HKS engine conversion

[rawheels]

I bent up some aluminum and added the venturi lip to the bottom of the cowling, but I didn't notice a significant change. The temps still crept up while idling in place. So, I finally just disassembled the oil cooler mount and clamped the cooler to the bottom of the cowl. It took a significantly longer time to heat up to operating temp, and after a few fast taxis I stopped and pulled the throttle back to idle and actually saw the oil & CHT temps tick back down. So, Mnflyer was correct about the oil cooler not getting enough airflow.

So, the next question is...Do I redesign the oil cooler mount, exhaust, and everything else at the bottom of the cowl, or is there a prop that provides more cooling at the hub than the Warp Drive prop? As I went through the hassle of adjusting the pitch on this prop, I wished that I had the simplicity of adjustment available on the IVO. Does the IVO prop airfoil go down to the hub?

[Esser]

I would say download the book speed with economy. You can get it as in ebook for a few bucks instantly and read the chapter on cooling. He has quite a few gems in there. Good luck!

[Mnflyer]

So, the next question is...Do I redesign the oil cooler mount, exhaust, and everything else at the bottom of the cowl, or is there a prop that provides more cooling at the hub than the Warp Drive prop? As I went through the hassle of adjusting the pitch on this prop, I wished that I had the simplicity of adjustment available on the IVO. Does the IVO prop airfoil go down to the hub?[/QUOTE]

Hi Ryan, No the IVO does not provide better air flow in fact it is less I tried and IVO on my Kitfox, I had the original 3 blade GSC installed and tried an IVO flew about 25 min in cruise and the CHT's went to redline landed removed the IVO reinstalled the GSC went up and the CHT's never can close to redline.
When I did my conversion I wanted the oil placed the same as you did yours but it would not work I ended up mounting just below the cowl opening (as you can see in the photos) and it has worked great. While I'd have prefered it not being there I got to thinking that where the rad is for the 582's and the 912's so what the heck.

[rawheels]

Project Update:

- I took a look at "speed with economy" in the fly market at Oshkosh. Some interesting ideas if someone wants to design a cowl, but I didn't find it usable for someone just trying to make the kitfox cowl work.

-I did end up moving the tailpipe, and mounted the oil cooler to the bottom of the firewall. Oil temps will now level off when sitting at idle on the ground (@80 deg, 197 deg oil temp).

- Finally flew the first test flight last evening. I don't have something set-up right because it was a real dog. Almost got up to 500fpm @ 50mph. Cruise @5800 was around 60-65mph. CHTs saw around 320+ deg (around 80 deg OAT). On the ground the prop is set to 5700 RPM static, but I can go past redline in straight & level flight. It was pretty hot outside, but I still expected more out of the set-up. With the 582 the plane was a 80 mph aircraft with more than 500 fpm climb rate. Not sure what the next step is, but still working on it. I'm thinking I need to get some more air to the tops of the cylinders and carbs, but not sure how to do that just yet. I'd like to add some more pitch in the prop to get more speed and reduce the rpm in straight and level flight, but I'm not sure what that will do for the climb rate. Still working...