Brief Description: Cowling work completed (well almost).
After installing the prop, I had problems installing the upper cowl until I realized that I had installed four bolts in reverse so that the bolts were holding the cowl up 1/8". After reversing the bolts, the cowling matched the spinner perfectly. Once the cowling matched the spinner, I did some sanding to make the inlets lineup and match up better. I made sure the cowling gaps with the firewall Skybolt flanges and lower cowling Skybolt flanges looked OK.
I then match drilled the three holes behind the spinner that holds the upper and lower cowling together. After removing the cowling, I drilled the holes for the nutplates using the jigs for a #8 nutplate. I then used the hand squeezer to rivet the nutplates onto the lower cowling. After reinstalling the cowling and installing the six stainless steel screws, the Skybolt camlock fasterners held everything in place and was very rigid. The gap between the cowl and spinner measured an even 7/32" all the way around the spinner circumference. Not bad!!
