George Graham used a Setrab cooler in his airplane. I think Lynn uses
 > >> Setrab as well. I'm putting a Setrab in my RV-4.
 > >snipped
 > >> Mike Wills

 > Has George had good luck with his Setrab? I ask, because the consensus

on

the RV list, is that these coolers are too lightly built. Several have

split

open, causing engine fires in RVs. Does anyone know if Setrab has

redesigned

their cooler, ala Positech?
 > Charlie Kuss
 > RV-8A fuselage

 That is interesting. We have had three in-flight fires because
 of oil coolers splitting. One was fatal. I assumed they were
 cheap Chinese oil cooler bought from Griffin rad. I had
 no idea Setrab coolers also split in aircraft service.

 Paul Lamar

Since there are as many installations as there are people doing them, I take
this information with a grain of salt. A Setrab split open.........sounds
pretty bad to me. Who would use one now? It would be suicide. The second race
weekend for the new car, a steel bodied Mustang hit us in the LR corner after
the finish line and turned our car sideways. A steel bodied Camero ran over
the nose from left to right. The nose and hood were gone. A Camero headlight
mounting bucket was wedged behind the radiator. The two Setrab oil coolers
were attached only by their hoses. The rather soft mounting tabs on the
Setrabs had ripped out the mounting brackets. The Griffin radiator was
twisted slightly. Nothing leaks. Still using all of those parts two years
later. Still nothing leaks. Oil pressure on startup is 100 PSI. Nothing
leaks. Most coolers have wrenching flats at the base of the fittings. You
must use them. How you go about getting these things to leak escapes me
completely. You could overpressure one. Or damage a fitting or rub through
one with a braided line. Where vibration is going to be a problem, you must
mount them in a soft system. If the lines are going to move around the cooler
must be allowed to move. If the lines cannot move then you can mount the
cooler so it cannot move (but still in rubber).
Lynn E. Hanover

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