VW's VW inverted oil sys.

[renegade]

That stands for Vernon Willingham's VW inverted oil system.

I pulled the system out of long term (last flown in 1981) storage and moving halfway across the country in several boxes since then. Now to remember where the parts went and if they all are from this plane! I will be posting photos and will be happy to provide any additional details requested.

Lex
"gravity is no match for an ego"

[Supervee]

We look forward to seeing anything you have to share...!!!

[n3480h]

Thank you Lex, I'm very interested in how this works.

Tom

[renegade]

The temp was up to almost 20 today so I ventured out to take a few photos of the oil system. There is only 1 photo in my album that shows the engine with the cowl off, showing any detail of the inverted oil system

[renegade]

I am not getting the photos to post!

[renegade]

This side view shows the oil/air separator at the rear of the engine. The separator has a small half diameter tube welded to the top at a slight angle, this is hose clamped to the engine mount at about this position. Not visible is the oil intake on the opposite side of the separator that the valve covers feed inverted oil into. The center tube facing is the vent overboard. The bottom tube feeds oil into the sump when upright.

Lex

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[renegade]

The previous image was a side view showing the oil/air separator at the rear of the engine, the positive/negative valve on the forward lower portion of the engine and the common feed at the oil screen at the bottom center of the engine.

After I see the photo I have now posted I will give some details of it on the next post.

Lex

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[renegade]

The previous post shows the top view of the oil pump intake from the valve. The valve (with a steel ball) is similar to the Christan system, but much lighter and slightly smaller. The Christan system is remotely located, usually on the firewall. You will note the oval port in the tube that is inserted into the engine. The flex hose is connected to the oil screen cover at the bottom center of the case.

Lex

This image shows the oil/air separator on the left, the oil screen cover with the two welded lines, (one from the separator and one to the check valve) and the check valve on the right. These feed the system while in the positive, upright G position.

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[renegade]

Now that I can see what I have posted I can cover the first photo in more detail. From the side view you can see the (main) inverted pick up is from the top of the case at the oil cooler mount. You will also note that Vernon needed a little more oil and taped into both valve covers. The two lines from the valve covers fed into the oil/air separator. I cannot confirm exactly how at this time. I will look at the side view in my photo album, which is at the hanger and post more again.

Lex

This view shows the front of the engine with the opening in the case for the oil pump intake. You may note the small bracket Vernon welded onto the valve and it's mounting point on the oil pump.

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[n3480h]

Thanks Lex! This is one of those simple, common sense ideas that makes me wonder, "Why didn't I think of that?" Looks like it would work pretty well.

Tom

[renegade]

Tom,

It worked great! I don't remember any problems with the system. You would run out of fuel before you would loose oil pressure,,,,,but,,,,that's another story. You should see how simple the smoke system is.

Lex

[Supervee]

Thanks, Lex...this should provoke some discussion and experimenting!!..Ed

[n3480h]

Ok Lex, now your teasing me again. I am very interested in smoke. I am building my Sonerai IILS with a removable front seat, which allows switching out the seat for a rack to hold an aux fuel tank - or a smoke system. Any chance you could offer a detailed description and a photo or two?

Thanks for your help!

Tom

[renegade]

Tom,

I am about to head out the door for a few days. No time to take a photo and post it now, but I don't think you will need a photo.

Vernon found a fire extinguisher that was about a 2 1/2 gallon stainless (dry chemical) with a threaded cap. He welded a 1/4" tube to the cap and put a flop tube on the inside. Now in order to move the smoke oil through the tube he fitted an air chuck ( tire valve stem) to the cap. The tank was hose clamped to the interior of the fuselage just behind the seat back in a horizontal position. We could unscrew the cap, put in 1 1/2gal of smoke oil, screw on the cap, and pressurize to about 175psi. Vernon had a small brass valve on the upper left of the cockpit. You would crack the valve open, the smoke oil would flow to the two short exhaust stacks on the left side. This would give about 5 minutes of decent smoke.

One time I was out in the Renegade, and I caught him as he was doing some crop dusting in a Pawnee. His flagman later asked him "who was that in the liiiittttllle biiittttyyy crop duster"? Smoke is a blast.

I'll get some photo's over the weekend.

Lex

[n3480h]

Lex, that is absolutely brilliant! It never occured to me to use a pressurized tank. No pump, no electrics, minimum fittings to leak, and easily installed and removed. This is perfect. Any idea what size and type of terminal fitting (restrictor) was used at the exhaust?
We used form oil in our RC aircraft smoke systems, but I am open to ideas for other types of oil.

Thank you so much for your help Lex. I'm going to have fun with this one.

Tom