Another milestone completed! My Dad came down and spent the day with me as we installed the cowling, complete with doors. It took a little while to decide how and where to mount the cowl seals so the cowling will pressurize, then it was time to carefully assemble without scratching any paint! This is truly a hand built, custom cowl as the Corvair has never been installed one a Savannah before. The engine is 2 inches wider than the firewall, so a gap one each side as well as at the bottom was necessary. At least it should cool well in the hot Texas summers :-) I like the split door design... when needed both upper and lower panels can be opened, exposing the entire engine for maintenance without removing anything. The upper doors fasten with 1/4 cam locks making it quick to open but providing a full view of the entire installation... making each preflight much more complete than trying to peer through a tiny filler door. I have a yet to painted inlet temporarily installed on the pilot's side to provide fresh air to feed the exhaust heat shroud for cabin heat. Tomorrow I'll get to run the engine to verify sufficient cooling with the complete cowl for the first time and operation of the carb heat.
