Assembled the aft nose gear slot cover and brace. cutout the opening for the nose gear leg fairing and then match drilled the cover to the lower cowl. I had to make the center support brace 3/4" longer than the Van's supplied part, used some .032. I did use the doubler from Van's and riveted it to the cover. Drilled the nutplate #40 rivet holes on the lower cowl, Drilled and then countersunk the nutplates screw holes for #8 countersunk screws. Riveted the #8 nutplates to the lower cowl. Dimpled the aft cover and then installed for a test fit. Good to go! this will make an aesthetic improvement, but since Van's plans don't make any provision for these covers, I'm wondering what effect it will have on cooling. i.e. am I restricting the amount of air that can exit the cowl to only that portion that surrounds the exhaust pipes???? The depth of this area seems to be 3/4" deeper than the Van's cowl, but Van's also has some lovers cut into the bottom of the cowl to facilitate exit air. I suspect it's necessary because of the extremely large intake openings, with th eJames cowl the intake areas are smaller so i'm hoping to get away with a smaller exit area. I guess this is something I'll have to monitor during Phase 1. I inserted the intake rings in the upper cowl and applied some flox mixture to fill some of the small voids/pits that surround it. then layed up a single layer of fibergalss over the rivet lines on the lower cowl.
