Aero Classics Oil Cooler

alaskabearhawk

alaskabearhawk

Moderator
A question about oil coolers. I won a certificate at a local event for $100 off an Aero Classics oil cooler. Anyone here flying an IO-540 with that type/brand installed? If so, which one? Thanks...
 
Those are good oil coolers Paul. Look at what they go on in the certified world looking for the oil cooler used on 540 installations. Get a big one. Mark
 
Yes, I am flying an IO-540 with the Aero Classic oil cooler. It works well and is a robust, light design.

I have the 10 row drawn cup design, or perhaps 13 row drawn cup. I can't recall how many rows it has - but it's more than 9. I can count them this weekend, if you are interested.

Either way, that cooler was providing more than enough cooling, until I choked the airflow with a smaller diameter 3" SCAT duct with a 90 degree bend. Now it's quite warm, but still stays in the green at all times, which is exactly where I wanted it. That said, my baffling system seems to be fairly well sealed, I get good engine cooling and oil cooling. So I suppose I have good air pressure feeding the cooler.
 
Long story short, we had to move the planes to a friend's hanger in a big hurry before a storm, then lock the doors and get going. I didn't have a single moment to check the cooler. I feel bad about that, sorry!
 
I just spent a lot of time at OSH researching my next oil cooler, which will be my 4th if I'm counting correctly. That also included lots of visits to the Pacific Oil Cooler booth, which as I understand it, is the Aero Classics manufacturer. There are basically three main levels of oil cooler that I looked at. One is the basic drawn cup type, which is what all of mine have been so far. (7, 9, and 13 row). Then there is the HE series, which includes the single pass line and the dual pass line. The single pass takes oil in one side and out the other. The dual pass is really two small coolers in series, passing through each small cooler once, hence the dual pass. The HE series is visually identifiable by the ends. The drawn cup ends look sort of like a comb, and the HE ends have a flat plate welded. The distance between the rows is greater on the HE series (.5 inches, more or less) and the fins between those rows are thinner and more numerous. The one I've ordered to replace the 13 row drawn cup is an 11 row single pass HE series. I didn't want to go with the dual pass because I would have had to refab all of my mounting and ducting. The single pass will hopefully fit in the same mounts as my Niagara 20006, which is a 13 row. As the booth man said, they are all the same thickness and width (6 inches or so wide), and just vary based on the number of rows. The 13-row drawn cup is basically a square, and on the HE the 11 rows of .5 inches each works out to 5.5 inches. Something to consider is that the price was about $25 cheaper at Spruce, even with show pricing at the Pacific booth, If your certificate must be redeemed at Pacific, keep this in mind. As far as I can tell, the dimensional specs of the various models is not published, but if you call them you can get them to send you the dimensions. I have found that the 13 row is not adequately cooling the angle-valve 360, but I should say that my exhaust pipes do pass pretty close to the sump, and the cooler that I'm running was not new when I installed it. I'm running -8 lines, and someone at Oshkosh (I'm pretty sure it was Clint) mentioned that sometimes going to -6 lines will actually drop the oil temp, because the oil spends more time in the cooler. As it is, I was seeing temps as high as 230 on the trip to Oshkosh, and that was in cruise. I'm using a 4" duct from the baffle to the 45 degree fiberglass plenum made by Airflow Systems, and the duct is the smoother double wall tubing. Oil coolers have been one of the more frustrating parts of the Bearhawk experience so far, so good luck and hopefully it will go better for you!
 
I checked, it looks like I am using a 10 row drawn cup design.

As I say, with a good baffle design, that cooler is providing more than enough cooling for my -540 engine. I guess I should stress that baffle design bit, my whole engine runs cool.
 
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