Steve Pitt wrote:
> I come to this subject a little late but I have a 'problem' with oil
> heating rather than coolant temperatures.
> My 912s has always run on the cool side for the oil temperature
> (standard steam gauges) and on cooler Autumn days barely gets above
> 60dgrees. On take off I do climb to achieve a higher temperature to try
> to burn off any water that may be in the system.
> I have heard of cowl flaps being used for temperature control but do not
> know of any fittments to Europas.
> Can anyone help?
Presuming you have an XS, the idea is simple: construct some sort of
cockpit controllable flap to close off the exit area of the radiator. I
changed the bottom of the cowling for this purpose, and put the whole
exit area on hinges, so if I close off the exit area of the radiator the
drag reduces as well (and because of the smaller exit area the air gets
accelerated and produces some propulsion). To control the system there
are of course a lot of possibilities: I use a small servo similar to the
trim servo because I found that the easiest and lightest way to do it.
Remember that this flap will be in the airstream and that you need some
way to lock the flap in the desired position, a servo will do that
automatically.
Keep in mind that it is easy to reduce the cooling of the Europa, but
the challenge is to do it in such a way that you get something in
return, i.e. a reduction of cooling drag. Blocking off part of the
radiator, or using a thermostat will solve your cooling problem, but
still give you the penalty of cooling drag.
I will post some pictures soon.
Frans
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