CAPFlyer wrote:
The early R3350's had 2 collector rings for the exhaust, one for the front row and one for the back row. The front row's collector ring was mounted in front of the cylinders. Wright's idea was that because the engine was intended for the next generation of high altitude aircraft, they thought the forward position would help provide heat into the engine during cruise to keep it from getting too cold.
With the B-29 though, the desire for extreme high altitude efficiency meant that it had very close fitting cowls and because of it, there was a serious airflow deficiency at low altitudes and speeds. This led to overheating. There were also metallurgy issues that exacerbated the problem.
I don't know if the B-32 had the same problems, but I also know that the L-049/C-69 which used the same engines didn't have the problem as bad because it had bigger cowlings which allowed more airflow. It wasn't a full fix, the rear row of cylinders still had heat issues that had to be watched when operating at high power settings, but it didn't have the same issue with overheating while idling.
Oh, and it's also important to note that the R4360 had the same problem on the B377, KC-97, and B-50 as well. In hot weather, if the cowl flaps weren't fully open or you got enough of a tailwind, the engines would overheat just as quickly as the R3350.
If proper procedures were followed there was no problem on the ground with the 4360's on the K-97.