Siezed low-time neglected turbocharger

[MichaelFarley56]

I would think that hitting a pothole at a decent speed would impart more forces on the turbo bearings than anything you could do in flight.

You must drive through Ohio in the winter and spring time! Talk about potholes...most of the roads up here now look like we were bombed by B-52's all winter long!

[GWMotley]

The pot hole joke is funny! But just to let you guys know, there is already a mandatory service bulletin out on the new Rotax 915 about the turbo wastegate shaft and possible combustion product build up.

[Brett]

Flew my plane today with the cooling system installed on the turbo. Temps were mostly around 190 in flight. Hottest on the ground post shutdown was 218.

[NWade]

Flew my plane today with the cooling system installed on the turbo. Temps were mostly around 190 in flight. Hottest on the ground post shutdown was 218.

Awesome, congrats and thanks for the report!

I'm in the midst of mounting up the cooling system myself. Got any photos of your installation that you're willing to share? What fasteners did you use to attach the Spal fan to the shroud? What did you use for attaching the radiator to the engine mount/clamps? [Perhaps a separate cooling system thread would be useful for us to post our various solutions?]

Thanks!

--Noel

[Brett]

I don’t have setup a place to post photos for the requirements of this site but I’ll try and make an effort soon to update my blog with photos on there.

My install needs modifications but please bare in mind it’s had a 5 x min ground run and 40 x min flight test only.

My install is not also the way I would have liked but it will do for now.

Temps are down so I’m happy. Install was easier than anticipated as well.

[kevinh]

Hi Noel,

My plane isn't flying yet, but I talked with Kerry about various mounting options. And (unsuprisingly) the vent holes in the cowl may not make much of a difference in cooling performance, and mine is a A model waiex so I was left with the following three options for mounting the radiator:

* On the right side of the firewall (has the benefit that if I did want to vent the cowl I could, but I'm not excited about this choice because I presume that area has high pressure while in flight, so cutting holes might hurt by primary cooling)
* Mounted to the engine mount vertically (per the Sonex recommendation) - alas, that wouldn't work so great with my oil filter location. Also finding a location to mount the coolant reservoir becomes challenging in that case.
* I had a big area open just below the turbo, this is where I think I'm going to mount it. I'll use two adel clamps mounted to a bit of aluminum angle on the plennum, and a length of .025" with two screws in the firewall. It seems to me that if I close the two ends this area with triangles of .025", it would be pulling mostly cold air from the bottom of the plane (but I'm going to wait to try this hack after testing with a completed airplane)



To fasten the fan to the shroud I used #8 or #10 screws (I forget which size would fit).

Any feedback would be welcome!

[tljones42]

"What fasteners did you use to attach the Spal fan to the shroud? ". I used AN525-832Rxx (16 or 18 I think) Washer Head Screws with the Washer Head inside the plenum.

Tom Jones
Onex 0133

[Brett]

Finally got around to adding some dribble to my blog. Shows pics of the install.

[Rynoth]

This is the direction I'm currently headed with my Turbo cooling solution.

This picture shows in the top right the smaller radiator I plan to use, with the plans radiator in the top left. The rest of the components in this photo are from the sonex suggested parts:

http://www.rynoth.com/wordpress/wp-cont ... _1893.jpeg


This photo shows the suggested fan on my radiator (not yet fastened), next to the suggested radiator. I do not plan to build a duct between fan and radiator. I will use long screws or bolts to attach the fan to the heat exchanger directly through the fins, avoiding puncture of the fluid channels.

http://www.rynoth.com/wordpress/wp-cont ... _1894.jpeg

I was struggling and failing to find a place to mount such a large radiator as suggested by the Sonex plans in my legacy Turbo installation, which is why I looked for a smaller heat exchanger.



Below are 2 pics of 3" circular aluminum ducts I bought from Amazon, before and after painting.

http://www.rynoth.com/wordpress/wp-cont ... _1843.jpeg

http://www.rynoth.com/wordpress/wp-cont ... _1880.jpeg

[Brett]

I've tried the air ducts facing both ways.