Oil thermostat vs adjustable oil cooler blocking

[Dorsal]

Don't know the make of the oil thermostat but I believe it is the one KF sells. The coolant unit in the picture is a Thermo-Bob. Oil temp runs about 185 (plus or minus 2) and CHT (hotter) sits at 202-204, very steady at cruise.

[Lawdog]

Don't know the make of the oil thermostat but I believe it is the one KF sells. The coolant unit in the picture is a Thermo-Bob. Oil temp runs about 185 (plus or minus 2) and CHT (hotter) sits at 202-204, very steady at cruise.

Thank you. I like that set up

[JoeRuscito]

Has anyone tried to make an adjustable cowl flap of some type? Considering my water and oil temps are low I'm wondering if this might be a nice adjustable solution for all weather/temps.

Can someone enlighten me as to what is a min except able water temp on the 912 is?

As for oil I've been told 180 F is acceptable as long as you get it up above 212 F every once in a while.

Thanks all...Lots to learn.

[HighWing]

About 15 years ago, I helped a guy finish a Series 5. His plan was to take it to Alaska. He wanted some method to manage the temps. We decided to put a NACA flap on the opening to the radiator and oil cooler. We did the deed and he moved on, sadly, I lost contact with him and can't give any reports of how it worked, but the attached pictures gives an idea of what the mechanics looked like. I have no pictures of the duct cover itself, though. The forward hinge on the duct cover was the fiberglass cowl skin itself and was left intact as the opening was cut to expose the cooling apparatus.

[JoeRuscito]

What a cool idea! I love that the skin just remains as is (before cut) when closed. Really nice thinking!

[Shadowrider]

So we where running heat exchanger water/oil and they would keep both temps within 10F of each other. We installed new high flow oil pumps and discovered the heat ex-changers where limiting oil flow so we removed them. Now coolant is much cooler now and its hard to stay warm, in the cabin. We have our oil coolers completely covered and the CHTs are around 140f.

Joe did you come up with a solution?

[avidflyer]

I recently installed a Thermo-Bob 1 in my Kitfox 4/912. The thermostat is 180degree, seems to have helped keep the coolant temps higher and my cockpit heater makes heat now. JImChuk

[jiott]

I have had the oil thermostat for 7 years and all it seems to do is speed up the winter warm-up time somewhat. It seems to do nothing for the winter over-cooling problem, so I still need to block of part of the cooler face as the seasons change. Here is how I do it to make it a little quicker and easier:

Several years ago I got tired of messing with aluminum tape on my oilcooler as the seasons changed and came up with a much better, easier way to do it-see the sketch below. I don't even need to remove the lower cowl; I can slip my hand in thru the lower air inlet and add or remove blocking strips as needed. I made 4 of the 1" aluminum blocking strips (the most I ever need here in Portland area is two of them); I even made a couple of 1/2" strips to fine tune it if needed. The side gripping channels are pinched down just tight enough to hold the strips in place but allow easy installation/removal. I just slip them in from the top of the channels and push the to the bottom, as many as required-takes less than 5 minutes. All material is thin approximately 0.012" aluminum.

This system has been working great for several years, but still requires adjustment as the seasons change. I am seriously thing about the ultimate solution-adjustable louvers controlled from the cockpit.

[Shadowrider]

Thanks Jim. I currently are doing something similar to what you are doing. I was contemplating on putting in an oil thermostat, but sounds like I will still be covering up the oil cooler. We currently have to cover the entire oil cooler to get to temp in the winter and the coolant is still cool. 130f. In the summer I was running half of my oil cooler covered. Just trying to figure out solution that does not need so much tinkering.

[Shadowrider]

Well I have contemplated putting in an oil thermostat and a coolant thermostat but I have decided I am going to make a shutter. We have plenty of cooling in the summer. Warmest temps I only uncovered half of my oil cooler so I think a shutter would be fine with it covering up a large percentage of the cooler when its fully open. Someone gave us a shutter that goes on a 0-360 oil cooler, but it needs to be about double the width. I think its made by https://antisplataero.com/products/o...er-air-shutter Right now I think its easy enough for me to draw it up in solid works and find someone to cut it out for us. Anyone else know how to use solidwork in case I get stuck?