10/12/2013 –
Upon returning from Rough River we immediately set to work implementing the changes and fixes that Terry Schubert prescribed for easing our high oil temps. The changes were all fairly simple really. We needed to get landing brake to recess into the bottom of the fuselage better. We needed to fix the forward entrance of the NACA scoop to the appropriate 1.25″ width (ours was barely 1/8″). We needed to get the landing gear cover to fit better. We needed to get the air filter relocated so as not to block the NACA inlet. And we needed to make expansion walls for the NACA scoop just inside the firewall.
We had nearly two straight weeks of bad weather, so we took the opportunity to dig into the improvements. We made it through all but the expansion wall modification before the weather was improved enough to go test the modifications. The results were COOL – literally. Oil temps dropped by 40deg F compared to similar power settings at same DA and OAT. In fact the oil temps were now a little too low, as they were below the 180deg F required to fully open the vernatherm. Oh well, can always block off the oil cooler a bit to keep things a little warmer.
There was still plenty of good flying weather left in the day, and it seemed a perfect chance to go for a flight that I had wanted to go on for a while. About 13 years ago I started my flight training at St. Cloud with my wonderful instructor, Dan Huwe. I was so very fortunate to have Dan for my instructor for my primary training, my instrument training, as well as my complex and high performance endorsements. We had gotten together a couple of times over the years to go flying, and he had seen the Cozy project a few times as well. The chance to fly with Dan in the Cozy was extra special to me.
We didn’t have a lot of time, but got just shy of an hour in. I even had time to demonstrate canard stalls for Dan. We did have one anomaly on the flight though. A ground wire for the fuel pressure sender broke off and caused inaccurate fuel pressure readings on the EFIS. I briefly considered aborting the flight when the alarm triggered, but the readings were ridiculously high (80-90psi) with no change in fuel flow, so I was certain it had to be either a faulty sender or a broken wire.
