Sealing the Cowl: Re: REFLECTOR:Re: Exhaust system

[Jim Sower]

Scott wrote:

> Are the holes in the cowling that the exhaust exits out of sealed real
> well?   That made a huge difference for me.

Yes.  They were pretty much wide open before, and are much MUCH better now.  I could
probably improve on that a little, but not much at all

> Also all the little places the aluminum baffling poorly meets the engine, like the
> engine mounts,
> etc..?

Yes.  all caulked up with hi-temp RTV.

> And you do have the aluminum spreaders that are fastened to the
> tops of the cylinders?

I use BID-RTV around the cylinder barrels and between the barrels.  Also on the head
fins.  It seals much tighter than sheet metal and is easy to work with.

> I've heard of the "fat lip" modification for the scoops but never got that
> far.   The fuel line sounds like an easy way to try it out.

I'll go simple at first.  A piece of tubing duct taped on so the tape forms a ramp of
sorts.  See what happens and go from there.

> What kind of engine analyzer are you using to monitor EGT's/CHT's?   Does
> it have a Find first/last Peak function?

I have an Insight GEM-602 with 4 CHT-EGT displays as LED "ladder lights" in 4
columns.  It seems to work pretty good and is as accurate as anything I've seen and
has a good display.

I'm going to get an electronic ignition for Christmas and that should help.  It will
help my fuel burn for sure and should lower CHTs some as well.  It's too cold (even in
TN!) to work on the plane right now, so progress will be slow.  I do have a definite
to-do list now, so when the WX breaks I'll know just what to do.  I'm also thinking
seriously of stripping all my VGs and aileron gape seals off and carefully working
back to what I have, documenting performance changes as I go to see just exactly what
mods make what happen.  That should last me well into the spring :o)

I'll let you know whenever something happens ... Jim S.