I am implementing a cooling fan for ground running. No temp specs, since the
plane is in build....however, a cooling fan in similar arrangement works
great on my motorcycle, so I figured it might work well here. Its an
electric radiator fan for a quad Kart of of some sort, and covers approx.
half of the oil cooler. The oil cooler, though offset from the water cooler
(914 engine), is sealed to it in the area where they over-lap in front of
the fan to promote airflow through both radiators (sucking air through the
oil radiator will also do the same with the water radiaor...lots of work
here to create tight-fitting air dams). Having the two radiators tight with
each other will hopefully cut down on warm-up time during the winter as
well. The fan is lightweight, cheap, and only requires a wire run and
switch. Once verified to work, it will be made to be automatic on/off. For
extreme cooling situations in flight with the airflow pushing and the fans
pulling, the extra leverage 'seems' a no-brainer. I figure it won't windmill
much if at all in the airflow while off, due to the resistance to the air by
the radiators mounted in front of it. This arrangement would be much easier
to implement with the radiators in-line with each other, but the offset is
known to work well, and the decision had already been made. More data will
follow at some point..
Greg Fuchs
914 TRI
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COOLING FAN FOR GROUND COOLING. Has any one experimented with a fan?
Dave Park
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