Cowling Part 2

Lots of work on the lower cowling this past week or so.  The scoop has been cut and drilled for quarter turns, the flanges have been completed for the top cowl interface, and yet there is still a ton of work left on the cowling.  I did find that I will be cutting the lower cowl in half.  Removing the scoop also removes the only easy place to hold the cowling up when installing it so I pretty much have to cut it in half if I want the installation and removal process to be relatively pain free.

The cowling isn't the only part of the airplane being worked on.  You can only do so much fiberglass before you either need to wait for some epoxy to set up or just need a shower to get the itchy stuff off of you!  My friend Ben has been coming up and helping work on the baffles.  So far is just lots of off engine fabrication, deburring, and sizing.

I've also started installing some of the accessories (starter, alternator) and the oil cooler.  I want to have as much of this stuff installed as possible (minus the exhaust) so I can finish the wiring and to make sure I have clearances with the cowling.

Holes drilled for the quarter turn fasteners.

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Lower cowling installed without the scoop.

Lower cowl mounted and the scoop cleco'd in place to check clearances.

 

Backup alternator installed but not yet wired up.

Starter installed but not yet wired up.

Oil cooler installed and hoses attached.

What the heck is this?!?  Well, this is my engine dehydrator.  Since its going to be at least several months until the engine will run I filled it with about 5 gallons of oil, and then put together this dehydrator to constantly pump dry air into the oil filler location.  The exit air comes out of the breather hose fitting.  There is a small fish tank air pump wrapped in a breathable bag (sock) that sucks air in from the top of the Tupperware container, through the blue desiccant and then discharges it through the rubber hose into the block.  This should help prevent any sort of corrosion inside the engine.

Cowl flap openings marked and corners drilled.

Cowl flap openings cut.  I'm using the AntiSplat Aero cowl flaps in these locations.  These cowl flaps are servo actuated so that they can be closed in normal cruise.