Cowl Hinge Fitting

Posted on by Neal

Today we finished the fitting of the top and bottom cowls, and located and drilled the hinges on both the top and bottom cowls.

The only real issue we ran into was on the bottom cowl. On the left side of the cowling the honeycomb material was too far aft, and caused interference with the hinge. We carefully bent the hinge to conform to the shape, and will use some epoxy filler to fill any void between the hinge and the cowling.

Final check of the cowling fit before starting to drill
Looking good with both cowling halves sitting in position
Holding the cowling in position to support drilling
Left side bottom cowl. Note the sharpie marks indicating the region where the hinge interferes with the honeycomb
Drilling the right hand side hinge of the bottom cowl
Right hand side for comparison
A closer view of the interference
After drilling the fore/aft hinges that hold the two halves together
Hinge pins bent per plans
Annoying lack of fit on the right air inlet. Will need to spend time filling/glassing/sanding this area to improve the alignment
Clearance between cowling and aft spinner plate looks good
Notching out the top cowl for the hinge pin plate
Everything drilled!
My mum made this awesome seat! This will serve as seating until I eventually order an interior.