Cruisair Air Intake System

[gfhawker]

I am finally back to work on my 14-13. It is a 150 Franklin airplane and I need some help with the airbox system. I now have all the main components but looking for information on the installation details. I have it basically all figured out except the most forward component. I know this airbox hangs from the oil cooler brackets but not sure what happens at its junction with the nose bowl. I know there is a grill on the front side of the nose bowl but what is on the back side of the nose bowl that acts as the interface to the airbox? Is it just a set of right angle brackets with rubber seal? Is there a rectangular assembly that I am missing? I know I could make something work but if I can make it easy with a known part that would be great. Also, is the mounting of this airbox only the oil cooler brackets or am I missing something else. Part manual isn't extraordinarily clear in this respect.

Thank you.

Cheers.

RT

 

[JackFulford]

I do not have specific experience with the Cruiseair. I can offer up the fact that on the Stinson 108-3 with a 165 Franklin I owned, the linke between the nose bowl air intake and the airbox was a 3-4 inch diagonal rectangular piece of rubber tubing attached at each end with rectangular steel hose clamp like brackets or occasionally cable ties :-(.

 

[Rhunter]

The original intake scoop was a wide, flattened, aluminum duct that fit into the skinny slot formed by the underside of the oil cooler and the aft edge of the lower inner surface of the square oil cooler air inlet in the cowling. It looked rather like the carpet head for an old vacuum cleaner. There was no air filter. The aft end was round and fit onto the round tube of the carb heat box under the carburetor. It was secured there with a clamp. From there it was flattened, stretched, and curved until it was thin enough to squeeze under the oil cooler. About half an inch. The engine could apparently get all the air it needed through this little slot. It was made of two pieces of annealed aluminum formed into the chaotic shape and welded together as top and bottom. A thin rubber channel was installed around the edge of the intake to prevent chafing on the cowling or oil cooler.
When a 165 hp engine was installed this duct was discarded since the carb heat box didn't fit the larger MA4-5 carburetor used on the 165 hp engine and the flattened duct wasn't long enough to reach all the way down to the intake of the bigger carb. Usually a Stinson airbox or an early Piper airbox would be used instead. A different scoop was fabricated and installed in the cowling to complete such a conversion. Most still didn't use an air filter. I'm going to try an airbox from a Maule M4-220C on mine. That way I can have an air filter.