I took yesterday off from building although I did have a fellow builder over to discuss my windscreen fairing I will have to fiberglass.
Today I completed more work on the cowling. I sanded to get a better fit at lower cowl sides then marked and drilled the rivet holes. I took the top off and cut the rough opening for the oil access door. It was cool to see the lower cowl staying up on its own.
I have a few issues with my fit. At the front left, the upper cowl had somehow risen up from the initial fit. The more I looked at things I think I might have been off with my initial horizontal trim. I can see now that working more to get a nice fit at the spinner will pay off later. I did no filling work; I just sanded to get an ok fit I will not have to do a bit of filling and layup to get the cowl halves to match at the spinner.
Well to get the upper left back into position, I drilled a new attach hole at the spinner, this is starting to look like a piece of Swiss cheese. I then removed everything, clecoed the upper cowl hinge to the cowl and then re-installed the cowling inserting the hinge pins through the oil door. It was not too bad and I am still using the hinge stock pins not the small diameter pin. I do have to push the top cowl a bit aft to get the hinge eyes to line up. The upper cowl is pushed forward a bit by the front of the lower cowl. It really amazes me how solid this thing is with just the perimeter hinges.
