The other thing that Tracy is being stubborn about IMHO is the use of evap
cores for cooling. I was hoping he would start with a clean sheet of paper
on the RX8 eng installation and use a real water radiator under the engine.
IMHO evap core are too thick to work well in our speed ranges. He tried
to take a short cut here and use as much of the old installation as possible.
When Tracy did the original installation over eight or nine years ago there was
little to go on other than what Everett Hatch and Allan Tolle did. Their system
was not cooling all that great either.

He got part of it right by using the K&M bell shaped curve but he missed the part
about the duct length required to be 2.5 times the rad dimension. These ducts
are too short according to K&M. There is just not enough room in an aircraft cowl for
a proper K&M duct. The only hope is to go with the Kays & London wedge shaped
diffuser. You can still get K&M ducts to work (sort of) if you open up the hole
to 50% or so of the area of the evap core. That is about what he had before however
that never really cooled well under all conditions either. He had to resort to water
dribbling over the surface of the evap core.

If it sounds like I am picking on Tracy I am not. We learn from our mistakes.
We have been all over this many times in the past and Tracy is a busy man
so he may have missed some of it. Don't read me wrong. I highly appreciate
all the things Tracy has accomplished and I am especially grateful for the
engine computer and the gear box. The last thing I want him to do is take
the time away from shipping computers and gear boxes to do it right :)

Paul Lamar

Paul,
I have a little flyer idea here. If people can't think of another way to go I like your Idea for Power Sport. Plumb the air inlets to the area behind the radiator angled off the firewall. Flow goes into the cowl (reverse) then run an old front cover and waterpump, with the FAN IN PLACE for low speed operation! Flow out is through the typical bottom of cowl fith a cowl flap as well. Kind of off the wall. I will be doing something else,but it simplfies the set up for those unwilling to experiment. (let the flames begin)
Bill Jepson

I think that is a good idea if you are willing to do a custom cowl and move the
engine forward a bit as Power Sport did. Except the exit flow has to go up on a tractor. 
It can't go down through the inlet duct.

Paul Lamar

 
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