Lindy
7/5/2009-FOUR YEARS AGO TODAY, THIS PROJECT BEGAN...
Today was a perfect weather day in Illinois! Low humidity, 80 degrees, sun and clouds...REALLY nice to be in the hangar all day today! I got out to the hangar around 9:30 this morning, and started things off by clamping and taping the bottom cowl back on the airplane to check where I needed to do some minor sanding. That took a while to get the lines as straight as can be, and then I started working on drilling the hinge to the bottom cowl off of the airplane...
I did not follow the order of things in the SJ instructions...why? Well, they are pretty vague, and there are several areas where things are repeated...sometimes contradictory...and I thought it out from start to finish, and figured my way would be easier. Since I didn't do it the way the instructions say, I can't say for sure, but this was an easy way to do it.
With the hinges drilled to the bottom cowl, I put the top hinge in place with the pin-
Then I put the bottom cowl on the airplane, taped it as tight as possible...making sure everything lined up (except my stupid gap on the left side, it was all pretty nice), then drilled the firewall to bottom cowl first, then did the top to bottom cowl hinges. I had some help briefly from my friend Steve...he stopped by at the perfect time to help me hold the hinge to the top cowl while I drilled.
I kinda feel like this eliminated a few offs and ons of the cowl...but then again, maybe not. It worked out great though...I just have to figure out how to put material back on the aft end of the cowl on the left side. The rings look good, and the spinner hole looks good, though it is off by about an eighth to the left...no big deal, it won't be seen. Also, because this cowl is a custom length, I do have quite a bit of "body work" to do...the top cowl does not line up with the curve around to the vertical, so that will need some filler work...there is also a tape line that runs all the way around the cowl from where Will added the extra length.
Then I removed the prop and the top cowl so I could use the hinge pin to mark the hole in the firewall for the pin to pass thru. I am going to run them in to the cabin to keep the front of the cowl nice and clean.
After I drilled the holes in the FW, I removed the bottom cowl, and started deburring the hinges. That was a good place to stop for the night...time to eat, and go watch some baseball...
7.5 hours