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today I re-clocked the output side of the turbo to better align with the intake elbow and get a better seal for the intake. I was well over 42 in. of MAP on climb out. Not ready to declare victory but am very encouraged that the system is fixed. I am very glad I did the turbo even though I had problems. Even with less than optimum boost I still got better performance than normally aspirated. The lesson here is make sure the intake is free from leaks. I will test fly again when the weather permits and have a better assessment of the changes.

Glad to hear you got it all dialed in Bill! Now that you do, how about some new climb and cruise performance numbers with that big prop of yours?

Fly safe!

MichaelFarley56 wrote:If anyone wants to see Geary's new cowling vents, here are a few pics. This is a great idea and I will probably be doing the same thing here soon!

I'm a Formula One fan and I see the pit crews put cooling fans into the air inlets as soon as the cars arrive back from the track. Obviously we don't run the engines on the razors edge the way they do, but it seems to me that a similar ducted fan blower and battery could easily be made to fit inside the inlets, in order to be nicer to the engine, turbo, and all the components inside. Basically keep it from becoming an oven in there after shutdown. I like the vent in the cowel above the RDAC, I'm just wondering what you Turbo guys thoughts are on this possibility.

This is the best example I could find, but it's much more complicated than it needs to be for a Sonex's purposes.

What, if any impact might these vents have on the cooling airflow through the cowling during flight? This idea is interesting, but I wouldn't want to negatively impact the low pressure area downstream of the baffles (I'm not saying it would.)

The idea is not to have them a permanent fixture of the plane and have it used in flight, but to have them in the cockpit or hangar and pop them in shortly after stopping the engine and getting out.

mike20sm wrote:The idea is not to have them a permanent fixture of the plane and have it used in flight, but to have them in the cockpit or hangar and pop them in shortly after stopping the engine and getting out.

Interesting, what seals the openings during flight?

no other opening created, just use the existing inlets that are in the cowel already. the way I imagine it, It's totally temporary and non invavsive. I'll try to find a video which would more clearly demonstrate.

Sorry, I think we were talking about different things... I was referring to the vents in the cowling tops.

Your fan idea on the ground seems like it would work also, provided the fans themselves can stand being that close to the heat of the engine. A couple of 12v (or 5v usb) computer fans (installed inside a plug that fits the fwd cowling openings) could be powered from a 12v socket (or usb socket) in the cockpit with minimal current draw off the battery. I think those fans draw like .25 amps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPTq4KpgB_0
This video at 51:18 you can see one of the inlets on the drivers left has the blower and, the other doesn't
and 51:50 you can see the dry ice and garden blower cooling the brakes and right after that is a good shot of the blower insert.

These would be the two main components involved in the external cooling device I'm imagining. The blower is from a boat engine blower which is used to evacuate the engine compartment before starting. It's too big but just visualize a similar fan embedded in some closed cell foam similar to those "Pool Noodles" that are used for swimming pool flotation devices. and the battery is just a compact 4 cell lithium that would power it for more than enough time to get things to a reasonable temp.

Been a long time since I read the Bingeles books. I seem to remember an idea he wrote about. Put a little door on the top of the cowl, hinge to the front, opening down. When you are parked they are open due to gravity. When you have flow into the cowl it blows them closed and the delta-p holds them shut.