REFLECTOR: OIL SEPARATOR

[Rich Guerra]

Tom,

You can try the following:  Believe it or not, we 
used the Aircraft Spruce Homebuilders' Oil air 
separator and modified it.  In it's unmodified 
form, I have heard others say it is useless. 
(Looking at its innards, I can see why)  We took 
one, cut the back plate open, added in fine brass 
mesh (30 X 28 brass mesh ordered from 
Mcmaster-Carr ( http://www.mcmaster.com/ ).  A 
section wide enough to fit inside the housing was 
cut and folded over on itself to make 2 layers. 
The "S" shape mesh segment is wedged into 
position and, by virtue of the fit, is held in 
place.) The intake and output ports where 
reversed.  Believe it or not, it works amazingly 
well!  I get virtually no oil on my belly!  A 
friend of mine just installed on on his Cozy in 
Santa Fe and cured his problem too.  There are a 
couple of photos of this modification of the 
stock separator on the "Engine" section on my 
website,
http://www.rguerra.com/velocity/  (about 10 rows down).  Costs maybe $50 total.

Aircraft-Spruce Homebuilders Oil breather/separator P/N 10570  $38.85


Also see a nice alternative written by Don White 
located on the TVBF.org archive:
http://www.tvbf.org/docs/AirOilSeparator.doc 

I think he's right: the screen is the secret to 
making any of these work well.  I believe that 
one of the Bingelis books has a diagram of a 
cylindrical oil breather/separator that looks 
very similar to an M-20 that also has as a 
primary component a screen.

Hope this helps!

Rich
Velocity XL RG N724X
http://www.rguerra.com/velocity/





>Hello Tom,
>TSO'd oil separators cost an arm and a leg. 
>Aircraft Spruce sells a complete line of oil 
>separators.  I believe Denis used on 
>manufactured by RMJ.  There are several, less 
>costly, models listed for experimental aircraft. 
>The oil separator is not a safety issue.  You 
>might want to do your first flights without a 
>separator - observe the amount of oil being 
>consumed (or thrown overboard) and consider 
>later on if a separator is right for your 
>installation.  Denis and Jack needed one to 
>ensure the engine would not "puke" too much oil 
>over the North Atlantic.
>Scott B.
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: <mailto:tmartino at troubleshooter.com>Tom Martino
>To: <mailto:reflector at tvbf.org>reflector at tvbf.org
>Cc: <mailto:scottb at velocityaircraft.com>Scott Baker - Velocity
>Sent: Saturday, January 08, 2005 3:10 PM
>Subject: REFLECTOR: OIL SEPARATOR
>
>I have been in touch with the chaps is England 
>and France who built a Velocity 173 Elite RG ... 
>in the exact configuration as mine (IO-540, MT 
>4-Bldae Prop).  They answered a ton of questions 
>and said it was as stable as a rock – even at 
>the aft CG limit.  Our W&B is very similar.
>
>One thing they brought up that they said I 
>should do ... so I’m asking if anyone knows 
>where to get it.
>
>They said they mounted an oil separator on the 
>firewall for the crankcase breather.  I was just 
>going to have a straight hose out the crankcase 
>breather thru the bottom cowling.  They said 
>that would be messy.
>
>They said the separator they have works 
>wonderful and they got it through the Velocity 
>factory.  Does anyone know where to find it?
>
>
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