Brief Description: Straightening the cowling front end
This weekend and today I have partially worked on the cowling. All the front behind the spinner was twisted and the objective was to straighten it.
The first thing is I tried to figur if I could install a piano hinge as per the plans but locking it would be challenging. Instead I went for 0,030" piece of 2024 T3 , 3 X 3 and decided that I would rivet them to the bottom cowl. The top end will be screwed. That is going to be cured in epoxy and the screw will have tin washer to protect the fiberglass. I think I trust that system better for that area.
Then to straighten the flange behind the spinner, I used heat, straight harwood piece and a couple of clamps. After heating it slowly, when I could feel the fiberglass being hot , I simply clamped it with a straight piece of wood. Then I let it cool down completly and removed the clamp. The result is pretty good.
As you can see, the natural cowling position leaves a gap between the two halves in the front. This will need to do some fiberglassing but I would like to be as close as possible of the perfect alignment before doing that. I also noticed there is very little space between the bottom cowl and the alternator spinning puley. That is why I am not trying to pull the two halves together because doing this would reduce that gap that is necessary for the alternator to not touching the bottom cowling.
Last I checked with the spinner and it seems to be quite close to perfect with regards to the circle. But that will be what it is .
