Paul,  I saw your comment to Mark about me being able to supply
louvers.  I did make one set, that turned out o.k. sort of but not
ready for prime time. They were a learning exercise.  I made the
louvers by folding  .032 aluminum into a flap shape and then riveting
this to a 5/8" dia. 4130 tube that served as a spar/axle. The rest of
the details are not important at this moment.
I think a better louver could be shaped from foam which is then  fg'd
to the spar.  It is on my to do list, but I have not pursued it
further.

How to operate the louvers is not a problem.  I have,
mentally switched back and forth between attaching the louvers to the
radiator or to the cowl.  The prototype has them attached to the
radiator but this will exert (unknown) forces into the rad,
especially when the louvers are extended.  This worries me and is one
reason  I am thinking of building them into the cowl. Another reason
is that it is necessary to have a clean,  leak free interface around
the perimeter of the louvers and the cowl.   This is much easier if
they are just glassed into the cowl from the get go.
The louvers require only about 3/4 inch space, max,   between the
radiator and the cowl. Just enough to clear the axles.    Of course
when they are open the space goes to infinity.    I am against non
adjustable louvers unless the thermostat is retained.


  Jerry

Thanks for your thoughts on this Jerry.
Sealing is not essential.

I think your first design was a bit overkill. 1/2 inch .035 4130 tubing
and .025 aluminum should be strong enough pop riveted together. A bit
cheaper too. Some people hate gup and prefer to work in metal.

I prefer metal but gup is not all that hard :)

Here are some shots of the automatic type cowl flap using a AC VW engine
thermostat. This idea goes way back to Tony Bingelis book Fire Wall Forward.


Paul Lamar

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