I frequently talk about the ups and downs of going through the build process...the inevitable peaks and valleys if you will. Right now, for whatever reason, I feel like I am trudging along...not really a good reason behind it, just chalk it up to part of the long process. But its important to keep at it during times like these...although my last couple weeks haven't been very productive, I am still grinding it out....one foot in front of the other, up the mountain to the summit. The enthusiasm will turn, in the meantime, progress is being made, that's crucial.
So, anyhow, here are some pics of finishing up the hose routing for the oil/air separator. This is mil spec 6000-12 hose I am using. You can see it took some creative routing to come out of the top of the engine, around my oil filter and over to the separator. I'm a little concerned that I have violated the bend radius of my hose...it looks ok as is, but I will keep an eye on it to see if it wants to collapse during normal engine compartment thermal abuse. If it does, I will have to try something different since this routing is the ONLY option for this setup.
Notice the two adel clamps holding it in place and away from the firewall. I don't want the hose to rub on the firewall, which is why I have two clamps in that area. Also notice, I am using high temp, stainless steel, adel clamps in the engine compartment...easily identified by the white silicone (vs black).
Now for the breather tube exiting the separator. Out of the tank it is the same 6000 hose, but then I cut up the alum breather tube that came with the FWF kit from Van's. Notice the two extra breather holes I added...
From my research you can tackle this one of two ways. Have the breather tube come down right above the hot exhaust, with the idea that the oil will just burn off. Or have it actually exit the cowl, like I have chosen to do. I read that this is the way it "should" be so that you have a low pressure suction force to draw the oil out of the tank, which makes sense to me. I've been told that this system works so well with typical RV aerobatics that there wont be much, if any, oil coming out the tube. If I'm wrong, I figure I can always change it later if I don't like this setup...for now, this is it. I thought about this a lot...too much really, sometimes you just need to make a decision and move on.
Here you can see my routing from the tank out the bottom of the cowl...adel clamps...etc
I talked earlier about my desire to safety EVERYTHING in the FWF area. Here you can see I have added safety wire to the hose clamps, which I am doing everywhere...just makes me feel better.
I attached my lower exhaust pipes as indicated in the exhaust installation hand sketches...and was proud of this pic, looks nice. I then did a fit check with my cowl and found out that the exhaust pipes were too wide in this configuration and would not clear the bottom cowl! dang! I am in the process of getting this fixed right now...tweaking it.
Also notice the two holes I drilled in the breather tube that I mentioned earlier. This is a fail safe, in case the end of the breather tube gets plugged (icing maybe?) for whatever reason. You want the engine to be able to breathe, and these holes in the warm engine compartment should allow for a secondary path to do just that. Also notice my positioning of them...I don't want oil dripping out of there while its sitting in the hangar, hence I didn't put them on the bottom.
Things are starting to get tight in the engine compartment...its gonna get worse as I add wiring, cables and SCAT tubing, etc.
Installing the heater muff. You would think this would be straightforward wouldn't you? Not so much if you've never done one...or seen one. I didnt realize the cable clamps held it all together. The instructions from Mr. Vetterman are pretty poor. Finally got it worked out though...and then thought, duh! It really is simple...
And there ya go...now you know what it should look like. :) I ended up repositioning the cable clamp screws up next to the inlet/outlet later.
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