Now that the flange is done, time to mate the top and attach the Southco's. The lower half is now somewhat floppy, so I added a stiffener on the top edge.
11/07 update: I'm still glad I split the cowling. In practice, the only problems I encountered were:
1) Although I reinforced the top "flange" area of the lower cowling with a piece of .032 aluminum angle, the mid section of the lower cowling still flexes quite a bit. The flex makes it difficult to fasten the top Southcos nearest the center of each side. My workaround -- I have a cheap 4" suction cup from Harbor Freight, which I use to keep the side of the bottom cowling from flexing inward, while I press in on the Southco on the cowling top. The permanent solution would be to glass in a longer and stiffer piece of angle on the bottom half. Not worth the bother at the moment.
2) The rearmost corners of the top cowling don't mate perfectly with the lower half....they bow out a bit and aren't in the same plane as the cowling sides. Not a big deal, but it is noticeable. You can't "Southco" them down as that would mean drilling holes in the aluminum brackets that hold your engine mounts....not a good idea!
