Hi Dave,
I have long believed that moving the chin back to just in front of the
radiators could help improve cooling on the ground, placing the opening
behind a more outboard section of the prop (more prop wash) and reducing
drag in the duct. Any gain in speed would just be icing on the cake for
me. In comparison to other aircraft of much greater horsepower, the
lower duct inlet seems much larger than needed for only 100 HP. An
efficient duct should be able to get by with a smaller duct, with less
drag.
Also, the 'gills' on the sides of the upper cowl seem to be counter
productive for cooling (based on our instrumented mods). Closing them
up should also reduce drag.
Any pictures of Charles Staines modified cowl? Has he commented on any
changes to ground cooling?
Regards,
Terry Seaver
A135
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com
[mailto:owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com] On Behalf Of
Dave_Miller@avivacanada.com
Subject: RE: Europa-List: Hey Guys...Speaking of drag...
Terry,
Chris Staines re-worked his 914 mono cowl last winter.
Moved the "chin" back to just in front of the radiator and cut down the
size a bit. Also cleaned up the outflow area at the rear of the cowl.
As the cowling is now closer to the muffler and exhaust pipes he had to
add some reflective heat shield material to the inside of the cowl.
Looks neat, sort of Mustang like and seems to have improved cooling.
As to speed, Chris thinks he has picked up 1 or 2 knots, really hard to
measure as so many things come into play.
It is a lot of work for a small gain.
Dave
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