Today, I moved from the front baffles to the #4 baffle with the oil cooler mount. There are too many reports of cracked mountings where the oil cooler attaches to the baffles, so like other builders, I’m going to beef up the mounting. I removed the #4 side baffle and drilled out the rivets for the little stiffener which mounts to the valve cover, then flattened the dimples. I cut a piece of 1”x1”x1/16” angle and rounded the outside edge so that it would nest inside the flange on the baffle. I match drilled the ¼” mounting hole as well as the holes near the bottom of the flange. I mounted the oil cooler with side clamps, then fit the top cowling. I had the cooler mounted too high. I rounded off the corner of the doubler (should have just left it), moved the oil cooler down ¼” and added the cowl again. The cooler is still mounted just a bit too high. I used my remote camera thru the oil filler door to view the clearance of the cooler. I went thru this several times until I got the oil cooler in the position I wanted. I moved the cooler inboard as much as the nutplates and on the outboard side would allow—they fit close to the curve on the inside of the angle. Then I drilled thru the doubler into the 2 baffle flanges, the .063 doubler and the 1” angle. Checked alignments, then drilled the rest of the outboard mounting holes. I need to remove the rear baffle to drill the inboard holes as well as cut out the center of the baffle.
