Next I needed to drill the holes to set the hinge that would hold the lower edge of the left cowl. I had made the hinge previously, and also previously marked where all the holes need to go in the stainless steel firewall.
- Using the premarked hole locations I drilled 2 of them through the stainless, then put the hinge in place and cleco'd those two holes.
- With the hinge in place (it already had all its pilot holes) I used the remaining hinge holes as guides to drill the remainder of the pilot holes.
- With the hinge cleco'd in place I then updrilled all the holes to make ready for the hinge half (photo 1).
- But first I had to deburr everything.
- Then finally I riveted the hinge in place (photo 2).
Because drilling through stainless is a real PITA, and drill bits break often, I bought 25 COBALT jobber bits from The Yard Store in anticipation. I only broke 3 bits drilling 10 holes, which isn't too bad for stainless (photo 3).