Today marked two months since I grounded my Pitts. It was time for her annual checkup and some upgrades to bring her up to speed.
One of my main concerns was the high CHT while doing acro. The other issue which made no sense was the extraordinarily low oil temp at the same time.
I utilized the RV4/6 0-360 baffle kit with some minor modification to solve the CHT issue. To really improve the cooling airflow, I had the alternator belt groove machined off and the baffle comes in close behind the now flat ring gear eliminating another path for air to leak by.
I replaced the oil filter housing on my 0-360 and the very old T fitting and bourbon bulb with the B+C oil filter adapter. The temp bulb and instrument are Westach and are compatible with the new oil filter adapter. Removal of the old three in one WW2 gauge meant replacing oil and fuel pressure with electric senders and individual gauges. This had the added advantage of eliminating the oil and fuel lines in the cockpit. However I still have the 19 gallons of fuel just above my lap so the advantage may be small J
The old inverted system was replaced with a new one I had lying around and the T fitting to the valve was discarded in favor of the vacuum pad oil supply from Raven.
While doing a careful inspection I found the right brake line chaffed 2/3 through and the same for the #4 cylinder oil return line. They may have held for 20-30 hours but a failed brake with a non-steerable tail wheel would be more excitement then I care to have. All nuts and bolts were checked for that snug feeling and sure enough some hadn’t felt a wrench in some time.
Two ant-drag wires in the lower right wing needed to be tightened which meant cutting a small work hole into the lower leading edge to access the nut ends. I hate making holes in planes and spent two days planning this mission and in the end it worked out fine but only after much hand wringing.
The old panel had seen better days so I made a new one for the extra gauges. I prefer a lighter background which in my view makes the instruments stand out better and easier to see. Going from black to off white, made the diminutive cockpit seem roomier.
After eight weeks of bruised knuckles, multiple cuts and punctures I’ve gotten pretty familiar with my Chica Chiquita. Today was the day we would go up and dance to see how the fixins worked. Well I’m happy to report the CHT is down considerably and even with a continuous climb to 4000 agl followed by multiple hammerheads and other vertical maneuvers, she did not get hot J The oil temp is now at a reasonable 180-190F and CHT never went over 350F. The oil pressure remains steady by routing the oil from the vacuum pad verses the oil vent route while going inverted. This is a real improvement over the old system.
Thanks to the guys on this site for input to solve my problems and I’m a happy camper. This weekend promises to be great flying weather but we’ll be inside at a local IAC judge’s seminar. Figured this new guy can learn something there. Hey, my wife is going too so that’s two for one. I’m lucky.
Cheers, Hans
old
new
One of my main concerns was the high CHT while doing acro. The other issue which made no sense was the extraordinarily low oil temp at the same time.
I utilized the RV4/6 0-360 baffle kit with some minor modification to solve the CHT issue. To really improve the cooling airflow, I had the alternator belt groove machined off and the baffle comes in close behind the now flat ring gear eliminating another path for air to leak by.
I replaced the oil filter housing on my 0-360 and the very old T fitting and bourbon bulb with the B+C oil filter adapter. The temp bulb and instrument are Westach and are compatible with the new oil filter adapter. Removal of the old three in one WW2 gauge meant replacing oil and fuel pressure with electric senders and individual gauges. This had the added advantage of eliminating the oil and fuel lines in the cockpit. However I still have the 19 gallons of fuel just above my lap so the advantage may be small J
The old inverted system was replaced with a new one I had lying around and the T fitting to the valve was discarded in favor of the vacuum pad oil supply from Raven.
While doing a careful inspection I found the right brake line chaffed 2/3 through and the same for the #4 cylinder oil return line. They may have held for 20-30 hours but a failed brake with a non-steerable tail wheel would be more excitement then I care to have. All nuts and bolts were checked for that snug feeling and sure enough some hadn’t felt a wrench in some time.
Two ant-drag wires in the lower right wing needed to be tightened which meant cutting a small work hole into the lower leading edge to access the nut ends. I hate making holes in planes and spent two days planning this mission and in the end it worked out fine but only after much hand wringing.
The old panel had seen better days so I made a new one for the extra gauges. I prefer a lighter background which in my view makes the instruments stand out better and easier to see. Going from black to off white, made the diminutive cockpit seem roomier.
After eight weeks of bruised knuckles, multiple cuts and punctures I’ve gotten pretty familiar with my Chica Chiquita. Today was the day we would go up and dance to see how the fixins worked. Well I’m happy to report the CHT is down considerably and even with a continuous climb to 4000 agl followed by multiple hammerheads and other vertical maneuvers, she did not get hot J The oil temp is now at a reasonable 180-190F and CHT never went over 350F. The oil pressure remains steady by routing the oil from the vacuum pad verses the oil vent route while going inverted. This is a real improvement over the old system.
Thanks to the guys on this site for input to solve my problems and I’m a happy camper. This weekend promises to be great flying weather but we’ll be inside at a local IAC judge’s seminar. Figured this new guy can learn something there. Hey, my wife is going too so that’s two for one. I’m lucky.
Cheers, Hans
old
new
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