Riveted all the cowl hinges in place. I coated the hinges with epoxy before riveting to add a little extra strength.
I cut the hinge pins to their final lengths and did a test fit. I found the two pins that go across the top half of the cowl to be difficult. I removed the cowl and filed a bit more relief into the hinges where they curve around to the side. This seems to have helped but still the pins are not very easy to insert. They like to get hung up at about the final inch or so. I hope they get a little easier with time.
As I stated before, the final gaps where the cowl comes together and where it meets the fuselage are a bit wider than when everything was clecoed together. I hope it looks a bit better once everything is painted. Hoepfully, the gap will help reduce the paint chipping with repeated removal and installation of the cowl.
Also, I still don't like the movement (flexing) of the firewall area just in front of the forward baggage compartment. This area has yet to be riveted but at present it moves fore and aft a bit causing the cowl gap to vary slightly. This is an area that needs to be redesigned.
