- Joined
- Oct 31, 2015
- Messages
- 215
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Ok, before you say, "Whaaaaattt????" follow through with me here.
I have a Reno-racer, S-1D that has the oil cooler in the lower-right wing, as many of the racers do [oil temp always nice and low, thank you].
Anyway, since I live in Tennessee and the races are in Nevada, I have no desire to stick my fat butt in the plane for 12-13 hours (minimum) over three days. That being said, I trailered the plane to/from Reno this year and plan to continue to do so.
The only real issue was the mess involved in disconnecting the oil lines from the oil cooler [in the wing root]. Even after draining them, they still leaked quite a bit of oil over the duration of the drive. Reassembly and disassembly are an absolute mess while on your back, underneath the plane [there is very little room between the fuselage and wing root].
What I'm looking at doing is getting new oil lines fabricated with the oil quick disconnects that will be in the fuselage, and therefore easy to get to. This style of disconnect (sometimes referred to as a "dry-break" connection) is self-sealing and doesn't leak when disconnected. I found the Aeroquip 3900 series couplings but when I checked pricing at Herber Aircraft, they wanted $1,600 for each coupling ($500 for one half, $1100 for the other). The guy at Herber suggested that I look at the auto racing industry since I'm experimental, as they have the same things substantially cheaper. I found them for about $100 apiece. They all have normal AN fittings/threads and can be purchased with either Buna or Viton rubber components, and in aluminum or titanium for the metal parts.
Have any of you used these?
Sam
I have a Reno-racer, S-1D that has the oil cooler in the lower-right wing, as many of the racers do [oil temp always nice and low, thank you].
Anyway, since I live in Tennessee and the races are in Nevada, I have no desire to stick my fat butt in the plane for 12-13 hours (minimum) over three days. That being said, I trailered the plane to/from Reno this year and plan to continue to do so.
The only real issue was the mess involved in disconnecting the oil lines from the oil cooler [in the wing root]. Even after draining them, they still leaked quite a bit of oil over the duration of the drive. Reassembly and disassembly are an absolute mess while on your back, underneath the plane [there is very little room between the fuselage and wing root].
What I'm looking at doing is getting new oil lines fabricated with the oil quick disconnects that will be in the fuselage, and therefore easy to get to. This style of disconnect (sometimes referred to as a "dry-break" connection) is self-sealing and doesn't leak when disconnected. I found the Aeroquip 3900 series couplings but when I checked pricing at Herber Aircraft, they wanted $1,600 for each coupling ($500 for one half, $1100 for the other). The guy at Herber suggested that I look at the auto racing industry since I'm experimental, as they have the same things substantially cheaper. I found them for about $100 apiece. They all have normal AN fittings/threads and can be purchased with either Buna or Viton rubber components, and in aluminum or titanium for the metal parts.
Have any of you used these?
Sam
