Well, the Vans plan of acetone thinned epoxy was a bust. Could have been a slew of factors; the weather was too cool or I did not mix it correctly. In any event the epxoy did not cure. I checked the day after and the day after that..... I did some research on thinning epxoy; many folks said don't do it. I saw many threads with the same problem I had, epoxy that would not cure.
The solution was removal. So I spent the last week removing that layer from the cowling. First with several sheets of sandpaper. The sandpaper would clog up with semi-cured epoxy after a minute of sanding. I also used a single edge razor and scraped the surface which worked very well, although a slow process. After 95% of it was off I used acetone to clean up the rest of it. Now I will wash the cowlings with soap, waterand a brush to make sure there is no acetone left in any of the pinholes. After they dry I can go back to where I was over a week ago.
While scraping and sanding I also worked on the oil door opening. The photo does not show it very well, but I have cleaned up the edges of the depression where the door sits. There is about 1/8" space around the sides of the door. Once I have the hinge and fasteners installed I plan on filling that space so the door sits flush with the surface and has a molded in place appearance.
You can seen how clean the cowling is now in image two and three.
