Brief Description: Started the install of the cowling.
Today I started the cowling install after thrashing around on the garage floor with both the upper and lower halves. I finally measured the upper to lower FW flanges on either side of the exhaust exit area. I then made an H frame out of two 2x2's which were 28 1/4" that I had measured. I then stood the cowling halves on end with the H frame on the floor to hold the cowling halves apart and tied a rachet strap around them to hold them together at the floor. I then managed to get the nose cowl to engage. I realized that I needed to go read up on the VAF forum to see what others had done. Van's instructions are quite brief with little detail. His drawing #45 shows what to do if installing hinges. Skybolt's instructions start with the assumption that you have established the spinner cowling gap. The rest of the day was spent researching.
Dan Horton's method of fitting the cowl was discovered on the forum, so I'm shamelessly going to copy his great discriptions and instructions. This is not going to be easy!!
Just set the upper cowling on to see what it looks like.
