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Lightweight Oil Cooler and Starter recommendations

pcj_5189

MEMBER
Northern MN
Hello All.

Bought a PA-12 this past spring with an O-320-A1A on a long mount and a Borer 82/41 prop. When flying solo it's nose heavy with just me in it and nothing in the baggage. I've been using ballast in the baggage for solo flying which makes it much easier to trim to speed in the pattern.

I thought eventually I would update the old timey heavy oil cooler and starter with lightweight versions of both. Well, today I went out to fly on a beautiful Northern MN fall day and discovered one of the oil cooler brackets was broken. So, I figured as long as my mechanic has to get at it I may as well replace the cooler and starter with something lighter to get some weight off the nose.

I know I've read threads about the topic and I tried searching but couldn't find the discussions I've seen. Just wondering if there were any recommendations from the crowd as to what I should be looking for and what I should avoid.

Thanks for your input!
 
Sky-Tec starters. Either HT or NL models. and make sure you have a GOOD ground strap from the crank case to the airframe.

Web
 
I love my Niagra light weight oil cooler, I think I saved 4-5# off the nose. It takes a little bracket modifying with the skytec starter but pretty easy to do. The light weight alternator to replace the generator only saves you about 1 pound, a very expensive pound.
 
Thanks for the responses so far. The previous owner already made the alternator change so that pound was already taken care of.
 
I have a O-320 A2B on a long mount. My empty CG is 12.9. CG with just me and full fuel is 13.5. I assume your cooler is front mounted? If so, you could go to a rear mounted cooler. I replaced the original boat anchor of a starter with a SkyTec XLT. I replaced the generator with a B&C lightweight alternator which was a decent weight savings between the two full setups. My oil cooler was already rear mounted which moves the arm back some. I do have a baby Bushwheel tailwheel which added a little weight over the Scott 3200.

-Chris
 
Anybody know if the dimensions of the Niagara cooler are smaller? I’ve got the old oil cooler on nose bowl violence I’d like to see go away.
 
I assume you probably have a white airworthiness certificate so this may not apply but Skydynamics Featherweight Flywheels are -3 lbs right where you need them. I have run them on all my (experimental) aircraft with excellent results.

http://skydynamics.com/products/engine/featherweight-flywheel

I would think that it may pass the sniff test on a 337, especially if you used a vacuum pad mounted alternator. I'm going from memory on the field approval checklist so your mileage may vary.

DGAPilot is a bit better at than than I and would be a great resource to bounce the idea off.
 
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