Building for Floats to be Installed Down the Road

[Steve W]

Just want to remind builders who are thinking of eventually installing floats at a later date, get a bigger oil cooler and larger cowl exit. You can always go backwards if your temps are too cool. When I was ordering a cooler, most recommended at least a 10 row for a 360. The temp numbers on wheels after breakin turned out ok but were much higher than I wanted when I went to floats. Cylinders were close to 400 in climb and oil was at 215 doing circuits on a warm day. Now I read if you have piston coolers or oil squirters or have gone to floats etc to go up a size on the oil cooler. I have the squirters plus the floats.
So I will be replacing the 10 row with a 15 row cooler with a control for air volume. I will also open the cowl exit another inch, and extend the exit lip when I fab another one. I will try and clean up any obstructions in the lower cowl area that prevent air flow. At 15 degrees C all numbers are perfect so I know I’m close to having the right amount of cooling.

[SpruceForest]

That is useful... although we have some onerous restrictions in my home state, hoping to be in a more float-friendly locale by the time things wrap up.