Cowl Work

Hours 56
Total Hours 983

Well, not much to tell on this post. I had a lot of farming to do on my days off and my nephew got married so not much time left for working on the plane. I did not take a lot of pictures this time as I was in a rush to get something done.

 First, I lined up the cowl to be even with the spinner using the aluminum angle pieces. Made sure the front openings for the air scoop was level. This takes a lot of "eyeballing"! It can drive a person crazy as there is no way to measure to make sure you are level.Then placed a light bulb inside the cowl and drilled the cowl for the hinge.

 

I installed the hinges on the upper cowl after sanding the edges as close as I could. I used the method described in the plans using epoxy flox mixture to glue the hinges down and riveted it up. Much to my dismay, the 1/16th gap in the lower part of this picture looks a little wide. Its a good thing I have learned how to "scarf" the fiberglass edges. You can see in the upper part of this photo where I added or "scarfed" about 1/4" on the end of the cowl edge. I also had to repair the holes left by the previous builder for skybolts. You can learn all you want about "scarfing" on VAF forums like I did. I also made the two upper hinge pins out of .125 stainless steel pins although the plans called for .90 pins. I chucked the pins in my drill and polished the pins down to about .90 on the last 8 inches where it takes a curve down. This allowed me to use the larger pins and prevent any slop in the upper area as other builders have reported with the .90 pins. I was worried about the pins being tight and hard to remove reaching thru the oil door but after working on them for some time, I had them sliding in surprisingly easy.

I fitted the lower cowl to the upper cowl and installed the vertical hinges. These hinge pins do not need to be polished down as the are not curved. I then "scarfed" about 1/2" of new fiberglass on the upper edge of the lower cowl where the upper and lower cowls meet horizontally. The previous builder had presumably planned on using skybolts so there was an unacceptable gap and all the holes for the skybolts had to be filled. I will need to sand a 1/16" gap between the cowl and forward fuselage to allow for paint but I'm going to do it very carefully as I am getting tired of scarfing new material on the cowl.

I installed the horizontal hinges and fashioned the pins. I polished them up with emery cloth and lubricated them and after some work, had them sliding in easily. I applied painters tape all the way around the cowl as a sanding guide for the 1/16" gap for paint. I then sanded the gap with a straight 1x3 board with 80 grit glued onto it. I then did the same for the upper cowl and where the cowls join. I have a lot of work to do on this cowl but I am very happy to find out anything can be fixed on fiberglass! There was a time early on when I thought I would have to buy a new cowl because of it being fitted and cut on by the previous builder..........Hopefully, on my next days off, I can attack the engine baffles installation and work a little more on the cowl.