Brief Description: Fabbed 13" disc to help install cowling.
I cut out a 13" disc from MDF that I had at the house. The disc was used to determine the split line between the upper and lower cowlings while I had them on end on the floor. I drilled two holes for clecos in the nose cowl flanges so that I could hold the two together when I put them on the plane. I used a rachet strap around the cowlings at the FW to hold them together while checking the split line for gaps or overlaps.
The upper cowl will be trimmed with the lower cowl sanded for straightness to give a good line to trim the upper. The lower cowling had to be slotted to accomodate the nose gear leg. Van's drawing #45 had the slot dimensions, but measuring was a problem because there was no straight line anywhere. I took circumferance measurements and divided by two to find the center lines of the cowling and hoped they were good.
After clecoing and strapping them on the plane, I measured the 1/4" gap from the cowling to the spinner bulkhead and determined a distance from the prop mount flange. I then spaced the disc to that measurement and installed the upper cowling flush to the aft side of the disc. I had drawn a line on the upper fuselage skin at the rear edge of the upper cowl which verified the disc spacing when I reinstalled the upper cowl again. A real brain teaser!
Disc used to determine spilt line and hold spinner gap.
