-scat tubing is equal to 10 of smooth wall aluminum. Georges uses to much scat tube for me. In Georges defense, it was quicker and he is flying. I wish to be an ultimate system. I do plan on a top cowl inlet but they will not look like George's LEZ. I want less drag and this is not a simple task. (Well for me it isn't) Far to many varibles and one will affect the other. More later.

Jim, Very true. If you have ever built up the old beetle VW's engine you can get a very good idea's of how the air was "channeled" below the cylinders. I am wanting extreme speed from my Long-EZ so when the time comes to upgrade to more HP it will be as good as it gets. I feel we have suffered from cooling drag and poor in-flow dynamics long enough. I am sure we will all have or own idea's. I just want to make what I am doing duplicatable so if the timing is right I could sell plans or whole baffling and cowl systems. (Then I can get to more EZ flyin's and airshows) <Big Grin> By now you have seen my current engine and understand the quality i am willing to accept as a minimum.

I read Jim Sowers wants and comments. First, I sure wish Jim was absolutely correct about how little baffling we need. True there will be less but I would like to stress that the better the baffling job is, the less cooling air required. Secondly, I first thought I could do this so well as to not require an oil cooler (engineers often think they can pole vault over anything<grin>) but a quick note from Gary Hertzler made me recheck flow velocities, CFM flow, and heat transfer rates. He is right. An oiler cooler is a must. If you now suffer from poor cooling I can almost (ALMOST) gaurantee it is do to poor baffling arrangement. Burt is a great airplane designer but the plans suffered greatly in engine baffling area. I rebuilt mine around 500 hours and now my engine is always to cool. The entry on top will be a matter of good sealing. The pass through the cylinders will need to be baffled tightly with either aluminum or the silone/fiberglass method. I personally will also be building a shield under the cylinders to force the air aft and not let it go down and heat the case or intake tubes. In addition, the exiting air will be ramped out the back similar to what the inlet of many tractor engine have. By this I mean incased in an aluminum tunnel with the exhaust pipes inside adding to augmentation. The lower part of the engine, Oil sump and intake for carburetor will be in a separated area from above. I feel any excess cool air can be used better to keep things cool. A completely new intake box is being designed for a "drop in" rectangular K&N filter with hot air supply for those of us that still use carburetors. I still haven't figured out where to include pictures yet. It only refers to adding links to web pages. I can send Jim one personally but I don't know fellow from OZ's email address. My personal email address is: niceez@cableone.net - Dale

I want to start a thread about Down draft cooling. The intent will be to better equip builders with the information on what has been tried, results, and what works and what doesn't. I have begun the process and have the center exit exhaust done. I would send a photo but have not figured out how to do it on the forum yet. I would like to be able to get a duplicatable system completed that anyone can build himself and list the suppliers of the materials as things progress..... So jump in when you fancy. I plan on building a set of cowling molds for the LEZ after I make the system work carving up what I now have. - Dale

Have wanted them for years and was unable to get anyone to carry them. I asked if they could get them an little larger (10-32) and if possible also made to the same spec's as a MS24694 manhine screw. I write a reply when they answer. -Dale

David, A nice tight fit is not as important as you might think. Baffling design has much more to do with it. I have no baffling around my pipes and the cooling is still cooler then it should be. Then again, I have well refined baffling. Melville did an article on it during the mid 1980's. He found that opening up the holes around the exhaust improved his cooling. I will be switching to downdraft cooling to make the plane faster and cool the engine the way it was designed to be cooled. I have always thought it should be downdraft. Pipes will then exit the inside the main cheeks. - Dale