Custom V-77

We can all probably agree that fitting up a R-985 to the V-77 is all around a good deal. We want to try and keep a balance between custom and period correct even though the 77 is military and we departed to a civilian theme. Deciding where to put the oil cooler and how to house it was a challenge. We didn’t want to make it look like an afterthought, nor did we want to bury it in the fuselage. Utilizing the original V-77 air intake scoop from the engine cowling “chin”, Daryll Baseman customized the part to fit on a newly fabricated belly panel. Lots of effort was put into fabricating a mount, panel and retrofitting the scoop but, as you can see its starting to pay off! In addition to the mount and scoop a plenum with baffling needed to be fabricated to seal the cooler off from the interior and keep the air going where it should. Now we have a cooler that is hard mounted on the belly and neatly housed using some original parts. How COOL is that!