As part of recent work replacing all oil and fuel lines in my Europa Classic
Trigear
912UL, I added firesleeve to both the new fuel and oil lines. In addition
I have added heat-reflective silver foil tube to the oil lines. This was done
since some significant deterioration of the exterior of the previously
uninsulated/unsleeved
oil lines had been seen where the oil lines passed rather close
to parts of the exhaust (unavoidable in the tight confines of a Classic!)
While carrying out this work I also tried to deal with the previously seen 'high
oil temperature in climb issue', by silicone sealing the oil cooler to the back
of the port radiator, in order to ensure that more air went through the oil
cooler and didn't leak around it.
If anything, high oil temperatures in the climb have got worse since all these
changes, requiring even more careful climb management, using multiple steps.
It's
manageable, but a bit of a pain, and that's in the not-too-hot UK climate.
Oil temperatures stabilise around 115C once settled in the cruise, and water
temps are completely fine, in both climb and cruise.
Has the expected oil-cooling benefit of silicone sealing the oil cooler to the
radiator been completely negated by the added insulation effect of the
firesleeve/silver
foil tube on the oil lines? I'm wondering how much oil cooling depends
on radiation from the oil lines themselves? Does anyone have any experiences
of the impact on temps of adding firesleeve to oil lines?
My next planned step is to try to make a better seal of the port radiator to the
cowl (not quite sure how to do this) and possibly add spacers to the bottom
edge of the lower cowl to increase exit area. From reading the many useful
postings
on cooling issues, these would seem to help, but should I take off the oil
hose firesleeve instead/as well? I would welcome any thoughts, ideas and
comments!
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