Hangar Flying

Kudo's to Precision Airmotive, makers of the Silverhawk EX fuel system.

They returned my email on a Saturday, and another one this AM.  

If this is the kind of service they give before I'm a customer, I can imagine what it will be like afterward.  

I LOVE THIS COMPANY!

Answer:
You don't use a primer system like I described earlier for a Carb setup.

You push the throttle and mixture all the way forward, and then hit the boost pump for a second or two (depends on your engine and the conditions... something you get a feel for after a while on the timing).

Thanks again to Precision Airmotive.

Can't say how it works because I'm not flying yet, and probably won't be for another year, as I'm building a house and that seems to be taking all my time and money.

The inlets were made by taking a naca template and scaling it up on a copier.

I have not heat treated the plenums.  

I read something about heat treating (curing) composites before.  Build a heat chamber; an box made from plywood and wrap with insulation.  Feed it with an electric or gas heater, and use a fan to circulate the air.  Monitor closely with a temp gauge.

Bring the temp up slowly, and keep it there for several hours. then bring it back down.

The idea is to raise the temp above what the part will encounter in service.

I do not know what those temps are, or how high you can raise the kevlar temp before damaging it.

Just a quick word of appreciation for all the comments here.

I can see there is many ways to do this and they all work well.

This thread has really been very educational and has helped me solidify my ideas.

Thanks, guys.

Drew,

Interesting.  What did you cool off with the extra hoses?  (Mag, Alternator?)

What is the size of the opening for the carb inlet?

Thanks for the info.

Currently, my plane still has the large NACA belly scoop used for updraft cooling.

I plan to convert to downdraft cooling with a plenum arrangement.

Now, what to do about feeding the carb and oil cooler?

I'd prefer to use the Hal Hunt Ram air box.  

A few questions:
1. Does everyone agree that the oil cooler should be mounted aft of the carb?  Or, has anyone mounted it close to the firewall?
2. Since the engine floats, I assume the Ram Air box is not connected to the firewall, but that the inlet "floats" inside the underbelly Naca inlet.
3. Does anyone have pics or can you share with me how you've configured your carb and oil cooler when using downdraft cooling?

One idea I had was to reduce the size of the belly Naca inlet and use it just to feed the carb and oil cooler.

Thanks for any guidance or pics if you have them.

Allen,

Thanks for the heads up.  If anyone questions Allen's character, I suggest you carefully read his long description of events that he has linkded to and decide for yourself.

Interesting idea about a valve to shut off the oil heat in summer.

Can we kick that idea around?

On the plus side, it seems desireable to be able to shut off oil heat in the summer.

But, in the summer at 10,000 ft, it can still get quite cold.

Adding a valve and hose to circumvent the cabin oil heat adds more failure points in the system.

What I was thinking was to highly insulate the cabin oil cooler.  Run the oil heat through that cooler first.  

If the fan isn't running, there should be no air moving accross this cooler.  The inside of this box would get hot (let's say, as hot as the engine oil) but hopefully little/none would be felt by the passenger.

That is my biggest concern.  Can I make a box that will tolerate and contain the heat when the fan is off.

Great thread: What is your opinion on these issues?

Our thought is to have two oil coolers.  

The first would provide heat in the cockpit when the fan is running.  When the blower is off, no heat is dumped into the cockpit.

The second oil cooler is located aft of the firewall.

There is no fresh air intake for the cabin heat oil cooler.  It recirculates air in the cockpit.